In the last post in this series, we talked about how developing the ability to say “no,” and protect our time, is important for making the kind of progress we want in our creative work.
In this post, I’ll discuss how it can help our creativity to set another kind of boundary — to stop blaming ourselves [...]

I’ve just published a guest post at The Change Blog called “Letting Go Of Your Ego At Work,” which addresses the puzzling question:  why is it that, when we’re doing something that’s deeply important to us, we actually tend to procrastinate the most?
I hope you enjoy it and that you had a great weekend.

Just wanted to keep you all updated on the state of play here at Edgar HQ and on Edgar Force One — I can’t say which one I’m at right now for national security reasons: 
New Bay Area Meetup
I’ve started a Meetup group in San Jose, California, which I’m using to offer free evening [...]

I just published a new guest post at The Change Blog called “Procrastination and the Art of Allowing.” 
Normally, when uncomfortable thoughts and sensations come up as we’re working, we tend to run away from them by playing FreeCell or chasing some other distraction — and, voila, we have procrastination.  But when we simply relax our [...]

If someone told you that a piece you wrote is garbage and you’re a moron for writing it, could you object to their behavior?
When I work with people who are having trouble starting a project, this is often an area where they feel blocked.  They don’t trust their ability to protect themselves against mistreatment.  They [...]

 
If you spent a moment without thinking, would you cease to exist?
As I mentioned earlier, when I give talks about using mindfulness practices to focus on your work, at least one person usually tells me they “can’t meditate” because they can’t seem to force their mind to quiet.
But often, if I get the chance to [...]

I’m thrilled to announce that I’ll be holding a full-day workshop, which I’m calling the Inner Productivity Intensive, in the San Francisco Bay Area on Saturday, June 12, 2010.
This will be an intimate, small-group affair, limited to ten people, where we’ll be deeply exploring the challenges each participant is facing in their work, and how mindfulness [...]

What?  How can boredom be a gift?  Isn’t boredom what we read blogs and mess around on social media to avoid?
Let’s think for a moment about the situations where boredom arises.  Do we usually get bored when we’re doing something empty and meaningless?  In my experience, the surprising answer is no.
Look at your own experience [...]

I think we’d all like to believe that we don’t care whether anyone pays attention to us.  We’re heroically forging our own path, and if other people don’t care about what we’re doing or think it’s important, that’s just their loss.  But if we’re honest with ourselves, I think we’ll see that the reality is [...]

Most of the writing I do here is in service of my mission to help people find more peace and joy in their work.  If I do say so myself, I think I’ve written some valuable stuff over the two years this blog has been around, and I also get the sense that sometimes my relentless focus on my [...]