It doesn’t always come easy.  Sometimes it comes very, very hard.

No, I’m not talking about a bowel movement, although you might be forgiven for thinking that.

It’s the writing.  The blogging.  The whole “coming up with new ideas” thing.  Getting words down in a sensible order that makes a point, informs, or entertains.

Frustration is the feeling of thwarted ambition.  Sometimes the thwarting is just a temporary derailment of will and purpose and, with time and effort, you can get back on track and steam toward your destination.  (Hurray for railroad metaphors!)

The really bad thing about frustration is that it accommodates distraction.  No, that’s too gentle of a word.  Frustration supercharges the tendency toward distraction. Unless we can build the self-discipline to push through the things that thwart our ambition, we can enter a vicious cycle where by the following occurs (in true BASIC style):

10  WHEN INSPIRED BEGIN WORKING

20 IF ENCOUNTER CREATIVE ROADBLOCK

30 IF FEEL FRUSTRATED, GOTO 40

33 IF FRUSTRATION <= DETERMINATION, GO TO 90

40 LOOK FOR DIVERSION TO REMOVE FEELINGS OF FRUSTRATION

50 WASTE TIME WITH DIVERSION

60 DISCOVER THAT TIME HAS PASSED

70 DISCOVER THAT NO WORK HAS BEEN DONE

80 GOTO 20

90 DO WORK

100 FEEL SENSE OF ACCOMPLISHMENT

110 END (SATISFIED, SOMEWHAT)

The key to avoiding frustration would seem to be avoiding distraction, as painful as it is.  But what if you are trapped in the loop?  What do you do to get out?

Over to you, dear Brainiacs.  What do you do to get out of a rut?

Image by DOH4

Other posts that you might enjoy reading:

• Where the words come from
• Don’t try to engage my enthusiasm–I haven’t got one (Marvin the Paranoid Android)
• How to say the unsayable

Something different for a change of pace:  a video showing the evolution of the design of the Airbus A380-800 aircraft, all in drawings:

In a world of one draft blog posts, it’s quite intriguing to see something go through so many design changes.

According to Wikipedia.org, this airplane has 530 km (330 miles) of wiring in each aircraft.

Can you imagine how freaking complex and hard it is to make one of these airplanes?

Maybe we should all reflect on this the next time we’re struggling with a website or a blog post.

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As you can see in the picture to the left, Lt. Commander Data (in a scene from Star Trek:  First Contact) is loaded and ready for bear, as they say.  But just a few minutes earlier, he was almost ready to collapse into a puddle of trembling jelly, full of fear.  While talking with his captain, Data expressed his feelings of fear of impending battle with the Borg.  This feeling was a “gift” newly available to him from an emotion chip that he had recently found.

As we know, Data is an android, a machine full of information and devoid of emotion.  The chip changed that.  However, he also had to deal with negative, paralyzing feelings while the emotion chip was active.  So, naturally, when Data expressed his fear, Captain Picard very logically suggested that Data turn off the chip.  So he did and he calmed down.  In the next breath, Picard expressed his envy of Data in that moment, when the android could just turn off his emotions like you would turn off a lamp.

Haven’t we all felt that way at one time?

Emotional fuel (or fire)

Our emotions are powerful motivators.  Joy, love, anger, envy, and fear:  they make us want to do things.  Or keep us from doing things.

Unlike Data, we really can’t shut off our emotions.  We can train ourselves to ignore them, we can accept them, and we can use chemicals to temporarily deaden them, but they don’t go away.  Feelings don’t have on and off switches.

Fear is one of the strongest feelings, at least it is in my experience.  How many things have I kept myself from doing because of fear?  (Note:  I don’t claim that the fear stopped me; I let the fear stop me.)  Perhaps you’ve had the same experience?

No matter how you feel about privacy, there’s no doubt that having a social media presence using your real name is a test of fear and bravery.  After all, people can Google you and find out what you’re saying.  They can judge you, for good or evil.  You can be made fun of.  Hell, your boss might read your blog and decide that what you’re doing isn’t in her best interest, or that of your employer.  And so on.

Fear of exposure

I’ve done it both ways:  I’ve used aliases and I’ve used my own name.  Every now and then it’s very tempting to create a new identity so you can write and rant about your more extreme views without fear of reprisal.  The possibility of telling the unembellished truth is seductive and perversely empowering when you can do so without connecting the words back to your true identity.

To borrow one of the most famous analogies of our times, I consider that to be the Dark Side.  Power without responsibility, without remorse, without accountability – that is both the lure and the damnation of the anonymous blogger.  Better to keep your name and face in the light, to add power to your thoughts.

However, that doesn’t mean that you need to share everything.  Despite any trends in technology and society, we all have a right to some privacy.  We don’t need to continually bear our souls, we don’t need to expose all of the secrets.

Authenticity is worth pushing through the fear

But if you want to say something with power, it sure helps to have your real name and face behind it.  It may be scary and you may wish for your own emotion chip to deactivate your fear, but fear can be mastered and that energy can be used.   One of my favorite super-heroes is focused on willpower and mastery of fear.  It can be done and you can use your courage to do great things.

If you have something reasonable to say the world, please don’t be afraid to say it using your own real face and voice.  It could be the best thing that you ever do.

Data, Picard, Star Trek are all properties of Paramount.  Please don’t sue, guys.  Kthksbai.

Other posts that you might enjoy reading:

• Think again – a checklist for weighing the impulsive act
• Social media – moving beyond your weaknesses and limitations
• Social media – your will is your only limit
• When a river stops running
• Book Review – The Paradox of Choice – Barry Schwartz

Michael Bungay Stanier is the founder and Senior Partner of Box of Crayons, a company that “works with organizations around the world to help them do less Good Work and more Great Work.”  In addition to his Box of Crayons work, Michael blogs regularly and he has created an excellent series of podcast interviews with interesting and creative achievers called the Great Work Interview series (here is an example).  He has recently published Do More Great Work, a book to help people achieve their own great work.  We at Broadcasting Brain are great fans of Michael’s work, so it’s a pleasure to do a Thoughts From interview with him.

Let’s start with a two-part question about your own series of interviews. What prompted you to start a podcast series of interviews with people about their own great work? Second, how do you select the various individuals that you’ll be interviewing?
I’m not quite sure what prompted me to start this series. It’s been about two years now. I think it was simply because I was curious and wanted to chat to people. And I have a pretty simple criteria: I’m looking for people who make me think and/or make me laugh and that have something interesting to say. I’m also conscious that a number of these good people are also influencers within their worlds – and that’s an added bonus for me.

Does any interview material wind up on the “cutting room floor” i.e. are there any unused bits that don’t appear in the podcast?
Actually, no. In part that’s because I’m lazy and don’t want to spend a lot of time editing and polishing the interviews. In part it’s because I like the organic flow of the conversation. Probably equal parts of both…

Which fictional character would you most enjoy interviewing to ask them about their great work? Why?
Gosh – that’s hard to narrow down to one. It would most likely be a person from the world of literature, because I’ve got a BA and an M.Phil in literature. Maybe someone like Sherlock Holmes. Or David Malouf’s Ovid (from the book, An Imaginary Life.)

Which deceased individual would you most enjoy interviewing to ask them about their great work? Why?
Mmm… another tough question. Probably one of the big scientists like Marie Curie or Crick. I do admire their pursuit of the unknown – it requires both imagination and discipline, not to mention resilience.

What part of your work gives you the most joy? Why?
There’s not one single part. I really enjoy creating and shaping new material, love performing in front of a group, love seeing something finished like a short movie or a book appear. I heard the term ‘portfolio career’ a number of years ago, and really liked it – building up a ‘portfolio’ of different tasks that all fulfil you in different ways

What part of your work gives you the least joy? Why?
I’m much less excited about travel than I used to be, particularly crossing from Canada to the United States. It’s misery crossing the border.

What was the biggest surprise for you when you wrote your first book (i.e. something that you didn’t expect at all)?
In truth, the joy of holding something beautiful in my hands that I’d largely shaped. I wasn’t expecting to feel so happy about it all.

What simple tip would you recommend that could help anyone to do better work today?
Figure out what you want to say No to. Once you’re clear on that, the Yes’s – the really important Yes’s – will be more obvious.

Pretend the Internet is destroyed over night. What do you do when you wake up the next morning?
Go “woo hoo!” – no more email to check. Then, take a big big breath, and start re-imagining ways to reconnect with people.

Any final thoughts for our readers?
Time’s a ticking. I’ve figured out my “death date”: Sept 15 2043. When’s yours? And what do you want to do, who do you want to be between then and now?

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