productive obsession
nuggets from Eric Maisel’s book BRAINSTORM (via my Readwise)
by Melissa Wiley · updated 4mo ago
productive obsession
nuggets from Eric Maisel’s book BRAINSTORM (via my Readwise)
by Melissa Wiley · updated 4mo ago
Certain productive obsessions are bound to thread their way through your life, appearing here as a theme in the novel you write, there as the destination for a family vacation, and somewhere else as membership in a group or as an impulsive purchase.
Melissa Wiley added 5mo ago
IF WE BETTER UNDERSTOOD MEMORY AND IMAGINATION we might discover that memory is in part the way that persistent productive obsessions recombine instantly and that imagination is our repertoire of persistent productive obsessions dynamically recombining.
Melissa Wiley added 5mo ago
Begin to look forward to your coming brainstorm. Begin to smile at the thought of it. Began to organize a bit in anticipation of clearing the decks. Begin to wean yourself from this or that distracting activity. Get ready. Soon you will begin a fine month of productive obsessing. I hope you are eager!
Melissa Wiley added 5mo ago
It is vital that a person who has decided to turn the seeds of interest into full-fledged productive obsessions learn to distinguish between those things that merely interest him and those things that really interest him. If he can’t make some sensible distinctions, he may try to build brainstorms in places of insufficient interest. If, say, his “l
... See moreMelissa Wiley added 5mo ago
When, by contrast, you announce that you intend to productively obsess about the challenge at hand, your brain is alerted to the fact that you intend to operate differently. Your neurons stand at attention, and thinking commences.
Melissa Wiley added 5mo ago
Most people harbor the hope that “when things change” or “when things improve” they will do a better job of productively obsessing and paying attention to their brainstorms. It is much smarter not to wait for that mythical time to arrive.
Melissa Wiley added 5mo ago
By choosing to productively obsess about his horror of tackling the contract work, he’d begun to examine his assumptions and listen to his negative self-talk with a new ear — and that proved enough. He used his brain’s full power to test his assumptions and examine his self-talk and concluded — at first subconsciously and then consciously — that hi
... See moreMelissa Wiley added 5mo ago
Each of us has that do-nothing, watch-a-little-more-television place in our heart and that think-intensely and work-well place, but the latter is harder to engage. The life of your productive obsession depends on your constant recommitment to your ideals, intentions, and efforts.
Melissa Wiley added 5mo ago
CHOOSE YOUR OBSESSIONS, rather than letting them choose you,
Melissa Wiley added 5mo ago