Reframe your problem this week
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Frank Delaney was a superb author. penned a New York Times best-seller entitled Ireland, and was once declared to be ‘the most eloquent man in the world’. When we met years ago, he posed a confronting question to me: “So, John, when are you going to write your book?”
I was flattered that he thought I had one in me. But I’d always avoided writing (I spent more time at work erasing words than adding them). As an art director, you tend to think in concepts and images, rather than in snappy sentences or memorable turns of phrase.
“I’m an art director,” I replied. “I do the pictures.”
“But John, writing is just describing pictures.”
“Oh.”
I’d always had a block when it came to the notion of sitting down and turning out a large mass of words. But somehow, Mr. Delaney’s angle on it completely reframed the problem in my mind. Shortly after (well, quite a while after) I managed to find 60,000 or so words to put into my first book. Why am I telling you this?
Because if you’re struggling with something this week, there’s a method to get out of your own way: reframe the job. The distance between you and something you never imagined for yourself can be a quick shift in perspective.
Creative Partner at Horse's Mouth
5dNot necessarily.
CEO of Desire Code, the Behavioural Design agency
5dI remember laughing out loud reading something in this book, on a packed train in London, like a total goof. People were laughing at me laughing. It was 2012, the Olympics was on. Great book. Thank you for making/writing/creating it.
Fabulous holiday read. Thanks for re-framing and writing!
Global Marketing Manager | Doctor of Pharmacy(PharmD) | MSc in Marketing | MarComm Strategist & Enthusiast
1wI love this book, wrote about it here:
Brand Expansion // Creative Direction // Partner, BLVD Agency Inc. // Program Development & Management
2wMy copy of your book is riddled with Post-it notes. Thanks for the reframing reminder—love it. The part that still sticks with me the most, even today, is your breakdown of the word creative (something you needed to do to speak to the NY audience).