Desperately seeking Sam

Today, like a bolt from the heavens, I was bestowed a great and mysterious quest into the unknown world of Sam Harrison. Like myself you may be asking, who is Sam Harrison?

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It was my job to uncover the identity of this mystery man. The reasons why I found myself trolling the depths of Google for tidbits about his life and work is a strange twist of events. The details are unnecessary, however, it was no idle curiosity that led me on this search, it was more like a crusade given to me from above.

A guru of effectively using creativity, public speaking methods and writing, Sam is the head of the writing department at Portfolio Center. We first met about 10 minutes after I first heard his name. I was seated behind my desk in the “mail room” of Portfolio Center, which has been converted into the student workers office and also houses the schools time clock. Typically, I pride myself on knowing much of the in’s and out’s of Portfolio Center but the name Sam Harrison was a new one to me. I was beginning to scrape the surface of my “Sam hunt” via my laptop’s search engines when, out of no where, there was Sam, in my office, pulling out a new time card. I knew a little of who he was from my cursory Google investigation and I also knew that I needed to meet him. So I asked “are you Sam Harrison?” He seemed puzzled as he affirmed my suspicions. I introduced myself and carried on a short awkward conversation as he waited for his time card to go through the machine. I discovered why we had never met before. Check this months edition of How magazine and you’ll know a little more as he was a contributer. Among his many speaking engagements and writing assignments from respected design magazines, Sams life is packed with demands for his distinct approach to harnessing the power of inner creativity. For the past two quarters (the extent of time that I have been studying at Portfolio Center) he has been tackling a very busy life out side of the school. Sam’s website ZING ZONE can provide a little more insight into his busy life. As for more information on his ideas on finding creative sparks and methods of making the most of your distinct vantage point in your creative endevours you might want to check out his books ZING! Five steps and 101 tips for creativity on command and IdeaSpotting: How and where to find your next great idea. I’ve got ZING! coming from amazon.com. So I guess we’ll see what we can see.

Updated: Below are a few tips from Sam himself on making yourself more creatively open. I’m hoping when the book arrives I might be able to shed some more light on what exactly a ZING is but for now we can all soak up a little Sam.

Zingful Tenets

1. Don’t stop with the first idea you spot. Even if it’s a good idea, it’s probably the same one everyone else would spot. And the good is often the enemy of the best. Put the first three ideas aside and dig deeper.

2. Laugh. A common trait of most creative people is the ability to laugh at themselves and their circumstances.  OK, Hemingway had no humor, but do you want his ending?  Don’t take yourself too damn seriously.

3. Be passionate. Watch any artist possessing zing, and you’ll see passion.  Want it with all your being.4. Work hard. Wanting it with all your being isn’t enough. You’ve got to do the work.  Stay up late. Get up early.  Take responsibility.

5. Be childlike.  Not childish, but childlike.  Wide eyes.  “How come” questions.  Playful.  Giddy.  Eager.

6. Keep a notebook. Creativity seldom happens in front of a computer.  We spot ideas while walking down the street, sitting in Starbucks, stuck in traffic. Find a notebook that feels good in your hand.  Use it.

7. Build on mistakes. Know the difference between good mistakes (strong effort, bad result) and bad mistakes (sloppy effort, bad result).

8. Stop, look and listen. Slow down. Open wide.  Ask stupid questions. Hear what’s being said.

9. Don’t be a fool. Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain, said Carnegie. And most fools do.

10. Don’t gossip. Remember that bright people talk about ideas. Mediocre people talk about things. Small people talk about other people.

11. When you’re walking through hell, don’t pitch a tent.  Keep walking.

12. Process is more important than outcome. I borrowed this one from Bruce Mau.  When outcome drives the process, we’ll only go where we’ve already been. Process lets us take on new challenges and travel to new places.

13. People have never been bored into buying anything. We have to entertain. Craft compelling stories. Dramatize the truth. Create dreams.

14. Speak to your reader’s heart as well as to her head. People buy on emotion.  They rationalize their buying with logic.

15. Read. Peggy Noonan says reading is the intellectual income we spend when we write. Reading also teaches us how writing sounds – the written word is audible as well as visual.

16. Concentrate on the audience rather than on yourself. It’s really about them, not us.

17. Learn not to be careful. Diane Arbus, the photographer, told her students this. Don’t be careless, but be willing to take risks. Have you ever known a highly creative person who always played it safe?
18. Enjoy yourself. We will be held accountable, says the Talmud Yerushalmi, for all the permitted pleasures we failed to enjoy. The idea is to meet responsibilities while enjoying life.  In that world, work and fun are seamless.

19. Be nice. Central Casting has enough jerks without more of us auditioning for the role.  Say what you mean, mean what you say, but don’t say it mean.

20. Do little things for people.  Anything we do will seem insignificant, said Gandhi, but it’s important that we do it.

21. Jam. Improvise. Break it up. Pass it around. Put it together. Take it apart. Turn it over. Run backwards. Fly forward.

22. Stay in the solution. When things go wrong, don’t go with them.

23. Be grateful. Make the most of all that comes and the least of all that goes.

24. Get out. All the answers aren’t on the Internet or in a book. Life outside of the four walls delivers answers and surprises.

25. Avoid contempt prior to investigation. “I was a critic,” wrote Dave Eggers, “and I wish I could take it all back because it came from a smelly and ignorant place in me and spoke with a voice that was all rage and envy. Do not dismiss a book until you have written one and do not dismiss a movie until you have made one and do not dismiss a person until you have met them.  It’s work to be open-minded and generous and understanding and forgiving and accepting, but that is what matters. What matters is saying yes.”

26. Be a team player. Collaboration is a lot like improvisation, and with an improv company, there is no star.  If the team doesn’t win in improv, neither does the individual.  Likewise with a creative team.

27. Notice things. The advertising guru Howard Gossage said that the start of the creative process is telling the difference between one thing and another. It’s seeing a hundred horses run by and saying, “Hey, that one’s a zebra!”