How To Outline Your Book Using Mindmapping
James Taylor interviews Michael J. Gelb and they talk about how to outline your book using mindmapping
In this episode, we cover:
- Using mindmapping to outline your book
- Wine drinking for inspired writing
- Finding your original voice as an author
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James Taylor
Hi, I'm James Taylor business creativity and innovation keynote speaker. And this is the Creative Life, a show dedicated to you the creative. If you're looking for motivation, inspiration and advice, while at home at work or on your daily commute, then this show is for you. Each episode brings you a successful creative, whether that's an author, musician, entrepreneur, perform a designer, or a thought leader. They'll share with you their journey, their successes, their failures, their creative process, and much much more. You'll find Show Notes for this episode as well as free training on creativity over at Jamestaylor.me. Enjoy this episode.
Hi, it's James Taylor here. Today's episode was first aired as part of International Authors Summit. This inspiring virtual summit reveals the secrets of making marketing and monetizing a best selling book. If you would like to access the full video version as well as in depth sessions with over 40 Best Selling authors that I've got a very special offer for you just go to InternationalAuthorsSummit.com, where you'll be able to register for a free pass for the summit. Yeah, that's right. Over 40 New York Times and Amazon best selling authors, book editors, agents and publishers, sharing their insights, strategies and tactics on how to write and market your first or next best sellers. So just go to InternationalAuthorsSummit.com, but not before you listen to today's episode.
Hey, there is James Taylor. And it's my great pleasure to have with me today, Michael J. Gelb. Michael is the world's leading authority on the application of genius thinking to personal and organizational development, a pioneer in the fields of creative thinking, executive coaching and innovative leadership. He is the author of 14 books including international bestseller how to think like Leonardo da Vinci seven steps to genius everyday. His other titles include creativity on demand innovate like Edison, discover your genius and thinking for a change. Michael's books have been translated into 25 languages and sold more than 1 million copies. Meanwhile, as a keynote speaker and seminar leader his clients have included DuPont, Amazon, Microsoft, Nike and the young presidents organization. It's my great pleasure to have Michael with us today. So welcome, Michael, thank you so much. Great to be with you. So share with everyone what's happening in your world just now.
Michael J. Gelb
Let's see, I just got back from co leading a Qi Gong seminar. g Gong is the ancient Chinese methodology for cultivating life energy, and it's one of my passions, and recently made a video about that as well. I'm working on three new books to client meetings coming up this week. Not to go for a walk in that Rockefeller preserve near where we live. will cook a fabulous dinner tonight and drink a great wine. So that just typical snapshot I liked
James Taylor
one of the books that you wrote. It was about it was all about how wine can inspire, inspire think I used to live in Maryland. I used to live in Napa Valley, great area for the wine in California so so do you find wine and conducive to your creative process has nothing
Michael J. Gelb
to do. I wrote a book called wine drinking for inspired thinking, uncork your creative juices. And I've been leading seminars, as you shared it, with my biography for companies around the world for decades, and they always asked me for team building. So years ago, I came up with a wine tasting team building exercise, which clients always love. And then I wrote a book about it. And the result of this is that clients pay me to drink wine with them.
James Taylor
That is a tough job. Someone's got to do that. But that's a tough job.
Michael J. Gelb
Last week, I was with a client In New York City, and she gave me the wine list and said, Just order anything I want to have something we've never had. That's really wonderful. And even though clients can afford it, I'm still protecting their interests and I'm a value oriented wine buyer. So I just checked and I said, Okay, is there a ceiling on your budget? And basically she said no. So they happen to have the Winston Churchill pole Roget champagne and from 2002 is an absolutely legendary one is the one they named after Winston Churchill because he used to drink a bottle every single day. And it even though it was quite expensive, it was still a remarkable value on the list. It was not overpriced. It was about the price that you could find it retail on this wine list. So I ordered it on behalf of the client I told her a little the history of the wine and she was so excited. She said let's have caviar dividual ounces of a cetera caviar for me, there are only three of us. And drinking this poll, Roget Winston Churchill 2002 eating this caviar and I'm thinking, get paid for this. This is pretty cool. Just how we roll, that's just what we do so. So
James Taylor
there is obviously there's a lot of history to about whining and creativity, obviously, the the symposiums the, you know, the Greek words to drink together, you know, the ancient Athenians would drink and they would serve in the shallow cups and water down a little bit. I don't know where I'm from near Edinburgh. They, they had the great clubs of the of the Enlightenment era where you had Adam Smith and all these incredible inventors and Scientists and they used to do the same thing but with with clarity, but also they always watered it down slightly. And I'm not sure if it was like two parts clarity, two, three parts water, because they knew they knew a little bit of wine was quite conducive to the creative process, but too much was maybe maybe detrimental.
Michael J. Gelb
And then and then the geniuses of the Scottish Enlightenment helped to inspire Thomas Jefferson, john adams, George Washington, who, well Thomas Jefferson spent 20% of his presidential budget on fine why, and, and what really what they were trying to do and you know, of course, Ben Franklin went and visited Edinburgh Yeah, and got a lot of the ideas that that really ultimately led to life liberty, the pursuit of happiness as a fundamental core value of of a nation and in a way that dramatically has changed the world. And Ben Franklin said, wine is proof that God loves us and loves to see us happy.
James Taylor
Wonderful. And so that's that's kind of carried on. So I want to take you back to where you got started as an author that take us back to that very first book that you publish. What was that? What was the journey like in terms of writing and getting that book? And what what at that point? What did you want writing to do for you?
Michael J. Gelb
Well, it wasn't about what I thought I wanted it to do. For me. It's about what I thought I could do for others. So I was actually living in London and training as a teacher of the Alexander Technique, a method for developing stage presence that still taught today at the Royal Academy of drama, The Royal Academy of Music, the Juilliard School here in the New York area, and many of the top performing academies around the world. So I was on a three year training as an Alexander Technique teacher. But what I found was that many of my colleagues who were very skilled at this beautiful Dennis Sara Lee able to talk about it in a way that was memorable or compelling. And there were no real books that seemed to be the book that I would have been looking for as it when I was a beginner. Somebody gave me a basic book about what's this all about? So first, I wrote my master's thesis about the Alexander work. And, you know, when I went to college, I graduated in three years with honors the two majors, but I realized I knew something very valuable. Like Socrates, I realized that I knew nothing of any real value. Ah, because generally, the, the, the process was to feedback the professor's thinking or writing if you had the professor who wrote the textbook, and if you did that accurately, and jumped through the appropriate academic hoops, you were rewarded, so I learned how to do that in my master thesis I was genuinely asked to write my own thinking. So that was a new challenge for me. Fortunately, it was then that I learned mind mapping. And I made a mind map of all my ideas. My mind exploded with creativity. And I was able to write the thesis out longhand. This is before there was word processing. A friend of mine typed it up. A sent I sent it into the thesis advisor, who said, I've never seen a student's writing improved so much in the course of my academic career. He said, it's as though you found your true voice, which I did. And that's part of how I became committed to helping other people find theirs. So then I gave that thesis to a few different friends, a number of whom were published authors, and they read the thesis they said, You made this complex subjects so simple, so clear, so accessible, so they sent it to a publisher and I to point to two different publishers. They both made offers. I accepted one of them. They published the book A few years later got translated into 16 languages. And it's still in print and selling well today 37 years after publication. So I learned how to write by learning how to mind map and express, organize, integrate my ideas. And then I learned to teach other people how to mind map and how to develop their memory and their creative thinking ability. And suddenly, I noticed I was an international author and people began to invite me to speak around the world. And I said, Well, that's good. Let's do it again. So I wrote another book On another subject that I thought might be helpful for other people, which was the subject of how to give a great presentation. And people really liked that book. So they invited me to speak about that. And so here we are. I'm working on book number 16 seven To 18 I'm working on three books at once now. And people invite me to speak around the world. I use, I use my maps. Here's my desk here. Here's my mind map that I'm working on. Now. I always have my maps and here are my colored pens. Yeah. So I recommend to people use colored pens big sheet of paper. Later, you can go online and do one of the mind mapping programs to share your mind map. But you get much more stimulation of your brain and your creativity when you draw images yourself in your own hand.
James Taylor
So you were you in London around you might have been in London, right but at the same time, Tony Buzan lived and he was living in North London and that kind of Mind Mapping thing as well. And I often think the the, the work that you do and the speaking and the keynoting you do and I see I see Tony boos and kind of also kind of out there as well. You'd be quite complimentary to each other those those areas. Oh, yeah,
Michael J. Gelb
well, I taught Tony Buzan how to juggle and I was his martial arts teacher. And he taught me my method. He was studying the Alexander Technique at the school where I was training as a teacher. At the end of it, he came and gave a lecture. This was when Use your head just had come out. And he was just on duty. His first BBC big, very popular, well received a television show called Use your head. And he was having lessons in the Alexander Technique. And he came to our school in North London. This is a 1975. And I went to the head of the school and I said, that lecture was fabulous. I love what he said about the brain and how to develop it memory and creativity. And the head of the school said, well, Tony said to me, who's that young American fellow. He's a genius. I want I want to him to collaborate with me. So we connected then. And eventually it took us a couple of years but we created something called the mind and body seminar. So this is back now in 1978. Tony and I started doing these five day seminars together around the world for global corporations. And we did that together from 78 to 82. That's when I moved back to the US because I thought I wanted to spread the gospel here. And Tony and I just was at Tony's 75th birthday party. Last year, my wife sang my wife's a world class metso soprano genius opera singer, and she's saying Happy Birthday to Tony blew him away. He was really thrilled. So we've collaborated been friends for many years and that that's part of how it all goes. got started.
James Taylor
And so you you one of the things that I think is very interesting about you is you talk on this topic of really of creativity, which I know some I heard this a while back where some speaker once said, Oh, actually, you know, creativity is a bit of a dangerous thing to speak on. Because companies that beat the b2b world, we talk about innovation, it's all about innovation, innovation, speakers get paid more than, than creativity speakers, but you've, if you look at your client list, and it's very much blue chip, you know, kind of client list other other kind of organizations that you go to speak to, so how have you been able to bridge that that world from the very b2c world of helping individuals with their creativity and and you've had books on them on more kind of b2c focused publishers, but then at the same time you go out and give keynotes to large corporations and helping helping them with with creativity?
Michael J. Gelb
Yes. So What is creativity? What is innovation? Creativity is generating ideas that have subjective value. What is innovation, generating ideas that are translated into objective value. Specifically business innovation is ideas that are translated into profitable sustainably profitable products and services in a highly competitive environment. So, even though how to think like Leonardo da Vinci is by far my most popular book, it's by itself it's sold 700,000 copies where maybe being on your show push us over into a million.
James Taylor
I am I am one of those buyers and sits up in my in my library. It was a great book.
Michael J. Gelb
Excellent. So because There is no innovation without creativity. But creativity doesn't necessarily is necessary but not sufficient for innovation. So you have to learn the skills of creative thinking. And then you need to learn the strategies for translating them into sustainable innovation in a competitive environment. So that's why I wrote the book about Edison, which I wrote with Thomas Edison's great, great, great grand needs. So Leonardo is probably history supreme role model for creativity. Edison is definitely the supreme role model for innovation. When when the Edison book came out, I was interviewed by USA Today, it's a big newspaper here in the US and the reporter asked me if Edison and DaVinci got together, what might they ask each other? So I said that I thought that Da Vinci might ask Edison about the nature of light. And Edison would ask the Vinci Do you want a job? They really go together. It's part of not I'm creating this library of when they should be sent talks about mental literacy, which is knowing the workings of your mind how to remember how to generate ideas. I focused on innovation literacy, what are the fundamental competencies if you want to have an innovative organization, which everybody says as they want, you can't do it unless a critical mass of your people are literate in innovation and that means that you, you understand what are what are the components of a creative mindset? What are the methodologies for generating creative ideas what To the phases of the innovation process, what are the tools? How do you develop and cultivate a culture that supports innovation? How do you lead innovation? It's one thing to know how to be innovative yourself. How do you overcome resistance to innovation and change, which is probably the most important skill, it's relatively easy to teach people how to generate new ideas, and it's not hard to teach them about the phases of the process. The most challenging part are the interpersonal leadership skills. My most recent book is called the art of connection. Seven relationship building skills every leader needs now, and I wrote it because people really need help. In the interpersonal skills, these are not getting better at the error of the cell phone and the devices People are constantly on people aren't improving their ability to make direct, empathic connection with other people and help them overcome their resistance to change in innovation and get them aligned around a shared vision. So, those still remain the most important leadership competencies. So I decided it's time to write about what I've learned about that in many years of working with with clients around the world.
James Taylor
So Stephen King, he talks about this idea of kind of writing to your ideal reader and and kind of thinking having that that person in your head and I mean, the I kind of think of yours a little bit you know, like some like an Edward de Bono as well, that that has these kind of very consumer audience books has this very kind of corporate and said that they can a corporate audience over the years as well. So when you're writing that book, or even like thinking about like that keynote as well, but it's definitely interesting. In the book, who is the ideal reader in your head? What What role do they have?
Michael J. Gelb
Okay, so I'll tell you, I'll tell you the answer to that. It's the same way that I cook a cook because I know it's going to taste good. And I have vivid gusto, gustatory and olfactory memory and creativity hose i can i can imagine just what it's going to taste like. And if I think it's going to taste really good. Almost always, everyone else thinks is that they just said this is unbelievably delicious. This is so incredible. They always say to me, you should you should own a restaurant. And I say that's like saying if so. You should do this professionally. I said there's two things I won't do. I won't do it for money. Because love is just love and cooking is just for love. I would never want to open a restaurant. But I do speak for money and I write for money. And when I'm doing that I, the real criteria I have is, do I think it's smart? Do I think it's useful? Do I think it's well said? Do I think it's helpful? So I don't have some mythical other person even though of course, there is. I want to touch everybody. I have to say, I want my books to be because you may work in it, like the b2c and b2b Yes, it's important distinction. But who makes up the beat? Yeah, it's humans. So I'm writing. What I tend to write about are things that are universally relevant. The seven dimension principles are relevant to your child's school. To your own personal development program, and to the culture of your company, the CIO or the Edison competency is, so are the exercises in creativity on demand. Now the art of connection, seven relationship building skills every leader needs now it's in the business section of the bookstore, because I'm in business, and that's who's going to actually hire me and pay my feet. But the book is designed to be is going to help you with your marriage, it's going to help you with your being a better parent and being a better friend because the skills are the same. We just, what's the difference between talking about those skills to a business group and a group of parents or teachers? If I'm talking to a business group, I'll use business examples. If I'm talking to teachers, I'll use school examples and I've talked to parents I'll use parenting examples, but the principles are you First, and then No, I'm not really interested in. You know, one of my mottos is, it's either universal truth, or it's something else and I'll be polite. I won't say a word. I'll let you feel that if
James Taylor
No, I mean, I bet even when you talk when you're talking about cooking, I love using cooking stuff in in Keynote as well, because it's one of those universal things I don't like using sport. Because Because it feels very, you know, obviously, if I say soccer in that place in football and out plays football in the UK, for example, it's going to be having different connotations. And one thing I've noticed with the with what, in terms of your publishing your work with different publishers over the years, I think, I think double day I think was the one for the Leonardo da Vinci book. You've had different Random House. So why did you always you can have a lot of speakers speaker authors have to have maybe are struggling thinking do the You want to go with a traditional publishing house? Or do they want to go self publishing? Which is there's maybe more revenue in it. But you don't have to have other people to help with the things. Is your thinking changed over the years? Or you've been much committed to that can more traditional type of publishing relationship?
Michael J. Gelb
Yeah, here's the weird thing is that, I mean, if you self publish your book, and it sells a million copies get picked up by a big publisher, God bless you, you're going to be really wealthy, and you really made it and that's fabulous. But when that's very rare for that to happen, and what's really weird is that despite the increasing legitimacy of self publishing, people still seem to be impressed that you have a real publisher and that somebody actually paid you to write a book. It still seems to have a certain degree of people confer a certain status. When they say, Well, you know, did you Self Publish? And I say, well, well, who's your publisher? Not that I could really care less. But when you say well, Random House, Penguin, Harper Collins, or so For my publishers, then they go, Oh, well, you must be really important. I mean, it's it's really rubbish, the whole thing. Having said that, it's probably if you can get someone to sponsor you, what you'll get is the distribution. That's the hard part. Now, I've had some publishers have much better than others. Many publishers will take your book, and they'll put it through their department of sales prevention. So they will try to snatch defeat out of the jaws of success. And it's shocking. It's just shocking. We could do a whole show and I could tell you horror stories. But one just continued. The reason I have all these different publishers is not because I decided I it's because they fired my editor after my book became a best seller in a corporate shake up that had nothing to do with how great an editor he was. And then he moved to another company. And then he hired me to do a book there. And then they fired him again. And then. So it's called Getting your book orphaned. And my books, many of my books have been multiple, multiple, or buys your book is once champion your book internally at the publishing house. So the thing you must know, wherever you are in your publishing career is you are the champion of your book, whether you self publish, or you have the biggest publisher in the world, giving you a big advance because I've had it all. I've never actually had to self publish yet. But it's close to. I actually have a new publisher that I really love. I've now done two books with them. And they're fabulous. I'm doing my, my next book with them, because they're great. A new world library on California. really fabulous.
James Taylor
Yeah, they, they're great. They're a great publisher. I like what they do. So So I mean, you didn't you know, the da Vinci book, and I mean, you were talking about the publishers It kind of made me think of like the mitchie fat having those kind of patrons that they like your, your publisher is a kind of a patron. And even today, obviously, you can still you have you can have a traditional publisher, which is a kind of patron. But then there's other routes like there's things like Patreon and crowdfunding and they all different types of patronage in one way or the other. They can either provide resources or distribution or, or access in some way or another.
Michael J. Gelb
Yes. And and having said that, and I encourage people to explore all the options and all the possibilities and I'm, we're always thinking about how do we get, I mean, I have to tell you, so just true confession. I focused more on the quality of what I write than on selling the books. I am more interested in writing the next book than I am on the endlessly out there promoting or doing social media or I I probably should do more of that and I'm getting I'm gearing up to do more talking to different people. But I'm waiting for people to come to me, because I have content. I've got masses of super powered content, which were just waiting, you know, just piling it up. And now people are coming to me. But my focus is on I just want more goodness to bring to more people. What am I most passionate about? What am I most interested in? Having said that. And the truth is, companies hire me to speak to them and give pay me lots of money. And and even more than that, I get put on retainer to consult with your company on how to create a culture of innovation. So they hire me for, you know, 10 or 15 days a year. In some cases, I met my client now, it's a five year contract. Two years, we just renewed for three more years. I do 10 days a year, so I don't have to sell them anything. I'm just in there, helping them So I'm not, you know, hustling and sending tweets about, you know, when nobody knows that I'm doing that. But that's how I actually earn my living most of my living. Now what I like to triple it or quadruple it and have tons of passive streams of income coming in. Sure. And now people are coming out of the woodwork and saying, Let me help you do this, oh my god, you're a goldmine here. And let's just get this out this way. But I've carefully vetting those people because they only want really good partners. So I have been very patient as far as that's concerned, because I make enough money. And I love what I do. And people are paying me to drink wine and teach them Qi Gong and Tai Chi and how to juggle, and he managed to do this for 40 years, and I'm gearing up for the next 40 so I'm having tons of fun. And yeah, if I was just starting now i'd be all about, you know, all this stuff and optimal amaizing it. But people are coming to say how do I be an author? How do I be a speaker and I say, well, start by having something helpful to other people that you've actually lived and experienced and know about
James Taylor
that reminds me a little bit is a friend of mine with Bob Dylan and, and Dylan never looks back. He's not interested in the slightest in his back catalogue and all that stuff. He's always thinking about the next project, which is very common, you know, your wife's as a singer, my wife's a jazz singer. And I think that's very strong. I've seen musicians as well. They're always even when they're, they're finished the first this album, one album, for example, there's nothing Okay, I want to move Okay, what I'm gonna do the next for the record companies trying to tell them actually no, you still need to promote it. Last thing you just created. Well, yeah, I just
Michael J. Gelb
called at some Bob Dylan concert many years ago and also with the Rolling Stones. So I met Bob Dylan many years ago. Busy focusing on the next thing you He was going out great. So I'm sure you're that's a good point.
James Taylor
So So as you've kind of gone through this journey of writing was a been a key aha moment or lightbulb on insight in terms of what you what you wanted to do with your writing and where you wanted to take your writing.
Michael J. Gelb
Well, you know, the real thing. The significant, most significant aha moment, besides the obvious one have, I learned mind mapping and that unleash my creative power. And it's still the methodology I recommend. Just to everyone is what I teach you on my bookshelf over there. There's, there's a whole couple of shelves that are books that people sent me. It's the first book they ever wrote, that they used, inspired by the ideas in my books. So I have all these books. This is a special thanks to Michael Gallup, who taught me blah, blah, blah, or dedication to the book to me and whatever. So I've got I've got tons of that and I don't want to fill that shelf to the overflowing where I help as many people possible. So mind mapping all the other techniques and methodologies in in the books. But But the real Aha. And this was gradual. This didn't even happen after my first book I published and translated, didn't even have the second book now, I'd say, I'd say really wasn't until I wrote how to think like Leonardo da Vinci that I, that I realized that as an author, I could probably whatever the thought was, I could say in a way that I thought was original, and that I like better than the famous person who said the quote. So in other words, my new criteria for putting quotes in my book was it's either so a profound authority that's echoing what I want to say. It's hilariously funny in a way that I want to pay tribute to. Or I just can't say it better than this person did. But what I realized is that a lot of these thoughts are in almost every book. These are not original things. You know, there's, there's, this was all created by Plato and Socrates and Aristotle and, and go to the east and Lao Tzu and Confucius and go to the Middle East. And there's Rumi and there's Eben RB go to the sources of wisdom around the world and ideas were thought of a long time ago.I mean, it's shocking to go back and find something you think is this new idea? Wow. I just got This is just a best selling book. Well, we could trace it back for thousands of years. So it's actually a line in my most recent book, there's there's a great line from playwright. He says something like, everything worth saying, has already been said many times before. But since no one was listening, we have to say it again. I love that quote. Right. And our job is to say it in a new and refreshing and timely and original way. So your job is not to come up with a new thought that's so new that it just gonna rock everybody's world completely. Nobody ever thought of that. Oh, my God. Your job as an author is to come up with these universal truths but link them to people's experience in a way that's so compelling that they finally get it Yeah. That they They get it and they're they're inspired to act or really change or rich their lives or somebody else's life. And that's that's a tremendous realm for creativity. So realize your questions, the author has to realize that. I mean, I remember when I realized this, and my goal is to help other people realize that you have your own voice. You have your own, your own. But if you what that means is you it's its authority, it's authoritative. This is the same Buddhist author and it's auditory you have to listen within. You have to be have the courage. When it comes to core meaning heart You have to have that heart quality, to be really open and really willing to express yourself and share what you what you see what you think what you believe. Which means you have to ask the question, What do I think what do I see? What do I do? Believe, you know I read all this other stuff I take this all in what do I really think about it? What's my what's my take on this and then be willing to express it being aware that you will be criticized that and that if you if you really tell me what you think what you feel what you believe there's a certain vulnerability inherent in that whereas if you just say what everybody else says blah blah blah I've got it right it can be said that bla bla bla bla bla Well, you're hiding behind a lot of academic writing and
James Taylor
so as my friend said, I mean he's he's a great great speaker actually speaks in the same on on that topic of creativity. And members showing a video to him very early on him saying Tim, so it's really great said but cuz he knows I come from the world of music originally said. You sound like a cover band. You're playing other people's hits. And and he said you need to start writing your own stuff. He said, he said, because you're really good at it, you're really good at covering those songs. And and we've all probably been in those bars where there's a band while they're doing a great version of Steely Dan, he 19. But it's still a cover version is not it's not the only thing. So I totally get what you're saying there. But finding that voice, and I think it does, it does take a while to be able to do that.
Michael J. Gelb
And having said that, what a great way to start as a cover band, or copying the masterpieces of the greatest painters history or singing in the style of some of the great singers of the past. Immerse yourself in genius. That's that's
James Taylor
Yeah, said to beat The beat. That's how the Beatles did it. They did that those clubs in Hamburg and they were playing everyone else's stuff. But then they they find their own voice while they while they wanted to say themselves and they put their own thing out there.
Michael J. Gelb
So feed yourself, nurture yourself with genius in all areas that this is what I I this is now fast. to YouTube at pretty much every night. I am watching amazing documentary shows about the greatest geniuses who ever lived. I'm watching live video of some of the greatest spiritual masters who've ever lived. And I watched comedy. Watch this in the last week I watch. I watch a show about Michael Faraday. Ben Franklin says on Monday something about a mathematics and you know the Fibonacci series and pi and all that good stuff. And this is just this is accessible in a way that it never has been in human history really high quality in depth. Plus, I last night, I was hanging out with ramen and Maharshi You know what, maybe the greatest spiritual genius of the last hundred years And you're having one of his closest disciples read his book. And we're looking at film of him at his ashram in India. I mean, that's, this is and then I watched some Seinfeld and stands up is the yin and the yang of it.
James Taylor
So what about it? Let's let's talk about some start to finish up here. Some of the tools that you use what what tools do you use to to write the other particular things you find very useful to kind of help kind of get your ideas out there.
Michael J. Gelb
Yeah, well, the simplest thing is Mind Mapping generate first, then organize, get over, inhibit the tendency to premature organization. Don't try to put things in order 1234 even with bullet points, go nonlinear. Use lots of imagery keywords, generate first then organize, rinse, and repeat for wherever it's the yin and yang of creativity, you have to go into the chaos. The other thing of course is incubation missing link. take walks in nature. I mean, every day I go for an hour long walk in the woods. I shut off my phone and I don't talk. So have some sort of incubator Tory practice where you know, meditate every day, do Tai Chi Qigong go to yoga class, walk in the woods. get lots of input. This doesn't happen in a vacuum. So, read, watch YouTubes talk to inspiring smart people. Surround yourself with the most brilliant people that you can. real and virtual. And that is what you know that is our life. We have amazingly brilliant people coming over to our home. We Like an ankle, we just want high level inspiring influence coming in to our our home and into our media. We we delete rubbish really quickly and try to screen it out because that even though you have access to Rama Maharshi and Michael Faraday in your, on your device or in your bedroom in your living room, if you're not consciously accessing genius, the default setting is going to be utter rubbish. So, so you have to be a champion for high level curation of your mind and your soul and your spirit in the world today, more so than ever before. It's stuff, but it's what I call the tsunami of spam It's coming at you. So you want to be vigilant in freeing yourself from from all of the rubbish.
James Taylor
And well, but if there was one, one book, we're going to have links to your books here as well. But if there's one book by maybe another author on the craft of writing, what what book would you recommend to people?
Michael J. Gelb
You know, the book. The book I really I would recommend to people is the War of Art by Steven pressfield. Just because he does a great job of helping people become aware of resistance and how to overcome it, and he gives it a capital R. And he's, he's, he's very articulate. He brings that to life for people in a way that I think will really help them. So I that's a book and it's also a short, easy to read book.
James Taylor
Great book. I'm gonna be a final question here. I want you to imagine tomorrow morning, you wake up, and you have to start from scratch. So you've got all the knowledge that you've acquired over the years, all the skills you have as an author as a speaker, but no one knows you, you know, no one, the slate is wiped clean. What would you do? How would you restart?
Michael J. Gelb
I get to work writing this book that I'm working on anyway. Ah, it is, but it's really the place I would I would focus on writing about and making it great. Because being an author, your book is the brochure. It's a pay brochure for everything you do. And you know, I would I would then be, I would be also going out and interacting with people. I'd be attending events. I'd be making personal connections. I'd be focusing on how I could help other people first because Then they want to help you. Usually some generosity. So, principles operate for anyway I just say okay, well, I mean, I am starting over tomorrow I don't take it for granted that the people, if people come up to me all the time, they say, Are you famous? I said, Well, if you had to ask the answer must be no. But other people come up and say, Oh my god, you're you know, you learn how to think like that. And that book changed my life, oh my god, blah, blah, blah. So, am I famous? Or am I not? Who the hell am I, I you know, I'm not identified with either of those things. I what I am identified with is the source of creativity. So I'm a servant of the source of creativity, and love and light and inspiration and wisdom and connection. I am in service of that source. So I tune into that source every day. That's the only thing that has a walk in the woods or do my Tai Chi or my Ji Gong and I I let that source guide me. And it's it's so it's just I'm surfing I'm surfing
James Taylor
surfing that wave of credit. And it's I mean, you've been very inspiring in our conversation today and, and I loved you know, the Leonardo da Vinci book about curiosity and all these is a great, great book. So if people if people want to go and learn more about your writing, get copies of the book, and I know you do other things in terms of events as well, where's the best place for them to go and do that?
Michael J. Gelb
Thank you. Well, the best thing to do is go to MichaelGelb.com it's G E L B. MichaelGelb.com you can sign up for our free newsletter. There's also lots of free video on the site and articles you can download for free. And then they can also look for if if people come to Michael Gill calm and go to the blog and click on the area where talks about upcoming events. And if you don't see what you're interested in on the site, you sign up for the newsletter, and we'll let you know what we're what we're up to.
James Taylor
Well, Michael, it's been an absolute pleasure speaking with you today. Thank you so much for coming on today. Sharing your insight sharing your wisdom, inspiring us to to create and to write, and we'll put all those links here below for everyone I wish you all the best with with everything you have coming up and with the new books you're writing,
Michael J. Gelb
thank you so much.
James Taylor
If you're interested in living a more creative life, then I'd love to invite you to join me as I share some of the most successful strategies and techniques that high performing creatives use. I put them all together in a free downloadable ebook that you can get by going to jamestaylor.me. That's jamestaylor.me. To get your free downloadable ebook on creativity.
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