Network Hard and Stop Overthinking

In blogospheric guru Adam Singer’s ever expanding quest to help us all become more productive and valuable individuals, he takes on the bane of creatives everywhere: overthinking.

It keeps us up at night. It recycles already thought thoughts. It hijacks neurons to reach the same old conclusions. But Singer offers some help to let you snap out of overthinking and engage in more productive cerebral activity.

Start with retiring the notion that everything needs to be original all the time, he suggests. Not even the great artistic masters were acting on 100 percent fresh ideas all the time. At some point, every idea is reiterative. Remember the central platitude of the humanities: new art is inspired by life experience and previous art.

For some nuts and bolts advice for being a thriving and remunerated member of the creative class, Freelancer’s Union founder Sara Horowitz picks up where Singer leaves off and breaks down the ABC’s of freelancing. She advocates maximizing your social network, especially in economic down times like the present. Put Singer’s tips and Horowitz’s savvy together and you get a strong recipe for successful creative performance.