I recently blogged about this book and now I’ve finally finished reading it.
If you have any contact with a creative person at all you ought to read this book. If you are related to a creative, work or live with a creative or are even just friends with a creative this book will make your life a lot easier. If you are a creative you need this book as soon as you can get a hold of it. At this point I’d like to clarify what I mean by a creative. I mean the type of person sho creates artistic works and has a lot of the associated stereotypical things we’ve come to associate with creative people like mood swings, apparent laziness,the insistence to work stupidly long hours once in the flow of their work etc.
Back to the book:
It really was that good. I found myself absorbed in the book from start to finish and it has already impacted not just the way I see myself but also the way I interact with all the different creatives in my life.
The first few chapters just talk about the creative person. How they appear and why they appear that way. The 5th chapter deals with all the negative things that can affect the creative mind and make them appear to be crazy, egotistical maniacs. Chapters 6-9 talk to the people in the world around creatives, starting with partners and parents, then friends, and finally bosses and leaders in the creatives life. The final chapter deals with keeping the creative person anchored and the role spirituality takes in that.
The two writer’s, Jeff and Julie Crabtree, do an amazing job of explaining what is going on in the creative mind in an informative manner without making the creative feel like they are being boxed and defined. They also do a very good job of guiding people who don’t think this specific way through the intricate workings of the creative mind and how to help it when it isn’t working right.
Personally my favourite chapter was actually the chapter on leaders dealing with creative minds. They laid out the best ways to get productivity and happiness out of the creative people in a work situation and not only did I find this really useful in terms of running companies that employ creative people but also from my own experiences working for people that really did not understand the creative persona at all.
For me the book was a must and I really really recommend people read it as soon as they can.
At the moment the book is only available on their website here. It should be coming to Amazon and places like that soon though and I will post again and link to them when it does.