The Accidental Creative: How to Be Brilliant at a Moment's Notice [Hardcover]

Todd Henry (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 7, 2011

Have better ideas, faster, without the stress and burnout.

It isn't enough to just do your job anymore. In order to thrive in today's marketplace, all of us, regardless of our role, have to be ready to generate brilliant ideas on demand.

Business creativity expert Todd Henry explains how to establish effective practices that unleash your creative potential. Born out of his consultancy and his popular podcast, Henry has created a practical method for discovering your personal creative rhythm. He focuses on five key elements:

* Focus: Begin with your end goal in mind. 

* Relationships: Build stimulating relationships and ideas will follow. 

* Energy: Manage it as your most valuable resource. 

* Stimuli: Structure the right "inputs" to maximize creative output. 

* Hours: Focus on effectiveness, not efficiency. 

This is a guide for staying inspired and experiencing greater creative productivity than you ever imagined possible.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"My copy of "The Accidental Creative" has notes and highlights throughout. Invaluable for anyone who thinks for a living."
-Seth Godin, Author of "Linchpin"
"Mr. Henry's prescription for maximizing productivity is sagacious, innovative, and sublimely practical. I've already incorporated into my own regimen three of his notions and they are working like gangbusters. "The Accidental Creative" is high-octane fuel for creative productivity."
-Steven Pressfield, Author of "The War of Art"
"Todd Henry has spent years breaking down the secrets of highly effective creatives. Read this book and prepare to ramp up your brilliance!"
-Chris Guillebeau, Author of "The Art of Non-Conformity"
""The Accidental Creative" is an inspiring and practical guide for staying fresh and doing brilliant work. If you regularly need great ideas, this book will help you find them."
-Tony Schwartz, Author of "Be Excellent at Anything"
"There are two definitiver

About the Author

Todd Henry is the founder and CEO of Accidental Creative, a consultancy that helps organizations generate brilliant ideas. In 2006 he started The Accidental Creative, one of the top business podcasts. Henry is a sought-after speaker, consultant, and coach. Visit AccidentalCreative.com to learn more.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover (July 7, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591844010
• ISBN-13: 978-1591844013
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,227 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #53 in Books > Business & Investing > Management & Leadership > Decision-Making & Problem Solving
  • #69 in Books > Self-Help > Creativity

More About the Author

Todd is the founder and CEO of Accidental Creative, a company that helps creative people and teams generate brilliant ideas. He regularly speaks and consults with companies, both large and small, about how to develop practices and systems that lead to everyday brilliance. Todd's work has been featured by Fast Company, Fortune, Forbes, HBR.org, US News & World Report, and many other major media outlets.

Todd's book, The Accidental Creative: How To Be Brilliant at a Moment's Notice offers strategies for how to thrive in the creative marketplace and has been called "one of the best books to date on how to structure your ideas, and manage the creative process and work that comes out of it" by Jack Covert, author of The 100 Best Business Books of All Time and founder of 800-CEO-READ.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Plan for Great Creating, July 7, 2011

By 

HolaMindy - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Accidental Creative: How to Be Brilliant at a Moment's Notice (Hardcover)

As soon as I finished reading this, I bought four more copies for my writer friends. This book will serve creative professionals and dedicated hobbyists of all stripes, from writers, painters, and graphic designers to design engineers and computer programmers.

This book will help you bring a thoughtful structure to your every day creative work. It's work in the best way; Todd teaches you how to examine your life as a whole to make sure that you have the key elements necessary to support your creating over the long term.

So often I find myself exhausted from a long day at work, with little energy left to give to my own personal art. After reading the book I've made some small, intentional changes to my daily habits and I've been excited to find I have so much more left in the tank for my writing and creating sessions. I even find myself waking up early, filled with new ideas. That's in the short term; I'm excited for the long term change to my production.

This book stands on its own (no knowledge of the podcast necessary), but fans of the podcast will especially love this book! It's definitely money well spent and I even find that it is helping me to synthesize the ideas from other creative revolution books like Daniel Pink's "A Whole New Mind." The book has earned a spot on my desk, not on my bookshelf.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Perfect Cure For Creative Misdirection...and Preparation, July 7, 2011

By 

meStudio (Westhampton, NY) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Accidental Creative: How to Be Brilliant at a Moment's Notice (Hardcover)

If only I had been armed with this information in college but Oh how grateful I am to have it now!
A few years ago, I stumbled upon Todd Henry and his podcast. Instantly I was drawn in by his accessible manner, as he painted the picture of what creative burn-out looked like..and it was my self portrait. His emphasis on "filling your tank" with artistic input before you even begin expelling your creative output, changed my entire perspective of the process.

This book, How To Be Brilliant At A Moment's Notice is not only the compilation of the Accidental Creative's brilliant, prolific and healthy golden nuggets but reveals to you what's at the core of your blocked and frustrating creative moments. And then helps you create workable resolutions. I am thrilled to say that it exceeded all expectations that I had. It is the essential user's manual for any creative! If your creative outlook was impacted by Steven Pressfield's "The War of Art" then this book will blow you away.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Four Hour Body for the mind, July 7, 2011

By 

BEN LOVE - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Accidental Creative: How to Be Brilliant at a Moment's Notice (Hardcover)

After being a listener of the Accidental Creative podcast for years, it was great to see Todd finally release a book.

This is an important book worth sharing for a few reasons...
1. it's hits all the strong points from Accidental Creative podcasts - and there are many,
2. it covers a ton of uncharted territory extremely relevant to the modern knowledge worker,
3. it articulates art and creativity in way that almost anyone can digest, bringing it closer to home for engineering minds (like mine) and knowledge workers, and
4. brings all this together with a focus on mental and physical health too - it's like a Four Hour Body for the mind.

A thoroughly recommended, refreshing read.