Hello. Thanks for stopping by. If you would like to learn more about personal and organizational change, why not subscribe to the RSS feed. Or, if you're old school, Bookmark This Site

If you travel the Internet at all, you’ve probably encountered the strange word NaNoWriMo. As you may have guessed, it’s an abbreviation, a krasis if you will, of November is National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo is an organization and a group of people who commit themselves to writing 50,000 words of fiction - the equivalent of a short novel - in the month of November. If you succeed in doing this, you “win.”

I’m a winner from 2006 and I highly encourage anyone with the slightest interest in improving their writing or creative skills to sign up and participate.

Why Would I Want to Do That To Myself?
It may sound intimidating to write 50,000 words in 30 days, but really it’s only 1667 words per day.

Okay, that’s still crazy - but that’s the point.

By committing to pushing out so many words in such a short period of time you are forced to silence your inner critic. You know that voice, the one that tells you that your ideas are foolish and you shouldn’t even bother to start because you’re doomed, DOOMED to fail? Well, that voice doesn’t even have a chance to catch its breath before you’ve gotten through chapter 3 when you’re a NaNoWriMo writer.

Will I Write the Great American Novel?
Not a chance. You’ll write what Anne Lamott elegantly called a “shitty first draft.” And it will be bad. I mean horrifyingly, cringe-inducing bad.

But it will be great. Because you’ve done it. Once you get to the finish line and print out your winner’s certificate, you will have proven to yourself that writer’s block is a myth. That you don’t have to “feel” like it to be creative and that is worth all the pain and suffering and late nights.

How Does This Help With Change?
I’ve written before about analysis paralysis. It’s a disease that many of us suffer from, and I’m just as guilty as anyone else. Over time, experiences like NaNoWriMo can teach us that Just. Doing. Something. is worth more than all of the planning-to-plan in the world. Sure you’ll make mistakes and leave lots of broken things and casualties along the way, but at least you’ll have started.

I haven’t even started cleaning up the mess of my NaNoWriMo draft, and honestly I may never finish it, but I know that I have enough raw material to create something that someone will want to read.

When the clock strikes midnight NaNoWriMo 2007 will begin. Head over to the site right now and start typing your words!

I recently came across Mycoted which bills itself as “a central repository for Creativity and Innovation on the Internet as a summary of tools, techniques, mind exercises, puzzles, book reviews etc, that is open to all - and can be written by all.” It is owned by a UK consulting company, but looks like an open wiki. Current content includes tools like Negative Brainstorming, riddles, and Consensus Mapping. It may be worth checking out if you run into obstacles in a group process or need a personal creativity boost.

“You could not step twice into the same river; for other waters are ever flowing on to you.”
- Heraclitus, On the Universe

Never the Same River Twice is an odd name for a blog. It breaks all the rules for website naming. It’s a long URL, it references a somewhat obscure idea, and it’s badly translated from the Greek.

For those who are unfamiliar with the pre-Socratic philosophers, Heraclitus is most famous for his theory of constant change. Essentially, he believed that all matter is constantly being transformed at such a fast rate that if you step into a river and step out again, by the time you are able to put your foot into the river again it will not be the same. When I think about the rate that the world seems to be changing, it seems like a very modern thought.

To me, Never the Same River Twice is an abbreviation of a concept that I hope to explore in this blog. For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by the ever-changing nature of the reality that each of us experience. I’ve studied it, tried to understand it, and struggled to coexist with it in some semblance of harmony.

Increasingly, I am drawn to the idea of traveling lightly through this world and experience what it gives me. As it becomes harder and harder to hold onto everything I desire, I am beginning to realize that I will have to learn different ways of relating to myself, other humans, and the interesting trip we are all on.

Writing is one of the ways that I experiment with ideas. To some extent this blog is a pure indulgence, a place for me to record my mental ramblings. However, I have a half-formed hope that my research and writings could be helpful to others who may be curious about change and how we deal with it. The subject matter of this blog will probably evolve (how fitting) over time, but for now, my vision is to write about the following subjects:

• Change and change management on the personal, organizational, and societal levels.
• Stories of other people that have had transformative experiences.
• Innovation and creativity and how they happen.
• The occasional miscellaneous rambling

I hope you find the subject matter interesting and useful. If not, I’m open to suggestions!