A couple of weeks ago, writer Pico Iyer visited Chapman University to talk about creativity. His visit couldn’t have been better timed for those of us heading into a summer break, a sabbatical, or even just the rest of our writing lives. These five principles can be adapted well beyond the writing life to help anyone rethink priorities and better use time to serve our real priorities. His ideas, which we’ve named and which you can read more about at The Huffington Post or Lofty Ambitions, are The Big Retreat, The Device Sabbath, The Online Delay, The Brief Getaway, and Write by Hand.
These principles are somewhat simple and make a lot of sense. Even one or two changes in our schedule are likely to help us redefine our priorities and increase awareness of the choices we're making about how we spend our time. What works for Pico Iyer might not work for us, and what worked for us five years ago might not work again now. But if you want to re-set, one or two of these principles might be just the thing to nudge you.
