The Heart to Start: Win the Inner War and Let Your Art Shine

In this encouraging guide, Kadavy (Design for Hackers), shows how to jump-start one’s creativity. Kadavy uses material from his podcast, Love Your Work; entertaining metaphors; and vignettes from his life and those of a myriad of others such as a behavioral scientist, a board game creator, a singer-songwriter, and a chef to highlight the obstacles that prevent people from starting their creative projects. Original terms, such as “the Fortress Fallacy” (imagining one’s project in its most ambitious possible form before even starting) and “Inflating the Investment” (overestimating how much time and energy projects will take) clearly illustrate the thinking that leads to procrastination. The practical advice and techniques that Kadavy provides for circumventing distorted thinking and ego-driven insecurities, such as “motivational judo,” in which “you use the force of your own ego to kickstart your project,” make it sound relatively easy to start creating, but Kadavy is careful to keep expectations realistic. Reassuring reminders not to be defeated by discomfort, perfectionism, and the fear of others’ judgments, and to follow one’s curiosity and passion, round out this lively, motivating entry into the self-help genre. [em](BookLife) [/em]