"UMPH"

Brain Juice.

Call it whatever you want: Creativity, Drive, Ambition, Willpower... whatever that evanescent mental "umph" is that makes us GO, it's fueled by Brain Juice.

Brain Juice, or "umph," is produced by a gland in the brain that governs such things. It doesn't matter which gland or what science calls it. From this gland stems all our creativity and desire to produce our works, from art to song to the written word, films, television or snappy ad slogan.

Umph, kids.

And, like any other muscle or working part in the body, this gland can get tired. It can get overworked. It can get flabby from under-use. It can also suffer stress dysfunction-- impotence or random, premature production of Umph, resulting in flashes of inspiration or creativity at inappropriate times, when there's no place for it to go.

We have to treat the Umph gland with respect. It needs to be nurtured, worked out, and handled with care. We can't expect it to pull a week of fourteen-hour days in a row and still provide us with any Umph. Have you ever tried creating something on low Umph levels? It ain't pretty.

Art becomes derivative, flat. Writing becomes stale. Songs become lackluster. Oh sure, the TECHNICAL expertise that we learn through our experiences is still there, but it doesn't sparkle.

Here's some tips on how to keep the Umph flowing:

1) Don't demand from the gland! Don't expect it to produce a steady stream of Umph 24/7. It can't. It's as mortal as the rest of you-- and chances are if you're not in good physical shape, neither is your Umph producer.

2) Artificial stimulants are not a good long-term solution. Caffeine, for example, is a great Umph juicer-- but don't expect it to work every time. There could also be unexpected side-effects-- the jump in Umph you experience today could burn you out for three days afterwards.

3) Be kind, recline. Sometimes the best thing to do for the gland is to take a break. Get away from your routine and rest, or take a walk or some other relaxing activity.

4) Like attracts like. Go in search of inspiration of like-minded projects that parallel yours in some way. Sometimes, seeing what's out there in your field can wake the gland up with a reveille of excitement and renewed commitment, just because of what someone else was able to do with a similar idea.

5) You're at your best without the stress. Remove distractions-- excessive noise, too many sources of sensual stimuli, excess clutter-- create a space and time that are just for you. Treat your gland to a rejuvenating, ritual routine for it to produce Umph in. It will soon recognize the routine and start outputting Umph in a much more controlled, regular fashion.

Today, I got away from the computer and bundled the family up and went to Starbucks/Chapters and hung out for a bit, reading Christmas decoration magazines. So I got a bit of three of the above: I went out, I had caffeine (note that it was part and parcel of the whole experience and not an end in itself), and I looked at stimulus in pretty things.

And lo, by the time I got back, I had a brain FULL of Umph. And I certainly wasn't about to let it go to waste-- welcome to today's blog.

Umph. The lifeblood of my people.

Posted by Agent M at November 21, 2003 04:55 PM