As I mentioned in the My Minimalism Memoir Blog and Podcast 041, I played the 30-Day Minimalist Game (or “Minsgame”) in 2019 to prepare to move to Cologne, and once again this March, in order to curb encroaching clutter and make more space for what is most important.
Now this round of the Minsgame is done, and I won!!! I kept taming my paper tiger all 30 days--totaling 465 pieces of paper!
In so doing, I sorted out a lot of good stuff that will be easier to find as it is now organized in binders (for those things which I do need a hard copy for) and into Evernote (to back up hard copies of critical documents, and as a replacement to hard copies of things for which I don’t need an original) and therefore searchable. My work always requires research, and then having the results at my fingertips for inspiration and citation this is a system that is ever-evolving.
Choreographer Twyla Tharp favors an analog system for storing creative ideas, and shares her system in her book The Creative Habit: "Everyone has his or her own organizational system. Mine is a box, the kind you can buy at Office Depot for transferring files. I start every dance with a box. [...]The box documents the active research on every project."
Everyone can benefit from refining their archiving skills, but especially creatives. Tharp explains the system that Beethoven used in developing his works: "A perfect archive also gives you more material to call on, to use as a spark for invention. Beethoven, despite his unruly reputation and wild romantic image, was well organized. He saved everything in a series of notebooks that were organized according to the level of development of the idea."
Each person must consider what type of system serves their creative process best, and I found Sage Cohen’s system in the book Writing the Life Poetic for storing and accessing ideas very helpful to my poetry practice as well as other areas of creativity: "When your mind is alert to the acorns of inspiration--and you have a good system for saving those acorns--you can build up a surplus. This secret stash of great ideas can keep the pilot light of inspiration going, and get you through the harshest winters of creative dormancy.”
I’m super satisfied to have a big stack of paper that is officially cleared, making room for ideas and a new game: April is Letter-Writing Month for me! I'm also here to support you in playing the Minsgame and whatever simple and creative living projects you’re up to.
What ideas will you capture and act on this week?
Stay tuned on myYouTube Channel and Blog for more about living a luscious life!!
Blythe Stephens, MFA
she/her or they/them
A Blythe Coach: Dance Education & Coaching
move through life with balance, grace, & power
