The Accidental Creative

By: Todd Henry

Narrated by: Todd Henry

Length: 5 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's Summary

It isn't enough to just do your job anymore. In order to thrive in today's marketplace, all of us, regardless of our role, have to be ready to generate brilliant ideas on demand. Business creativity expert Todd Henry explains how to establish effective practices that unleash your creative potential. Born out of his consultancy and his popular podcast, Henry has created a practical method for discovering your personal creative rhythm. He focuses on five key elements:

• Focus: Begin with your end goal in mind.
• Relationships: Build stimulating relationships and ideas will follow.
• Energy: Manage it as your most valuable resource.
• Stimuli: Structure the right "inputs" to maximize creative output.
• Hours: Focus on effectiveness, not efficiency.

This is a guide for staying inspired and experiencing greater creative productivity than you ever imagined possible.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2011 Todd Henry (P)2011 Gildan Media Corp

Critic Reviews

"The gift of creative insight is not to be squandered! Todd Henry has assembled a guide that will enrich your creative pursuits. Don't dream without it." (Scott Belsky, CEO, Behance, and Author of Making Ideas Happen)

Becoming and maintaining the Accidental Creative

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes. I have been listening to Todd Henry's excellent podcasts The Accidental Creative for over year. This book has some very helpful hints to generating creative ideas on a regular basis and optimal ways to managing your work/life balance.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Accidental Creative?

There are some nice real world stories that illustrate his points about his kids and people Todd has met.

What about Todd Henry’s performance did you like?

Since Todd is the voice behind his podcast series I knew his audio book would be a be a good listen, easy to understand and gives good advise in managing things.

Any additional comments?

Listen to this audio book and the podcast series The Accidental Creative as well.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

If you aren't busy, this book will make ya!

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Both yes and no. It's okay, but the author goes on a sheer rampage of things you have to do. You should spend 20 minutes on this every day, spend 30 minutes on that, and 10 minutes on this and 20 minutes on that. And, you should make this list and that list, and then another list, and brainstorm and think about and generate ideas and on and on and on and on.

I got really stressed listening to all his suggestions. Everyone can be creative. What everyone can't, is be consistently productive while being creative, as a creative professional.

I don't feel the book helps me much in that regard. Rather, it suggests how I can stress myself out writing a gazillion notes and do a multitude of exercises.

Has The Accidental Creative turned you off from other books in this genre?

Not really.

17 of 20 people found this review helpful

One of the Best Books for Creatives

What did you love best about The Accidental Creative?

The great mix of sound concrete implementable advice without loosing the essence and flexibility that is inherent to the creative flow and process.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Todd ... of course :-)

What about Todd Henry’s performance did you like?

He is methodical and deliberate yet personable and engaging.

What insight do you think you’ll apply from The Accidental Creative?

Where to start?! Small best practices to help me do what matters most and also to pay much more attention to the sustainability of my creative process in the long term.

Any additional comments?

I wish there was a way to show a few visuals (diagrams & charts) for certain key sections. Something that could pause the book and see a visual to help crystallize the thought and principle being taught.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Finally, a decent book for 'creatives'.

Any additional comments?

Being a sucker for anything with a title that targets 'creatives', I've downloaded a lotta audiobooks during the recent spate of such releases, but gosh have I been consistently disappointed. Until now.

In The Accidental Creative I've finally found one with the actual substance that is the promise of this kind of title. Todd is an extremely articulate guy with a great head for practical ways to apply process to your creativity in the real world of the modern day creative economy.

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

University Paper Presentation

Yes you will learn one or two things from this book. He has made some good points and I feel proves his case. The argument and style is well laid out however, Todd Henry presents this book like a student presenting their paper to the class in a first year university course. He lacks the enthusiasm and style of his podcast and it becomes boring to listen too. He speaks well, but without personality. I think you would be better to read the book rather than listen to it. Todd I am sure will become a fine narrator in the future, but this I think is his first and lacks the experience and personality of his podcast and lectures. Good work and insightful just lacking the real Todd.

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

Great book for creatives

Todd does a great job explaining how create on demand professionals keep their creative tank healthy.

How to build a foundation to support creativity

Here is a notable excerpt that gets at the crux of the book:
"You need to create space for your creative process to thrive rather than expect it to operate in the cracks of your frenetic schedule. This will not only help you generate better ideas now, but it will also ensure that you are acting on the things that matter most instead of drifting through your days."

I've always been a little disorganized and am a lover of consuming information. The result is a lot of books purchased with most of them unread. I often have very specific objectives in my studies, but am often distracted by other shiny pieces of infomation. This book gave me an outline for studing effectively, and more importantly to take out the deciding what to read by having it already decided with my study plan.
That is only a small part of the book that I realy latched onto. Todd Henry speaks and writes with his personality intact (which I can relate to) making his writing (and reading) easy to consume. High on actionable steps and still keeps your attention.

if you need creativity this is a highly recommended read and listen!

Doesn't Help You to be More Creative

The intended audience for this book is those people already in jobs work creativity is a must and who need to go through mechanics of their job. I was hoping to get ideas on how to be more creative but this book did not have any

Very insightful

Adds another perspective to analyzing your way of life. Perfected with the audible audio support, my first book that I could finish in my 25 years of existence. Good way to culture your reading habits!

Exceptional

I enjoyed this book emensly. Full of useful philosophies and systems for the life of creative professional.