Octavian Mihai

PLAY AS HUMAN NEED Leisure and play in particular are fundamental human needs and important activities for human development. Games and most play can be defined by a basic set of rules, a goal and by a fun factor. THE PROFESSIONAL CREATIVE ON-DEMAND CLASS RELOADED We are in the 21st century, in a modern, free [...]

WE LIVE IN OUR HEADS Just consider the fact that everything around us is, to a certain degree, radiation. And that the brain interprets everything. Including the inverted images formed on your 2 retinas. Our brain tells itself stories predicting the future and making sense of the past. And the goal of course is to [...]

I have been away for the past two weeks. Had some business meetings in NYC and then left in vacation in Central America. The blog will resume its regular scheduling (a couple posts a week).

Last week as I was reading Seth Godin and Tom Peters on giving away content for free I posted a random tweet about my April Amazon order. 14 books from my April Amazon order. Latest Godin, @Tom_Peters, @chrisbrogan, @ScottBelsky but also some de Bono, Schwab, Hopkins & Ogilvy Early next morning I received a reply [...]

Oh, the ignorance… SCIENCE AND ART In science there will never be a final theory. That is the founding premise of the scientific method. Science evolves in bursts or steps. The goal of science is to light up and understand reality. It is a process of unveiling and of deepening the realm of understanding. Every [...]

Most current books give exceptional examples that drive a certain point home. Of course it is fine to give Apple or Google as examples and trend setters. Of course it is inspiring to listen to the stories of becoming of great thinkers. Of course we’re sitting on the shoulder of giants. With hindsight one might always say [...]

I am not sure if the latest generation is always the most rebellious, but it is definitely considered the most outrageous by the previous ones. Our exaggerated individuality and need of self-expression is only a profound  desire for conformity and group acceptance. And thus we are all struggling misunderstood Baby-Boomer wannabe’s. Let this sink in for a moment. Every prisoner dreams of becoming [...]

BASIC MANAGEMENT CONCEPTS: PROJECTS VS OPERATIONS Projects are defined by a beginning, a closure and by the accomplishment of a specific goal. Examples of personal projects: graduating from university, buying a house or changing your job. Operations are ongoing recurring activities. Example of personal operations: Staying in shape, eating healthy or walking your dog. So staying healthy is [...]

Forget about Tom Peters. Ignore Seth Godin. Stop priming yourself. If by now you are not motivated enough you’ll never be. Stand up. Drink a coffee. Get your shit together. Devise your evil plan and roll with it. Hush now, go away.

What makes us human is not our job. And suddenly I imagine all my human resources friends throwing at me looks of disapproval. It is quite ironic and very often I feel the hypocrisy, and the cold cynicism of branding, in the oxymoron ‘human resources’. Just don’t point your fingers yet. Put yourself in the shoes of [...]

A LIVING SPACE These writings will always be unfinished and indecisive.  This is the great difference between a one time discrete book deal and an organic continuous living space. THE INDECISIVE ANSWER I realized many of my readers dig deeper and deeper to read posts from a couple of years ago. Although I subscribe to the [...]

The Creative Class Manifesto proposal  has been approved for voting at ChangeThis.Com! Here is this direct link to vote. Let’s make this happen and break the doors of perception. This is for the subversively inclined of course!

CONTEXT This comes in continuation to The Rebirth of Creativity And The Introspective Muse: About Irrationality, Seth Godin And Storks. Here is a quote to put things in context: The irrational passion is good as long as it is not stupid… And for it not to be stupid, you either have to be very lucky or very smart… This post is [...]

It’s 2002 once again you’ll say. However this is not about trends and say you decideed to express yourself online. 1. DO NOT LOOK FOR FAME You will be disappointed. Everybody will have their 15 min of fame on the internet (Nick Currie aka Momus I think). Fame will find you should you do everything right and [...]

This post follows: Digital Lies And Truths or The Anatomy Of A Digital Agency And What To Do Not To Suck. Let’s kick it: ORIGIN 1800′s AGE 5-160 yrs old FOUNDERS Marketers, copywriters, designers. ADVERTISING IDEOLOGY Several. Scientific, emotional creative, reptilian, etc. FOCUS On brand awareness. MOST FALLACIOUS ARGUMENT Create a drive-to-web mix-media (print, radio, TV, [...]

ORIGIN Mid-90′s, 00′s AGE 1 – 15yr old FOUNDERS Web ‘designers’, geeks, programmers, technical background. ADVERTISING IDEOLOGY None. Other: social media and technology is the future. FOCUS On last click call-to-action intent. MOST FALLACIOUS ARGUMENT Create buzz-oriented inexpensive content, invest in SEO Publicize that content on niche hubs and drive users to a corporate microsite Use a [...]

On April Fools’ Seth posted Are you rational?. I am not arguing for or against Seth. I get the poke. I’m just ranting on my own since I have plenty of friends who still believe in muses and pure intuition for their creative craft. The irrational passion is good as long as it is not [...]

OVERVIEW So, as you might already read in Where Do We Go From Here? A Blog’s Life early last month, I have started an experiment. I had a couple pointers: To publish whatever inspires me. My interests were exploring concepts in creativity, marketing, business and personal discovery. To post with almost daily frequency To keep my posts as [...]

[UPDATE April 7th: Manifesto proposal approved at ChangeThis.com. Make it happen and vote here: http://changethis.com/proposal/show/27 . This is our moment!] We are the creative class. We breathe change. We move fast. We will change the world! We are web designers, bloggers, SEO experts, interactive experientialists, flashers, refined political critics, social media experts, geeks, artists, account executives, storytellers, [...]

CREATIVITY, INNOVATION AND THE GREEDY PATH Creativity and innovation never come by taking the fastest path. If it were so anybody can be called creative and innovative. Read more about the Greedy Choice: The Greedy Gene. Funny enough since quick-wins are the trend today, everybody and his brother calls themselves creative and innovative. The creativity concept [...]