How do you step up to being more creative in your day-to-day life?

To answer this question, I’ve called in creativity guru Mark McGuinness. I stumbled across Mark in the blog series Lateral Action, which is about creativity and productivity. Mark is the founder and principle of Wishful Thinking, a coaching service for creative businesses and professionals. He even has an MA in Creative and Media Enterprises from the University of Warwick, and is the author of a popular e-book called How to Motivate Creative People [Including Yourself].

Mark started his practice as a hypnotherapist and some of his best sessions were with creative types, such as artists, actors, writers and filmmakers. He saw that his enthusiasm was up, his clients were getting results, and it was a strong sign that he was in the groove of doing his Great Work.

During our conversation, Mark shares valuable insights on creativity:

• Forget about being creative. Start creating.
• The “cash and sex” theory of balancing creativity in your career
• Getting a good system to keep the cash rolling in
• The TOTE model for managing projects
• How exercise helps creativity (and how you can find the motivation to hit the gym).

Connect with Mark on his website www.wishfulthinking.co.uk, his blog lateralaction.com, or on Twitter @MarkMcGuinness.

Listen to my interview with Mark McGuinness

Gwen Bell is passionate about … life. She’s a yoga teacher, a social media swami, a champion for community, a whiz on technology, a connector and an engager and a philosopher on life. I interviewed her because her name kept popping up in interesting places, and then I discovered I loved her take on the world – for instance, take this fabulous post that sums up my life: Exuberant Imperfection Trumps Expertise .

In our conversation we range all over the place, including:

• The adventure of starting a yoga studio in Japan
• Exactly why meditation matters (it’s more than just ‘following your breath’)
• A brilliant way to reduce the time you spend on email
• Why 1000 is a great number to keep in mind

You can read Gwen’s blog Big Love in a Small World here and follow her on Twitter at @GwenBell

Listen to my interview with Gwen Bell

Professor Isaac Getz is the professor of Idea, Initiative and Innovation Management at the ESCP Europe Business School and author of a new book that gets right to the very heart of what it takes to do Great Work in an organization: Freedom Inc.

It’s a terrific book and follows on nicely from the previous interview with Bob Cialdini. The book tells the stories of organizations that are approaching work by thinking about how to work differently and succeeding because of this approach. The subtitle says it all: Free Your Employees and Let Them Lead Your Business to High Productivity, Profits and Growth. Isaac incorporates his own background of innovation but looks at a bigger picture of how work is evolving, and that’s what we talk about in this interview. We discuss:

• How the style of “liberating leaders” is the starting point for any Freedom Inc.
• The importance of people feeling intrinsically equal – and what that actually means
• The impact of a lessening of control from the top – and the impact that has on agility and ability to serve your customers

You can learn more about Professor Isaac Getz and his book at freedomincbook.com.

Listen to my interview with Professor Getz

One of the giants in the self-development world, Leo Babauta. His blog Zen Habits is read by over 150,000 people, and with good reason. It’s practical, wise and committed to helping people create a better life for themselves through simple productivity. He’s also the author of The Power of Less, a best-selling book which helps declutter your life on every possible level.

I’m thrilled to say Leo has  contributed a piece to my new book,  Do More Great Work.

In this interview Leo and I talk about:

• How he balanced two jobs (and a family with six children) to launch Zen Habits
• Leo’s core planning tool – and it’s about having fun
• Why starting small is the most powerful way for getting big
• The secret to leaving behind a bad habit and taking up a more positive, new one.

You can follow Leo on Twitter at @zen_habits and read his work on his blog.

Listen to my interview with Leo Babauta

Those who like Hugh MacLeod’s cartoons and writing like them a lot, and I’m one of those people. His cartoons are wise, abrasive and often cut to the heart of what it means to do Great Work, to find your own path and to stay human in the corporate world – or as he puts it in this interview, “figure out what’s really going on.” In fact, he often refers to this cartoons as ‘cubicle bombs’ – little explosions that disrupt Business As Usual. I’ve got this one hanging up in my house:

In our interview, we spend a good deal of the time exploring some of the 40 strategies for creativity he outlines in his book ‘Ignore Everybody‘ including:

• What it really means to ’sing in your own voice’ (and how Hugh found his)
• How Hugh manages to stay creative and fresh – and the answer is surprisingly undramatic
• What, when it comes down to it, Hugh thinks is the secret to his and others’ success

You can follow Hugh on Twitter at @gapingvoid and see his cartoons and art at his blog, www.gapingvoid.com

Listen to my interview with Hugh MacLeod here