Ever hear of this Continuous Creation Challenge thingy?
Word on the street is some dude named Joel turned a seventy-two hour food fast in April 2012 into a complete consumption fast… and total creation binge.
Sounds scary, glorious, and challenging as all heck, right?
It rocked his world so much that he thought other people should give this “CCC” dealio a shot. So a few of his friends tried it. Then some friends-of-friends tried it.
Then people he didn't even know tried it without realizing they were contributing to the nutty goal of having 100,000 people attempt their own Continuous Creation Challenge by December 31, 2014.
And guess what?
People enjoyed the heck out of their CCC and decided to do it again.
“Whoa!” thought Joel. “This baby might have legs! Hmmm. Maybe I should create a resource kit so people can quickly understand how to do a CCC and have multiple planning tools. Oh, I bet people would dig a schuper schweet FAQ too.”
To Joel's amazement, the planning tools, FAQ, origin story, and the G+ community were all finished in the spring of 2013 before he completed his third CCC (a wild five day adventure).
Now the CCC – or C3 to some people – was more than some random Internet thing. It had value. It resonated with a whole folks. Awesome people were even writing up reviews of their CCC experiences like:
- David (through a designer and stoker's lens with an amazing infographic and timeline)
- Emily (from a professional creative's viewpoint)
- Helga (who accomplished more in an week than most people do in a year)
In the Meantime…
This Joel fella felt great that he could take on and overcome challenges other people wouldn't dream of attempting.
That was liberating (in a “time, money, talent, and then some” kinda way). So liberated was Joel that he decided to skip his semi-annual CCC this month to avoid potential conflicts with one of his greatest creations yet: his second son.
But the fire still burns. He yearns to feel the rush of emotional highs that come only from all-out creativity. He excitedly waits to ignite the next period of uber-creativity where the outside world fades away and his inner child plays.
In the meantime, Joel's hoping that you will do the Continuous Creation Challenge for the first time. He and many others are ready to support you in working up the courage to finally say, “Let's freakin' do this thing, baby!”
But before you do the CCC, you need to accept the challenge to consume less and create more.
So read more about the CCC's origins if you need to.
Explore the FAQs and suggest something that's missing.
Get inspired by the heroes of the CCC.
And by all means, start planning your next CCC today.
Block quote Don't click on another tab, close this window, or read another email or RSS feed until you know whether the CCC is right for you.
And if it is, rock it. Get the plan in place, tell us when, and experience something extremely rare:
The freedom to create and the freedom from consumption.
If I was a dramatic man, I'd say it's a game-changer life-changer.
I'm excited to read, watch, and listen to your CCC stories! The movement to consume less and create more is ancient, but your journey is just beginning.
Your partner in simplifying,
Joel
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Recently, I’ve been unexpectedly engrossed in some projects, which got me thinking about the CCC once again and planning another one. I really like Emily’s idea to prep/transition into it. So, that’s what I’ll be trying with it next time.
Yeah, that transition day – even for people who aren’t going more than twenty-four hours – is a fantastic idea. Kudos again to Emily for thinking of it!
I love to see the different ways people engage with this challenge. The diversity of ideas and the finished “products” that come out of the CCC looks so very different than a novel-writing or screenwriting challenge, which are the creative challenges I’ve tried in the past.
So great to hear what people have created! And for anyone who’s thinking about joining, the G+ community is great, too!
I’ve been impressed with our little crew on G+ too! That last sentence rhymed so well I’m going to stop while I’m ahead (I’m a poet and I don’t even know it).
You know…in a way, I think this whole moving business has actually been the kind of CCC I needed. Not actually the way you define one, but in an unofficial, personal type capacity. I’ve basically given myself a free pass to ignore my inbox, RSS reader, and other online commitments. I haven’t been watching anything (except football!) or reading anything (except novels!). I’ve been creating my new life, in a lot of ways: from cleaning and setting up our house to learning my way around a new town. And this morning, I even started on my next quilting project. So, not exactly a CCC, maybe…but I think it might have served a lot of the same functions for me!