The Big Thing

June 13, 2016
Spurred by an impending deadline for a column, New York Times assignment editor and reporter Korkki turned her difficulty writing the piece into the subject of this book. In it, she asks why so many creative people stall out. Moreover, how do the ones who make it keep their drive? Korkki sets out to help people approach their long-term projects with an eye toward actually getting the work done. These projects can be traditionally creative (books, paintings) or organizational (start-ups, charities). In any case, making progress on them requires tuning out the distractions of everyday life, committing wholeheartedly, and doing what one loves out of love, not for wealth and fame. In order to get to work on one’s “big thing” and keep working, she recommends breathing and relaxation, concentration even through illness, taking necessary breaks, managing day jobs while working, and maintaining relationships with loved ones. More of a meditation than a prescriptive lesson, this is a helpful if not particularly fresh guide to getting one’s heart’s project moving.

June 15, 2016
A New York Times business reporter shares her wisdom on creating and completing that elusive back-burner dream project. Korkki's debut, a crisply written meditation on goal achievement, was spurred by an ambitious article she'd written on deadlines. Though the overall process of penning the book was "rough and halting" and the idea had been gestating for decades, it evolved into a learning process for an author plagued by laziness, procrastination, and a barrage of distractions. She shares her personal journey through charming anecdotes and notes on preparatory self-care and via an extensive collective of interviews with psychotherapists, who coach aging adults on their goals; neuroscientists, who study cognitive decline in the middle-aged; dream-interpreting psychoanalysts; and a Jamaican reggae artist who recorded his first full-length album at age 65. Korkki also shares her own path of bringing the book to publication, including the climbing of a mountain with a Mayo Clinic physician. Naturally, she writes, a steely sense of focus, consistent motivation, commitment, and patience are key, but roadblocks like imperfection, self-doubt, and uncertainty are also very much a reality. "Each person who works on a Big Thing experiences limits that can be accepted and also harnessed," writes Korkki. "Even if the limits seem to be negative, they can be transformed into something positive." Hopeful and inspirational, the author profiles extraordinary people making their own aspirations a reality while battling addiction or physical and mental disabilities. The book is grounded in the cultivation of self-confidence and empowerment, and these elements are paramount particularly for an older generation wishing to leave a commemorative legacy in their wake ("the resolve of generativity"). With a supportive tone and gentle but insistent nudging, Korkki urges readers to creatively seize their own great endeavor as it can prove "one of the best ways to connect with the world." Insightful, encouraging, and universally practical.

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June 15, 2016

To overcome procrastination, a writer pens a book about the subject, but does she ever finish it? Yes! This is not a text about creativity, per se. Instead it is about setting deadlines and devising smaller, manageable tasks and figuring out what stands in the way of one finally getting going on that "big project," whether it's writing a book, producing a work of art, starting up a company, or building an app. Part self-help, part memoir, the volume provides examples of a wide variety of people and their undertakings. Korkki, assignment editor for the New York Times Sunday Business section, looks at psychological factors that hold people back and provides practical methods for making plans a reality, often trying them out on herself first. She also considers those of us who do not have this deep-seated artistic urge. Well written, in a breezy confessional style, it is an intriguing work for people in either camp. VERDICT While reading this might prompt yet another means of procrastination, it can also give readers the tips and inspiration they need to get started (or restarted) on their own "big thing." Recommended for public libraries.--Susan Hurst, Miami Univ. Libs., Oxford, OH

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2016
New York Times business editor Korkki draws on many interviews to produce her big thing, this book. Her thoroughly researched stories, intriguing interviews, and self-deprecating style create a fun, thought-provoking read. Want to know why you can't focus? Read Korkki's interview with a neuroscientist. Want to work with less fatigue? Learn how to belly breathe. Whether you learn more about posture, about the importance of letting your big thing sit for a day or even years, or become inspired by young people taking a trip and living through having an Uzi pointed at them, you'll want to keep reading. If you enjoy good journalism and want to create a big thing of your own, read this book. Readers who like Elizabeth Gilbert are sure to enjoy Korkki and, when they've finished this, may want to try Gilbert's Big Magic: Creative Living beyond Fear (2015) for another title that delves into the creative self-help realm.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)