This is part one in a new blog series called Battle Lines, which will take a look at some of the false fronts in our creative lives and how we can engage more fully in our lives, work and creating.

I’ve been thinking of late about ditching my old methods of planning in favor of some new ones. As much as I’ve often said that there is no such thing as the perfect system, the important thing is simply to choose a system and keep with it, I am in a place where I find that I’ve jumped the rails.

One difficult dynamic to combat is the organizational temptation to “roll to the middle of the bed.” In other words, we tend to eventually end up in the most familiar places because that’s where the ruts and grooves are, and it takes a lot of intentionality and effort to create new ones.

Here’s the low-down on my reading this week. It seems that I’ve uncovered a few (unexpected) gems.

One of the most difficult things for organizations to deal with is the conceptual/concrete divide.

CNN.com reports an explosion in the market for “brain fitness” software and tools. This is not surprising as many people see their aging parents increasingly struggling with Alzheimer’s and related symptoms.

Ahh… the miscellany. Here are a few items of AC interest that I thought might be helpful.