Creativity is Highly Overrated, and Not Even Necessary
I fear that every time I get a new person to this Blog they just skim on by and never stay long enough to really understand what this Blog is all about.
I know I have a lot of work to do to add more content to Creators Create, but from what I have seen already the trend is becoming more and more obvious to me.
People frequent Mark McGuiness’s Blog Lateral Action, which by the way is a tremendous Blog. I can’t say enough good about it. And there are many more Blogs and Forums that deal with creativity and creatives.
But that’s not what this Blog is about.
This Blog is about Creators and the things they create – creations. It’s not about creativity.
Many, too many people believe that in order to create a creation you must have creativity.
That is the biggest bunch of whooey I have ever heard. The fact is you don’t need an ounce of creativity to be able to create creations.
The problem is that most people don’t know what a creation is, therefore they don’t know the role of a creator, nor do they understand the process of creating.
So if you don’t mind, I would like to take a few minutes and go back to the very basics of what this Blog is really all about.
Definitions:
Create = to bring into existence.
Creator = one who brings things into existence.
Creation = the thing that is brought into existence.
There you have it. It’s really not any more complicated than that. Creators bring creations into existence by the act of creating.
The truth is that every single one of us on this planet are powerful creators. We cannot not create. We daily create creations.
Everything you bring into existence is a creation that you create.
Here let me give you a few examples:
- You created breakfast this morning.
- You created a few emails just a few minutes ago.
- You created a “Good Morning” smile for your boss this morning when you got to work.
- You created a better or worse relationship with your spouse today.
- You created a resume.
- You created a clean room.
- You created a hungover body.
- You created an argument.
- You created a funny moment when you told that joke.
- You created an endearing experience when you shared your feelings with a close friend.
Are you starting to understand now what a creation is? Are you starting to see that you are constantly creating? You are a creator, and you are always creating creations.
The question now is: Are the creations you create valuable, important, that improve and bless your life?
Or are most of the creations that you create created by default, without purpose and therefore are useless, unimportant, and do nothing to improve or bless your life?
The chances are since you don’t look at the things that you bring into existence as creations that you probably aren’t all that worried about the quality.
Come to this Blog often and I promise you will begin to look at your whole existence in a whole new light.
With that whole new light you can begin to create on purpose. You will create consciously amazing creations that improve, bless and inspire.
You will find you are a powerful creator. Come back often to learn how.
Oh, and I did I even mention that it doesn’t take an ounce of creativity to be a creator?
By the mere fact that you bring things into existence is proof enough that you are a creator.
You don’t need creativity to create. Creativity is only one tool in the creator’s tool box, and not even a very important tool at that.
Creators create creations, and every once in awhile they might use creativity.
We’ll get into the details of this later on. Come back often to learn more.
If you have thoughts on the subject please don’t hesitate to leave a comment, and engage in a discussion. I look forward to it.
You Don’t Need Creativity To Be A Creator
Did you know you don’t need creativity to be a creator?
Every time I talk about creation, creating, and creators inevitably someone brings up the thought that they don’t have a creative bone in their body, that they’re not creative, that they are not imaginative, they’re not artistic, they have no creativity, and that whatever I’m talking about is not interesting to them, because they just have never been very creative, and they don’t want talk about creativity.
Believe me, I understand. But what I’m about to say might actually clear this up for you forever.
You don’t need to be creative in order to create.
I want you to put a smile on your face. Do it right this very second.
Good.
There, you created. You just put a smile on your face, and that is a creation. The definition of “create” is to bring into existence, and the definition of “creator” is someone who brings things (creations) into existence. So by definition you are a creator. You brought something into existence – the smile that wasn’t there before.
And you didn’t even need creativity in order to create the smile. Creativity is not a prerequisite in order to create. It’s not even a necessary component. Creativity relates to the quality of your creation but it’s not necessary in order to bring a creation into existence.
So what does all this mean to you?
You need to recognize that you have the power to create whatever you want to create. The fact is, you are where you are today because you created what you are today. You are sitting where you’re sitting because you made the choice to sit there; you created that experience in your life. If you had desired to create a different experience you would be sitting somewhere else or walking somewhere else, or in a different place altogether. But you are where you are right now because you chose to be where you are right now – you created this experience.
If you recognize that everything you do is a creation then you can start to quantify or measure your creations. You could start to quantify and measure the creations that you create.
Then you could make your creations more valuable and important to you.
Have you sent out an e-mail today?
If you sent out an e-mail today you are a creator. You created that e-mail. That e-mail did not exist until you wrote it and sent it. Recognize that you created it.
Now you can measure it, and improve it. You can measure how fast that e-mail went out, how fast you typed it, and you can even measure the quality in which you typed it, how many words you typed, how many paragraphs, or how many sentences. You can measure how fast you typed it. You can measure even the quality of what you typed: did it communicate the message that you wanted it to communicate? Did it accomplish what you wanted it to accomplish? All those things you can measure and improve upon to make your creation more valuable and important. And again not a single one of those requires creativity, but nevertheless, sending that e-mail was indeed a creation that you created.
Since you can measure the creations that you create you can quantify the quality and value that you give your creations.
Too many people do not consciously create creations that are valuable in their lives. Instead they live their lives on autopilot, or they create by default; they don’t consciously create experiences that are valuable and important to them – they just live by default.
This morning did you consciously create a wonderful experience? Did you create a wonderful creation called “getting ready for work?” Was it a wonderful creation? Did you have joy in it? Did you make it a beautiful creation for the people around you to enjoy as well? Did you make it a beautiful creation for yourself? Did you make it a memorable beautiful creation for you? Or did you just wake up, hop in the shower, brush your teeth; you know, do the regular rigmarole and then come in to work?
Today I challenge you to look at the creations that you create and ask yourself is this a creation that I think is important, is it valuable, or is this a creation that I created by default?
You Are Important
I want you to know how important you are to my future success. I am not kidding. I mean it.
Too often we think that we are-all-that-and-a-bag-of-chips, that we can get along without anyone else’s help. But I recognize that this blog wouldn’t amount to anything if it weren’t for you.
I need readers. I need people who are actually interested in the subject of creation. I need people who want to be creators – or I am just sitting here typing on a blank wall.
You are important to me. You are the reason I am writing. I want you to know that I appreciate you.
Since this venture is relatively new. I haven’t spent a whole lot of time marketing this site. I intent on doing a ton of marketing these next few months, but for now this is just a beginning.
I would like to know what you would like me to write about. What interests you about creation? What do you want to know about being a creator? What is your perspective on the whole subject?
I would greatly appreciate your comments. I hope that we can begin a dialog about creation and creators. I am passionate about the subject and want to share my findings.
Send me a comment – I appreciate it!
What Is Your Destination?
“The very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision.”
-Theodore Hesburgh
There is a well known proverb that says, “Where there is no vision the people parish” (Proverbs 29:18) This is true.
Start on a trip without a destination and you will never know if you arrive, because you don’t know where you are going. There has to be a destination, some place that you are trying to get to. Wandering aimlessly will lead to aimless discoveries and locations.
Too often people live this way. They never chart a course, look at a map and much less never know if they are even heading in the right direction. They say they know where they want to go and what they want to do with their lives but they have no idea where they are headed.
Creators start at the end. They ask the vital question, “What do I want to create?”
Most of the time we go through life as if we have been given a car and told to drive down the freeway of life with no particular destination in mind. The signs let us know an exit is coming up soon, and we must make a choice, “Do I stay on the freeway or do I take the exit?” When we feel a need – hunger, pain, thirst, etc. – we turn off looking for relief. We make a choice. Once we are satisfied we usually get back on the freeway driving aimlessly in no particular direction.
Many of us stay on the freeway of life because it’s the easiest; society hands us a set of keys and tells us to go for a drive. We may not have anywhere special to go but parents and peers expect us to take our place on the freeway. So, we just keep driving until we have to make another choice out of need.
Creators start with their destination fully locking in their mind. It may be across the mountains where there are no roads. If that’s the case, they get rid of the car and get a mule or start walking. If it’s on the other side of a lake, they find a boat. The process becomes dependent upon the desired destination.
The destination is the creation. The true creator knows what they want to create and they set out to create it.
“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.” -The Koran
In order to create you must have a destination, a vision of where you want to be when you finally get there. Even though great artists’ works sometimes look like they just threw the pain on the canvas, and many times that is just what they did.
World famous Jackson Pollock is a good example of this (Look Above). But the absolute truth is he never did it without calculations. It was purposeful and in a destination of his vision. He set out to make a painting look a certain way or represent a certain feeling or emotion, or elicit a purposeful response, or was designed to generate many different responses – but that was the vision in the very first place – not aimless wandering, or aimless splattering of color on a canvas.
If you don’t know what outcome you want, or even a slight idea, how can you possibly know what to do or how to do it to generate any outcome that would be valuable or important to you as the creator.
Creators create creations of value – remember that. Set your course and create!
Go On Flying Anyway
“Aerodynamically, the bumble bee shouldn’t be able to fly, but the bumble bee doesn’t know it so it goes on flying anyway.”
-Mary Kay Ash
And humans weren’t made to fly either. Have you ever flapped your arms and taken off the ground? Have you ever jumped off a roof and thought you could fly. The Wright brothers were told again and again that man wasn’t able to fly.
There were others at the time of the Wright brothers that were trying many different methods and all had failed. Did that stop the Wright brothers? Did they just stop doing what they were doing and give up? I’m quite sure that they had plenty of reason to stop and give up. I’m absolutely sure that they contemplated quitting a time or two. But they didn’t know better and so kept on going.
Maybe that’s the key – not knowing better. From a young age we are all put on a track because we are told that is the best track to be on.
We are made to feel from a young age that many of the things that happen in life can be filed under the category of, “that’s life”. We go through these things, like hard times, weak moments, sad days, and arguments and such because, “that’s life”.
So maybe the Wright brothers just didn’t know better. They kept on trying because they weren’t told that you shouldn’t keep trying because you’ll fail and you won’t have the success you want.
Which brings me to another thought – how many times did Thomas Edison keep trying?
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that don’t work.”
-Thomas Alva Edison
10,000 failures? Wow, that is almost too much to keep going. What happened? If taken in a nutshell and if created in a vacuum I bet at attempt 99 he wanted to just give up and throw in the towel. But that is not how it works. You keep doing because of why?
- Vision
He had the end vision in mind. He clearly knew that he wanted to create a light bulb. The light bulb was his creation. It was the end destination, and he wasn’t about to stop, or give up until he arrived.That would be like going on a trip to a far country and being content with only getting half way there. “Oh, I went on vacation to the Bahamas, but only got half way there, the plane kept making a funny noise and wasn’t working, so I decided that I’d stop right there (in the middle of the ocean).” - You can build on failures just as well as you can build on successes
Each time he failed he learned important lessons not to do, or things to do the next time, each time was a lesson to prod him on to the next. It was a journey. Not failure after failure, but lesson after lesson. He learned from each lesson one more detail that was necessary to reach success. - You keep on going till you reach your destination
You don’t quit or give up because the road less traveled is hard - Stay the course and enjoy the ride
So stop listening to reason. Dream big. Go for your dreams. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t – not even you. You don’t know better – so keep going till you arrive at your destination – your creation!
Creators Create don’t you know?
