It goes like this:

I was looking for an air mattress last night that my sister-in-law asked to borrow.  I looked high and low.  When I asked my oldest son, who what watching television, he snapped at me.  That irritated me.  I then asked my youngest son, who pretty much ignored me and went on about his business.

I knew that one of them knew where it was and I knew that I hadn’t pressed hard enough.  So I started on a rampage through the house, closets, and storage.  The longer it took the more irritable I became. 

I attempted to ask the boys one more time and got the same, if not worse, response then the first time.

I got angrier, and more frustrated.  When I finally found it, it was sandwiched between two large bags that my youngest son had stacked on top of each other several weeks ago when he was looking for something.

I blew a gasket.  I knew that one of them knew where it was.  I was so angry.  I came in with both barrels loaded and was spitting fire.

My youngest son’s response was, “Why are you getting mad at me?”  It went downhill from there.

The more I pressed my anger the more defensive he got. I was right and he was wrong.  He should have told me.  He should have helped me look for it.  He should have been more sympathetic to my needs.  I was right and he was wrong.

Slow down Hoss.  Get off your high horse and take a step back. 

Neither of my boys had my same agenda at that moment.  Each of them was doing their own thing at the moment.  People forget.  Two weeks earlier when my youngest had moved the air mattress his focus wasn’t on the air mattress it was on something else.

But I turned it into WWIII.  I was right and justified to boot.  And I was going to get justice.  I was going to be vindicated.
Whoa boy…  slow down there.  Sounds to me that you were being reactive; plain and simple.

That is exactly what it was.  I was behaving like a horribly reactive jerk.

Let me help you break this down.  I was creating.  You get that don’t you?  You can see that what I was creating was a mess?  I was tearing down the relationship I have with my sons.

We are always creating.  You cannot not create.

So what should I have done?  What should a Creator do?

Creators recognize that they are always creating, and that being reactive almost always creates a mess, or almost always creates creations of distrust, disharmony, anger, frustration, and destruction.

Since Creators realize that they have the power to create valuable and important creations instead of choosing to react they choose to create.
I could have created a happy environment.  I could have bribed my sons.  I could have created a game of it, a competition.  I could have created a teaching moment.  I could have helped my sons with what they were doing and then have them help me.

Bottom line is …

I could have created an experience that strengthened our relationship.  Instead I created a mess.

What are you creating with your relationships?

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?

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!

In my work I have chosen the positive approach. I never think of myself as protesting against something, but rather as witnessing for harmonious living. Those who witness for, present solutions. Those who witness against, usually do not–they dwell on what is wrong, resorting to judgment and criticism and sometimes even name-calling. Naturally, the negative approach has a detrimental effect on the person who uses it, while the positive approach has a good effect. When an evil is attacked, the evil mobilizes, although it may have been weak and unorganized before, and therefore the attack gives it validity and strength. When there is no attack, but instead good influences are brought to bear upon the situation, not only does the evil tend to fade away, but the evildoer tends to be transformed. The positive approach inspires; the negative approach makes angry. When you make people angry, they act in accordance with their base instincts, often violently and irrationally. When you inspire people, they act in accordance with their higher instincts, sensibly and rationally. Also, anger is transient, whereas inspiration sometimes has life-long effect.
Peace Pilgrim

What you resist persists.  If you are pushing against something then it is for sure pushing back.  This just happens to be one of those irrefutable laws that cannot be changed.

It’s as powerful as the law of gravity.  In fact the law of gravity helps this law out.  Think about pumping iron.  What force pulls the weights downward?  Gravity. 

I’m just want you to think about it for a few minutes.  Is there something in your life that you don’t want, but day in, day out you push against it, you resist it?  If so, then know that you are giving it life.  You are the one giving it the strength to live on in your life.

If you are poor and you are resisting poverty then you are the one who is allowing poverty to live in your existence.  If you are sick and you keep popping pills, or going to the doctors, or thinking about how awful you feel – you are the one who is giving that disease the life it needs to live on.

I know this is all so much easier said than done, but you are your creator.  Always have been – always will be . . .

Create something great!

“Often we allow ourselves to be upset by small things we should despise and forget. We lose many irreplaceable hours brooding over grievances that, in a year’s time, will be forgotten by us and by everybody. No, let us devote our life to worthwhile actions and feelings, to great thoughts, real affections and enduring undertakings.”

Andre Maurois
1885-1967, Writer

 We do don’t we? spend too much, way too much time worrying about small things that should rather be forgotten or despised. The other day my son went through a traumatic (for him at least) event. His girlfriend moved on with her life and broke up. For days he could think of nothing but how sad he was that she no longer had feelings for him.

I’d talk with him for hours, and think that I was making a little bit of headway to help him get over her and then he would respond, “But do you think she still have feelings for me?” What, was I talking to myself?

It then dawned on me that he was looking at life through Rachel-colored-glasses. And as long as he was wearing those glasses he could think of nothing but how everything related to and about her. I told him that he would look back in a year upon this time in his life and he will regret it, or better – he will have forgotten it all together.

Life is too short to waste your time wearing glasses tinted with things you’d be better off despising or forgetting.

So what colored glasses are you wearing? Maybe it’s time to take them off and get busy devoting your time to worthwhile actions. Perhaps it’s time you start creating a magnificent life.

Go ahead, take them off and start creating.

But, have you gotten to the point that you worry people don’t appreciate you and the work you do?

The truth is even when I do my best work; there are those who don’t like it. Or worse – they ignore it.  And the other side of that very same coin is that there’s no reason for them not to like it, really – it’s good, professional work.

I have had criticism from strangers or competitors, but when friends and family ignore my work – that really hurts. They’re supposed to love everything I do!  But they don’t always.

It is a sad but true reality that everyone, even your colleagues and mentors will criticize you – even people you respect.
 
Unfortunately that is just the way it is for creators.
 
One of Aesop’s Fables teaches, “Please all, and you will please none.”  It’s a story of a man, his son and a donkey.  They start by walking along side the donkey – until a passerby mentions that they should ride the donkey – so the many puts his son on the donkey.  This is fine until a passerby tells the boy how selfish he is to ride and make his father walk – so the man gets on the donkey. This is fine until another passerby sees the boy walking and the man riding and comments that the boy should ride as well – the boy hops on the donkey too.  This is fine till another passerby sees the man and his son on the donkey and gets after them for burdening the donkey so much – so the both get off the donkey.  Now they are back to the way they began and have learned that when you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one.

I’m sorry, but it’s just a fact of life – especially for creators.   So accept the fact and the happier and freer you’ll be.

Don’t try and be all things to all people. Everyone has different tastes, different preferences;   “different strokes for different folks.”

People will criticize you – get used to it. It can be helpful, after all. But no matter what, don’t stop creating.  You are a creator.  If every creator stopped creating when they got criticized then we’d not have all their wonderful creations to enjoy and bless our lives with.

Take joy in your creations.  They are great – no matter who else likes them.  You created – and that’s wonderful!  Again, no matter what don’t stop creating!

“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!

One thing though that creators don’t do is set goals.  Now before you go off thinking that I am a complete fool in saying this, please give me a chance to explain myself. 

You have no doubt searched many self development products throughout the years, and probably would agree that almost every single one of them in one way or another talks about goal setting.  Am I right?  Many of those self development products are tremendously powerful self development tools.  I’m not writing this to disagree with goal setting.  There are many great things to be said about goal setting.

Recently I read an article in the Early to Rise newsletter written by Michael Masterson which spoke of setting goals.  It spoke of a study that was done by the Harvard Business School. 

Harvard Business School did a study on the financial status of its students 10 years after graduation and found that:

• As many as 27 percent of them needed financial assistance.
• A whopping 60 percent of them were living paycheck to paycheck.
• A mere 10 percent of them were living comfortably.
• And only 3 percent of them were financially independent.

The study also looked at goal setting and found these interesting correlations:

• The 27 percent that needed financial assistance had absolutely no goal-setting processes in their lives.
• The 60 percent that were living paycheck to paycheck had basic survival goals (such as managing to live paycheck to paycheck).
• The 10 percent that were living comfortably had general goals. They thought they knew where they were going to be in the next five years.
• The 3 percent that were financially independent had written out their goals and the steps required to reach those goals.

Pretty powerful statistics in favor of goal setting wouldn’t you agree?  Like I said I am not writing this article to disagree with goal setting.  It’s just that for creators goals are too weak, too wimpy.  Goals give too much wiggle room. Goals don’t carry enough umph to propel a true creator to the completion of their creation.

Creators create – plain and simple.  It works like this:  A creator dreams of what he would love to create, and then something almost magical occurs.  The creator begins to love the creation.  There begins to be a burning desire inside the creator to see the creation live.  The creator will stop at nothing to bring the creation into existence.  The creator begins to create.  As the momentum increases the creators desire to see the creation exist increases as well.  Passion, diligence, even obsession begin to drive the creator forward.

So you see goals are simply too weak to push the creator towards the creation.  So what do creators do if they don’t set goals?  How do creators ever accomplish anything of any significance if they don’t have goals to push them along? 

I hope that I can explain the answers to those very important questions.  Creators don’t have goals to push them along; instead creators have the creation that is pulling them towards its completion.

It’s kind of like this:  Imagine a mountain climber trying to scale the side of a mountain.  Below the climber is a goal that is trying to push the climber up the rock wall.  Above however is a creation that has lowered a sturdy rope called structure (in later article I’ll describe what structure has to do with creating) that is pulling with great force.  Which do you think will have more success in fulfilling its purpose, the goal or the creation?  Which do you think is in a better position to bring the climber to its desired destiny?

As I hope you can see, goals simply aren’t powerful enough.  And they are positioned in such a way that they cannot make use of powerful tools like passion, diligence, and even obsession.  Creators create creations because they are driven towards and pulled by the creation itself. 

The power to create is immensely more powerful then goals can or ever will be.  In a further article I will explain why this is so.  Come back soon to learn just how powerful this power is.

Bob Bly in an article  entitled “The Best Business Advice You’ll Ever Get” said, “An idea has no value by itself … It only gains value when you put it into action. And too many of us … are better at thinking about doing things … than we are at actually doing them.”

Joe Vitale said, “Money loves speed.”

Robert Ringer said, “Success loves speed.”

Mike Litman “You don’t have to get it right, you just have to get it going.”

Michael Masterson, “Ready, Fire, Aim.”

Mark Twain commented once, “Find out where the people are going, and get there first.”
 
And you can probably recall a few more yourselves.  All great quotes on the theme of speed. What does speed have to do with creating? I’d like to discuss that with you.

Have you ever had an idea that you thought was the most fantastic idea you’d ever had?  You’d do it and make millions.  But you procrastinated – only to find out that someone else had a similar idea and they had actually done it; making you feel like a total loser.  I have had that happen so many times I’d be a gazillionaire by now if I’d only followed through with my ideas.
 
Have you had the same happen to you?  Why?  Because instead of applying speed you applied the seat –cushion-to-your-butt routine instead.  You procrastinated, you held off, you were afraid, you didn’t move fast.  Quite simply you didn’t move. Remember action requires that you move – forward preferably.

I know, like I said I have had that happen too many times.  Perhaps it’s because I take too much after my Dad.  He can think of every reason in the world why something can’t be done.  My Dad has his Doctorate in education so he is no dummy either.  When he puts his mind to something you pretty much know that he’s thought it through thoroughly.  So if he lists reasons why something can’t be done you best believe him – right?
 
His reasons are always very logical and conventional.  And he’s usually correct.  But you know what? According to the gurus that’s what failure is all about.  My Dad says that xyz will happen – so what.  Get it going – move towards your creation, begin taking actions that will get you closer to your creation and let xyz happen, in the process you’ll learn ways to deal with xyz or how to get around xyz, or how to make xyz work for you, you may even find that xyz is an integral part of your creation.  Regardless, stop letting xyz paralyze you with fear so that you don’t take any action at all.

Speed is where you will have success.  Do it NOW. All great creations were created by doing not by wishing, not by thinking, not by waiting for better circumstances to happen upon the scene, and definitely not by procrastinating.  Creators create!

How many of you use Microsoft products?  How many of you have owned an imperfect Microsoft product? Bill Gates doesn’t wait till it’s perfect before he puts it out there on the market. He just gets it going and then puts it out there on the market and fixes it as he goes.  If he had waited till it was perfect we probably would have never had Windows, and he probably wouldn’t be the richest man on earth either.  Like it or not, Microsoft did not make Bill Gates so successful because of perfection.  That’s an example to learn from.

Fear of failure or success is crippling.  It has stopped many a would-be success dead in their tracks. Know this truth: Fear will never create!  One of the most important elements of creation is faith.  Faith and fear are eternal enemies which lie on opposite ends of the spectrum.  They cannot coexist in the same space simultaneously.  Fear never lets you get enough momentum to get your butt out of the recliner.

You can always find a reasonable excuse to remain motionless. Creation requires movement, great creations not only love speed, great creations require speed! And great creators create great creations!

OK admit it, you have several ideas that you have been putting off for whatever reasons.  Granted they may even be good reasons, but today’s assignment we are going to look convention in the face and ignore those reasons.Choose one of your ideas and do one big thing towards its accomplishment.  That’s right, stop making excuses and start moving towards that creation.Do it NOW!  Fast!  Hurry!

To your creations,

Michael Claridge

On the right column of this article there is a sentence that says, “Some believe they are powerless to control what happens in their lives, but there are a select few called Creators who powerfully create the lives they desire.”  You see those who believe that they have no control over their lives believe that because they don’t understand the true principles that I am going to be teaching on CreatorsCreate.com

Let me prove it.  Right now I want you to giggle.  Yep, just let off a little jitter a little giggle.  Was that there a minute ago?  Really now, did that giggle exist before you had read the following words?  No, it didn’t until the moment you created it, and you created it in the eternal moment of NOW.

I know you probably thinking that I am over simplifying all this, but the truth is that Every great creator has principles and practices that they employ to create the life they desire to create. They may not have pigeon holed, or earmarked what they do or have analyzed what they do with as much scrutiny as this I will on this blog, but nevertheless they do know how and they do whatever it takes to bring into existence the creations that they have created, and right NOW are working tirelessly to bring into existence many more beautiful creations.
 
They have practiced the skills necessary to create; they have disciplined themselves and make appropriate and powerful choices that make them masters of creativity. They create the lives they desire to create. 

They don’t go around reacting to every stimulus as if their freedom of choice has been removed from them. They don’t blame others for failures or mistakes. They simply ask the question, “What is it that I desire to create?” And then they set out to create it.  They are creators.

During World War II in the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz a man named Viktor Frankl made some very important observations. In this horrible death camp where he spent over three years and tragically lost his wife, Viktor Frankl discovered a powerful secret about man.  In the helpless and distressed lives of his fellow prisoners Victor Frankl found the greatness of man. He found that there was something powerful in man.

It is ironic that he found the greatness of mankind in a place famous for cruelty and evil.  A place where one people set out to exterminate another by the most inhumane atrocities known to man. He found the single most valuable freedom that man possess and can never be taken away from him without his consent: free will. 
Victor Frankl wrote:

“We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms-to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.

And there were always choices to make. Every day, every hour, offered the opportunity to make a decision, a decision which determined whether you would or would not submit to, those powers which threatened to rob you of your very self, your inner freedom; which determined whether or not you would become the plaything of circumstance, renouncing freedom and dignity to become molded into the form of the typical inmate.”

Viktor Frankl found the greatest glory of mankind; in fact the greatest endowment of mankind is man’s ability to choose; man’s free will. He goes on to clarify this idea:

“In the final analysis it becomes clear that the sort of person the prisoner became was the result of an inner decision, and not the result of camp influences alone. Fundamentally, therefore, any man can, even under such circumstances, decide what shall become of him-mentally and spiritually.”

It is this very freedom of choice that allows each of us the ability, and even the freedom to create what we will. We all have the freedom to choose, and it is with that choice where we can choose to create the life we desire to create.  We can choose to be creators.

Today, I want you to write a contract with yourself.Sit down with a piece of paper and write out a promise to yourself.  Write that today you make a choice to be the creator of your life.  That you refuse to let others, and other factors be in control of your life.  Today you are the Captain of your life.  Today you take control and you are a CREATOR!Write it, sign it. Done.

To your creations,

Michael Claridge