Exercise your creativity muscle

Creativity CAN be learned.  Creativity CAN be nurtured and grown and devleoped and enjoyed.  But you have to exercise your creativity muscle.

On the other hand...Creativity CAN be lost.  Creativity CAN be ignored, shunned, unused and distrusted.  Creativity treated this way will be exorcised.

It frustrates me when someone says that they just aren't creative.  These people act as if creativity is like brown eyes or dimples.  Either you were blessed with them at birth or you are just out of luck.

Exercise your creative muscles regularly and you will be surprised at how powerful they can get.  Practicing creative thinking is no different than practicing any other skill.  You do it often enough and you will build up strength and skill.  You repeat creativity often enough that you lose your self-conciousness and develop your creative "muscle memory."

And the thing is that it is practice.  It doesn't matter if the pictures you take are compabable to Alfred Stieglitz or Ansel Adams.  It doesn't matter if the short stories you write aren't publishable.  It doesn't matter if no one can tell what you are drawing! It is practice.

Michael Jordon whiffed on thousands of jump shots so that he could make bakets when the game was on the line.  Henri Matisse did sketches and field studies so he could try out different things, most of which he painted over or threw out, so that his finished work would be unique and perfect.  Robin Williams told a lot of jokes that didn't even get a chuckle so that he would get belly laughs on stage.

Stephen King writes several hours per day, every day of the year.  He does it to keep his creative muscle in shape.   He turns out a lot of very popular books along the way, but he has indicated that he does it more for fundamentals than for results.

Just like Mike, Henri, Stephen and Robin, you need to practice your creative muscles so they are ready when you need them.  And it really isn't that hard.  Keep your camera with you and be on the lookout for interesting images.  Write a poem or a letter in the morning before work or in the evening after dinner.  Write a blog.

At first it is a slog.  At first you creative muscles hurt from all of the exercise.  But bit by bit, it gets easier.  The ideas flow faster; the images seem more obvious to your well exercised creative mind.  Before you know it, you will be ready to run a creative marathon!

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Lessons Learned

It is easy to dismiss those that have gone before us.  They operated in a different world, when the rules were different/easier/not relevant.  The lessons they have to share, it often seems, do not apply to today’s world which has been turned on its head and inside out by the internet and the innovations it has wrought.  What relevance could the gray hairs have to today’s wired world?

So really, why bother?

The easy answer is to recite the quote "Those who ignore the past are destined to repeat it."  That, however, is not the point of this blog.  Rather, I think that the lessons learned are more subtle and much more valuable.  

Those that have gone before can share with us the lessons they have learned.  They can talk about the mistakes they have made, and the challenges they have overcome.  They can tell us where the skeletons are buried and which sacred cows to steer clear of.  Those that have gone before you have walked the same walk you are.  They have been there.  

Because, you see, things haven't really changed all that much.  Certainly there are new tools and new rules for how things get done.  Absolutely some processes and products and services have evolved and changed.  Definately things are different, in some aspects.

But people are still the same.  People still make decisions emotionally with pretty much the same motivations (acceptance, success, avoidance of pain) that they have for centuries.  Organizations, which are comprised of people, haven't changed how they operate that much.  Sure, they use email instead of messengers and LinkedIn to recruit candidates instead of a headhunter.  But at the end of the day, things run pretty much like they have for at least 50 or 60 years.  

Which means that old guy at work who can never figure out how to work the scanner, might just be able to teach you a thing or two if you take the time to listen.  

Yes and...

The first rule of improvisational comedy is that you respond to something that is said with a :Yes, and..." statement.  That means that you accept what your partner has said and then build upon it.

It seems that this is a good rule of thumb in any sort of group conversation or brainstorming.  It is always easier to to say no to an idea.  It is not as difficult to accept the idea but then point out the problems with it.  This is known as a "Yes, but..." statement.

With a "Yes, and..." statement you are collaborating.  You are acknowledging the good idea of your partner and adding your ideas to it.

A couple of summers ago I took an improvisational comedy class.  In addition to simply being a lot of fun, I found myself thinking frequently that there were a lot of lessons that could be of value to anyone in business. A few of those lessons are:

1. Always use "Yes and..."  It keeps the conversation going.
2. Be aware of the others on the stage with you.  You can be much more effective as a team than as an individual.
3. Take risks.  What's the worst that can happen?  Someone will laugh at you.  Or they won't.
4. Participate!  Jump into things and be a part of them.  
5. Give yourself permission to have fun, to play.  As adults we sometimes view play with suspicion.  As improv actors, play is everything.
6. Not every line needs to be funny.  If everything you do is in cooperation with others, you will get to the payoff in the end.
7. Thinking fast on your feet is sometimes better than being prepared.  Thinking fast on your feet AND being prepared is better yet.
8. Sometimes  Often Usually, you don't know what the ending looks like when you start a scene.
9. Know when to end things.  It is often more important to end well than it is to start well.  That is true in projects, work, business and life as it is in improv.
10. Have fun!  If you are having fun, most likely so is everyone else.

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