It takes courage to be creative, to do something and to say, “I made this.”

 

Maryanne and I enjoy watching “The Voice” and “Australian Idol” on Sunday nights. I know this is quite daggy, but we find it inspiring to watch courageous young people stand up in front of judges and an audience and display their creative gifts. We get swept up in these amazing performances thinking how brave and vulnerable they all are.

 

Unfortunately, we recently found out from one of my long-term trade contractors, whose son was on The Voice this year, that the whole show, including the “blind auditions” is highly scripted and produced. Sorry to other fans of reality talent shows, but it seems they are not so real after all!

 

Most of us wish we were more creative and would love to know where it comes from and how to get more of it in our lives.

 

Maryanne, my wife, is a highly creative person and I am highly practical. It turns out that this is a great pairing and our relationship, and our family have been the beneficiaries of this partnership.

 

Creativity and practicality are closely related traits that are both innate and are unique to humans. No other species has these innate abilities.

 

We all have these abilities to varying degrees and these traits are exhibited on a spectrum. Creativity in particular rises and falls throughout life depending on how much time and attention you devote to it.

 

“You cannot really decide to paint a masterpiece. You just have to think hard and work hard and try to make something that you care about.” Susan Kare

 

I have devoted three previous Weekly Emails to the topic of creativity (#44, fifty-seven & 94) The main take-aways from those articles is that we all start life as highly creative beings, but modern education and institutions train the creativity out of us. As adults our jobs and daily routines actively block our creativity.

 

When you boil it down to its essence creativity is a state of mind, it is a point of view. You are creative as soon as you think you are.

 

Creativity is how we shape our culture.

 

Displaying your creativity to others takes real courage.

 

Creativity is useless unless you act on it.

 

The only way to nurture creativity is through practice.

 

The first time you do something creative is always the hardest, then each time after that it gets a little easier.

 

The only way to be more creative is to trust the process and to do the work, do the practice, and over time the creative feeling will grow.

 

“Only after we do the difficult work does it become our calling. Only after we trust the process does it become our passion.” Seth Godin

 

This is my work, my practice.

 

Question.

When was the last time you did something for the first time?

 

Thanks for reading,

Stay safe and do the practice.

David