Creativity is similar In none of these cities

  In none of these cities 
  Originally uploaded by ale2000

One of the challenges of being creative is that people think they are disbarred from taking part because they aren't in a "creative job". I find that an intriguing statement because I would have thought a creative person would come along and find a way of automating it so that the person could be released to do more creative things!!??

I remember one of my colleagues at work who was bemoaning the fact he was on the 13th redraft of a very important (and political) report. We had a discussion on what the drafts were about and soon realised that he was in fact not writing a report but orchestrating a creative writing process that was similar to that for the new products and packaging that were our daily bread and butter. In fact the first few drafts were about divining and aligning the contributing group around a common vision. Then they were about developing a mutually acceptable knowledge base... and finally about telling a well argued, persuasive story that they could all tell... and sell with conviction. All these things were swirling around in my head just as the postman delivered a package... Garr Reynold's new book Presentationzen finally arrived from Amazon this morning... I opened the book at a random page and the name Brenda Ueland hit me. It reminded me that Garr had blogged on creativity here and here, using quotes from her book "If you want to Write" as anchors. Garr writes

"If you want to Write" by Brenda Ueland is one of the most inspiring and useful books I have ever read. The book was first published in 1938 and probably should have been titled "If You Want to Be Creative."

and

"You are original, unique, and creative
Even if you are not "A Creative" (artist, designer, musician etc.), you are a creative person. Probably -- assuredly in fact -- far more creative than you think. All people should work toward tapping into their creative abilities and unleashing their imaginations. Why? I think Brenda Ueland (1891-1985) puts it best:
        "First because it is impossible that you have *no* creative gift.

        Second: the only way to make it live and increase is to use it.

        Third: you cannot be sure that it is not a *great* gift."

                                            — Brenda Ueland"

Now back to Garr Reynold's new book Presentationzen. I haven't read it yet but I know I will like it. It is a very visual book... uncluttered, with many illustrations and lots of whitespace for thoughts to form. I'll write again when I've read it.. but it will become one of my many things to help me create more interesting 'stuff'... and what do I mean by things?

Steve Jobs put it succinctly:

 

" Creativity is just connecting things. You ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn't really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while.

"That's because they were able to connect experiences they've had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they've had more experiences or have thought more about their experiences than other people.

"Unfortunately, that's too rare a commodity. A lot of people haven't had very diverse experiences, so they don't have enough dots to connect and they wind up with very linear solutions."

Just remember
 

“The land of Opportunity is more than a place… 

it is a state of mind.”

 

'A Peacock in the Land of Penguins’ by Barbara Hateley.

Keep collecting and joining the dots... and the picture reminds me of *David Perkins... in a creative sort of way.

Picture uploaded on by .Bala. Used with thanks under CC.