Practice Creativity
Watch the practice creativity video
I know many people who read this newsletter are engaged in work that involves being creative. It is an integral part of my work and life--coming up with new ideas and ways of solving all sorts of problems and creating new opportunities.
Think about your life and education. Were you ever taught how to be creative? Did you attend a workshop, take a course, formally learn how to practice this skill? Or did you just pick it up yourself?
For something so important to many, this central skill is often left to each of us to figure out how to develop on our own.
Making things has been central to my practice of creativity-- sketching out a new idea in a notebook, making a schedule for a new project, taking a picture while out on a family walk, each of these creative activities helps provide continuous inertia to stay in a creative mindset. I realized early on that even if my job title was "designer", which you would assume was an inherently creative job, the everyday practice of creativity was often missing in the process of making new products inside the structure of an organization.
Writing, drawing, filming, photography. It does not matter what it is, the simple act of making something helps fuel my creativity. Every time I make something, it feels like I am filling up my creativity tank, practicing the skill of thinking independently from the world and imagining something new.
Recently, I took this practice and turned it into a project over a month. Every day I took 5 seconds of video of something that struck me as unique on that day. At the end of the month, I edited all the clips together and added a soundtrack (supplied by my budding 8-year-old guitar player Luca).
The simple act of making each day was a reminder that creativity is a practice and a focus on moving your awareness to a different place for a period of time, a place you want to be.
Check out the video and think about your own creative practice. What projects can you do each day to help you find your voice and shift your focus on the things that matter most to you?
