From a business management book I’ve been working on (and just finished; emphasis mine):
People often underestimate their own creative ability. Research indicates, however, that there is one major difference between people who exhibit creative tendencies and people who don’t: personal belief in their own creativity. That is, those who engage in creative thinking tend to regard themselves as creative; the others see themselves as noncreative.
It’s all about mindset, isn’t it? More importantly, it’s all about belief.
We believe in a lot of things (some more important than others), including a higher being, that good will prevail, that evil will be defeated, that if you work hard, you’ll succeed, that if you do most things right, you’ll stay out of trouble, that being kind is more important than being right, etc.
I urge you to think about creativity in your life. Sure, you may be super creative already. You may wow us all with your creative brilliance. This is not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the creativity that’s in the quiet and hidden places. The creativity you show that no one else knows about. How you feel when there is no audience or anyone else to impress. That’s true belief.
They say anyone can acquiesce and agree that they believe in God or good or being kind, but it’s the moments when no one is watching that matter, that really, really matter.
I’m talking about creativity when you’re not feeling great about your life. Creativity when you’re tired. Creativity when you’re hurt, depressed, when you stink, when you fail, when you are cruel, when you are arrogant.
Do we believe in our creativity then?
I don’t think so. At least I don’t. I have to clean something first (in order to gain control) and then I can think about being creative. When I’m really tired, when my house is a mess, and when I feel like I’ve let a lot of people down because I couldn’t get everything done, being creative is really tough for me. I think it’s because I don’t believe in it.
My challenge this week is to be creative in spite of all that. To remove myself from my despair and keep moving–to be creative. I have this fear that a lot of you reading this blog still consider being creative as writing a novel, painting a masterpiece, or perhaps becoming a scrapbooking fiend. I don’t mean tactile creative artist. I mean creativity. I mean not reverting to lizard brain, but pushing your brain to keep going, to keep pinging right along. To be creative is to be human. When we give up on ourselves, we become judges of ourselves.
Albert Einstein said,
“No problem can be solved from the same consciousness that produced it.”
It’s how human beings continue on. By creativity, by applying our brains to the practice of solving problems, finding solutions, changing our attitude so we can find solutions, and by never giving up on ourselves.
To quote the business management book again,
“To observe transformational ability, we cannot observe normal people doing normal things. We must observe people who are outside the box. In order to develop transformational capability, we cannot be normal people doing normal things. We must stand outside the box. To do that, we need to go inside ourselves and ask who we are, what we stand for, and what impact we really want to have. Within ourselves we find principle, purpose, and courage. There we find the capacity not only to withstand the pressures of the external system but to actually transform the external system. We change the world by changing ourselves.”
Creativity isn’t just about arts and crafts; it’s about living. It’s a lot about what we believe about our day-to-day existence. If we are only here at the whim of “survival of the fittest,” then how come we’re still here? It’s the creativity in human beings, placed there by Something Else, that has kept us going. We can keep going by embracing that Created mindset and by continuing to be Creative.
Action Tip: Do you believe you are creative? Even when you’re tired? I move furniture around and organize my piles of books and papers when I’m tired and feeling unmotivated. Oldest creativity trick in the book, but that creative work cures whatever ails me. Can you find something creative like that to cure your exhaustion and burn out?
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