That was my first thought when I set out to write a blog on creativity. In my opinion, every person on Earth is endowed with a dollop of creativity (yes, it's measured in dollops) so why should I feel entitled to coach anyone on how to unleash it?
Why indeed. And even if I thought I should, how would I start?
The logical thing to do would be to define creativity so we're all on the same page. But if that's the logical thing to do, is it creative?
Ergo, I'm not going to attempt to define creativity other than to say it's the art of living life differently. For people like Steve Jobs, it's recreating the way the world listens to music and how complete industries are financed. Yes, world changers walk among us.
But, there are also people who are only interested in changing their own worlds. I met a person on twitter who engaged me with her upbeat outlook on life. She often tweeted about her customers and the interesting interactions she had with them, but when I asked her where she worked, she was hesitant to tell me. Ultimately I discovered that she worked in the drive-thru window at McDonald's, a job that could easily be described as an unchallenging, dead end position. Not for her. The flexibility of the job suited her immediate needs and she had decided to make it bigger than it was. On certain days she would bring homemade baked goods as a thank you to her many regular customers. On other days she would ask customers the name of their favorite recording artist and when they pulled up to the window, she would sing them a few lines from one of that artist's latest hits.
As you may guess, she had a lot of regular customers and I'm sure many stopped in even if they didn't really need a coffee. Her creativity was infectious.
Creativity is different for every person. But I believe the creative process has triggers and disciplines that can be utilized 'on demand' to make your life more interesting.
The world is on the verge of a communication explosion through which every person with access to a smart phone can touch millions... but with all this technology content is still king.
Content is king. It's a cliche. I could have phrased it in a more creative manner but I didn't because A) there's a reason it has become a cliche - it deserves to be a cliche - it's uber-important, and B) even if you are the world's fast marathon runner, sometimes you prefer to walk.
Content is king. But, creativity is the guy who makes the big bucks because he makes the king look even more regal.
And before you can point it out, I'll throw myself on the sword and confess that this isn't the most creative blog format I could use. It's a process for all of us and I am a student as well. If you choose to follow and read along, we'll learn together.
After all, creativity thrives in collaboration and sharing does not diminish the giver.
Now... what will tomorrow bring?
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