This cartoon is a nod to “Throwback Thursdays.” I drew it many years ago. It reminds me of when I drew a portrait of my grandmother. She was a sweet soul that worked hard her entire life. She had many wrinkles from working in the sun. I thought they were beautiful and interesting.
This cartoon came to me the other day when my pastor was preaching a sermon on Ephesians 2:10.
For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Ephesians 2:10 (New Living Translation) from Bible Gateway
To be creative, you need to think of yourself as a masterpiece. In order to feel creative energy, you must see yourself as a beautiful creation. For you are a masterpiece!
I like trivia. No, I love trivia! The only problem I have with it is the way people perceive it. They look at trivia as… well, trivial! It’s perceived as useless, throw-away information.
Never underestimate the power of a little piece of knowledge! It has power. It makes creativity happen. It brings innovation to the marketplace. Any piece of knowledge, no matter how seemingly small or trivia can have power.
Over at Michael Hyatt’s blog, he gave a quote from a book entitled Do the Work. Within the quote, this statement stuck out to me:
Ignorance and arrogance are the artist and entrepreneur’s indispensable allies. She must be clueless enough to have no idea how difficult her enterprise is going to be—and cocky enough to believe she can pull it off anyway.
I have to admit, I’m not ignorant, or arrogant enough. And I’m willing to bet you aren’t either. If you’re like me, you spend a lot of time gathering information, reading blogs, and pondering what is the best way to tackle a challenge. If you’re like me, you can get bogged down in the minutia of information.
That’s one reason I love working with children. They can help me find my giddy, stupid self. When you’re around kids, do these things to get your daring, stupid self back:
Working with kids is a great way to keep your innocent, creative self from thinking small. Encourage their dreams and you may find you can get “stupid” and work on your own.
Do you want to enhance your creativity? Take an accounting class! No, I never thought I’d say that either. In fact, I never thought I would be in one until this year.
I’m not saying we should get creative and cook the business books either. What I am saying is I learned there was this whole world I knew little about. Sure, I run a a business and balance my books, but there is so much more to it.
I’ve learned how to read an annual report. I now know how a balance sheet balances, and I learned different terms mean the same thing. But even more important, I have some more knowledge that helps creativity.
Whenever you learn something new, you have have new possibilities for writing, and new metaphors for design and illustration.
What is something new you want to try today?