I didn’t want the experience. Nobody looks forward to problems. But learning from them is so valuable. Among other things, that is what a vehicle breakdown taught me about creativity.
My family moved from Indiana to Arizona. For the first half of the trip, everything seemed to go according to plan. But as we were about to enter the Texas Panhandle, one of our two vans just lost it. Of all things, the power steering pulley broke.
We stayed two days in Shamrock, Texas while we waited for repairs. and we thought everything was fine. Then the same van overheated from Amarillo to Tucumcari, New Mexico. Once again, we found a garage to repair the ailing van. Alas, we limped through Albuquerque until the van gave up the ghost in Grants, New Mexico. It all sounds so simple now. But it was quite an ordeal. And guess what? I know next to nothing about cars!
Besides a great story for Spear family lore, this episode taught me a few things about creativity.
In today’s quote, Henry Miller claims everyone has a destiny. If it is true, that can be a scary proposition. If life isn’t going the way we hoped, if we are going through a tough time right now, we tend to believe that is our lot in life and to just accept it.
It might not work. Some will like your style while others don’t. There are those who will get what you are conveying while others have no clue. Let’s face it. Matisse knew what he was talking about!
Whenever we do something new, we are going to welcome critics. Let’s face it, we don’t get what others are creatively doing either. We have our tastes and preferences. An artist could spend years working on a technique that appears effortless. And that appearance of effortlessness will make others dislike it.
Creativity is messy. It is also noisy. After all, one person’s musical symphony is another person’s rude noises!
Not every creative endeavor is meant to make money or be popular. Who can really predict what is popular next week anyway? If we make those our goals, we may be in for a disappointment.
The pursuit of perfection can kill creativity. If we are searching for the perfect pitch, technique, or approach that will knock everyone’s socks off, good luck! That pressure will squelch creativity.
Besides, my view of what is perfect can be very different from yours. How can perfection be defined in artistic endeavors? Is it the reaction of the public? Or the guarantee of an award-winning project? Perhaps it’s the approval of a client. What if they had a bad day and you didn’t know they hate that shade of purple?
Business and Creativity
If we are working with businesses, creativity takes courage. Very few business leaders have that chutzpah. Editors will turn down books that become bestsellers. Movie producers will reject movie concepts until they become popular and demands sequels. That song that a producer was convinced was a flop is suddenly his favorite when it becomes viral on TikTok.
Creativity takes courage. It isn’t easy to put our ideas out there. But it is worth it. It is far better to try something and see whether it works than to stay safe and churn out the same old concept.
One of the ways a person can stay young in their thinking is to pursue creative endeavors. I love this quote by Sophia Loren about creativity as a fountain of youth.
“There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.”
This reminds me of a blog post I posted twelve years ago. In it, I commented on another blog post that claimed age is no excuse when it came to creativity. Twelve years later, I am even more convinced of this.
The temptation to believe we know it all and have seen it all makes us older. However, when we consider creative endeavors and begin thinking about how to do things differently, our thoughts can rejuvenate our minds.
When we are faced with a situation that makes us feel stuck, we get impatient and myopic. If we are convinced there is no solution to a problem, then we are prone to give up.
However, if we consider there is a solution to a problem, it frees us. When we use patience and determination to address the issue, creativity can free us from being stuck.
And if we have the audacity to believe there is more than one solution, that enables us to find the best one. Our minds have the capability to do more than we realize.
Patience and Creativity
Have you seen a situation where someone gets flustered easily? We are working on a new system and software at my work. It can be hard to learn something new when the old system has worked for many years.
I have noticed the biggest challenge to learning this, or any new system is having the patience to continue. I have heard, “The old system works fine! Why are we changing it?” But the truth is the old system is clunky and is far less automatic than it should be.
The transition is hard. But change comes whether we adjust or not. Patience and creativity go hand in hand. And when we decide to embrace these qualities, a side benefit is we can see creativity as a fountain of youth.
When I was a kid, I was fascinated by my dad’s office. I would see his typewriter and imagine pounding away at it and creating fun stories. But what really fascinated me was his carbon sheets. With it, I could draw or write something and the sheets would make a carbon copy of what was underneath.
The sheets were very useful in an age where there were no copiers or printers in a home office. Why this seven-year-old was fascinated with them, I’ll never know. After all, I could make a copy, but could I make something original with the sheets? After all, I never saw a carbon copy hung on a refrigerator door.
It took extra effort to make a copy. But even so, it was still a copy. And it wasn’t nearly as crisp or clear as the original. It took some effort to make a copy. It took even more effort to make an original from the sheets.
This quote reminds me when we try to copy others, it doesn’t feel quite as efficient as being the real thing.
“Do not be awe-struck by other people and try to copy them. Nobody can be you as efficiently as you can.”
We can certainly learn from others. After all, I still love to read and pick up tips and tricks from others. In one of Dan Roam’s books, he talks about how Dr. Seuss influenced him as a child. I learned from Dr. Seuss, as well as Charles Schulz, and scores of other writers and illustrators. It’s great to get inspired and learn from others.
We can learn from others without trying to be carbon copies. We will know we are going too far in emulating our heroes and mentors when it feels awkward. Not every trick, habit, or quirk a hero has is worth emulating. Just because Steve Jobs wore black turtle neck sweaters doesn’t mean every software developer has to follow suit.
Learn from others, yet be your own person. The world doesn’t need more carbon copies of a celebrity, mentor, or rock-star software developer. We need the latest version of you!
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