I’ve been on a journey the past few months to recapture my creative voice and vision. I haven’t known why exactly, just that it’s imperative that I do it.
It’s not easy. It takes work and effort. But something interesting is starting to happen.
New opportunities are starting to emerge. New insights, new connections. I’m innovating more than ever. I’m ironically wasting less time because I’m spending time playing.
In this world of ambition and performance, being creative for its own sake doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense. There are kpi’s to hit, awards to win, accolades to receive, achievements to trumpet.
But this is also a time that desperately needs new ways of thinking. We need innovation. We need creativity.
And creativity is a practice. It’s not a talent. Creativity is not a gift. It’s an intentional way of operating.
We don’t question the truth that training matters in athletics. But somehow we can feel guilty about creative play. Doodling. Finger painting the sun. Forming clay into unicorns.
But if you want to be great, if you want to be someone who disrupts and invents and innovates, you need to train your brain to be OK with breaking rules. With playing.
So my advice to anyone who is wondering how to get unstuck is to create time to be creative.
To play. Just because.
