HOWTOBECREATIVE A+B+C+x+y+z+?= BY: JORDAN COEYMAN introduction A+B+C+x+y+z+?= I have come to have a set of seven mantras that I live my life by. I put them into steps for this very “specifically broad” topic. Creativity has been the reason for my growth. It’s not about the chemicals in your brain, or what religion you are. I consider anything a possibility. This is intended to be infectious. This is my way of trying to inspire you step a: IDENTIFY GOALS Pick the problem or goal you wish to apply creativity to In order to be a creative person, you must understand how to use creativity from your perspective. You don’t need to come from any specific ranking of intelligence, religion, or special background of any kind. Whoever told you that lied to you. We are all different. We all have problems, and we all solve them differently. Creativity can be applied to anything. This is aimed to help you identify your own creativity, and how you can apply it to your methods of problem solving. Start by first identifying some goals that you want to apply creativity to, no matter the size. You might also see your goal as a problem you are trying to solve. Our goals we all have are most likely the area of our mind that leads us to get really excited about something, to feel inspired. It has to be something that your are passionate about. You goal can be anything that you want to achieve. Creativity can be applied to absolutely any other topic or subject or goal. It could be something physical, emotional, or psychological thing that is you want to achieve, but you still need to identify the goal that you’re attempting to apply creativity to. Creativity isn’t something that just magically appears, it must be applied to something. Whatever the goal is, we are going to find an internal way to solve the problem, or achieving that goal. It’s all about relating it to something you connect to, and that’s where creativity shows it’s many faces. It’s not about thinking about the end goal, but being more critical of path you take to get there. Forcing creativity out of something that has no passion is impossible. We all have our own obstacles in our way to creative freedom, and admitting your own problems is step one. It up to you, and only you, to determine what is honestly stopping you from achieving creative freedom. This framework alone will fall short of helping you achieve your creative goals. You can’t compete without a competitor, Identify the problem or goal you wish so you need to identify what it is you want to accomplish. to apply creativity to 1 step B: IDENTIFY GOALS “I don’t know how”, “I was never taught that”, “I don’t think I could do this”, “Someone told me I couldn’t”, You need to be really honest with yourself, and admit that most of the things that are stopping you from achieving creative freedom are in fact just excuses you tell yourself. All excuses you should try to view as challenges in your way from obtaining your goal. These beliefs are limiting your imagination and not allowing your creativity to shoot from your fingertips. You can’t have emotional walls up, or you won’t be able to break new ground in any manner. It’s one of the most important things about achieving creative goals, is allowing yourself to be wrong- putting yourself out there. Imagination is the problem solving tool we use to figure out how to beat these challenges. Replace every internal belief you have that limits your progress with just one idea: Turn every excuse into a challenge that requires your imagination to solve. “we have endless amounts of imagination inside of us. that means we have an endless amount to give out, and we won’t lose a thing” Your imagination is at work, even when you don’t realize it. When you face a problem, your mind is using problem solving skills. When you use those problem solving skills, you use some amount of creativity. The amount that is applied, can be adjusted- once you can recognize it for what it truly is. Everything needs to seem like it’s just a challenge now, when you identify your burning passion. Everything that you face as a challenge will have a new perspective once you’ve You’re about to be in a constant mode of “doing”. You need to put yourself out there, and stop making excuses for identified your burning passion. everything you do, no matter how uncomfortable it is. That’s how you start to plan out your strategy, challenge by challenge. Identify the objectives in your way from completing that goal, no matter how many they are or how Identify your biggest internal beliefs that are limiting your creativity to large they may be. apply creativity to 2 step C: thrill your role Equally as important as identifying goals, is realizing what you have immediately available to you to help possibly get you in the right direction. It could be one thing, or a combination of things from your personality that all work together that fill you with passion. Usually it’s the thing we want to be the most. People often say “they don’t know who they are”, or “they don’t know how” when it comes to something that requires their creativity, and the fact is: neither of them are anything other than excuses. They need to identify what’s they deeply want to be, and start there. Whatever problems/ goals you have from step 1, you need to identify what you can do to bring your passion into it. say your talents are, sometimes that isn’t where our creative hearts lie. Chase down that dream, and never ever take ‘no’ for an answer. It’s not a matter of asking “who do I want to be?”, It’s a matter of deciding “What do I wan to be known for?” And what makes your creative energy explode. Just do what you do, and do it well. Don’t just fill your role, whatever it is. Thrill it. Identifying your strengths is equally as important as knowing what is stopping you. These are your weapons when you go into battle vs. your enemy. Not everyone has the same weapons, but were all born with one, you might just have never learned how to use yours. If something makes you feel that burning passion inside, then recognize them as your creativity signals alarming you. No matter what you’ve considered to be impossible, you must convince yourself that you can do it- and the larger your challenge is, the more you can accomplish, not the more you have to. Force yourself to think: I am lucky to have the opportunity for this challenge. Those are the things you want to foster, and you will start to harness that raw energy. Embrace your passions with your whole heart, and don’t take your passions for granted. Embrace and understand what your role is, the one that fills you with raw energy. Who cares where what other people Identify the thing you want to be known for, when you imagine yourself accomplishing your goal or defeating your problem 3 step X: get uncomfortable Go ahead, start something. Anything. The very first step at being kind of good at something, is to be really bad at it first. That’s why we are trying to focus harder on those times when we feel uncomfortable, Now that you have your problems identified, your because that’s the areas we should target. It’s where we challenges staked out, and your identity locked down. The only thing to do is face the uncomfortable feelings that come have the most potential to learn about ourselves. next. Nothing will push you further to your creative limits than to test It’s not about the goal your trying to accomplish, but them. instead it’s about the process of thinking that it takes you to push your comfort limits. There is an incredible amount You need to go out and start “doing” whatever it is that fills of learning that comes from breaking your own personal you with passion. You need to start tackling those newly boundaries. identified challenges, and make yourself feel like you’ve never felt before. It’s not about feeling comfortable, it’s Start by looking at your challenges, one by one. These are the things that will most likely make you feel uncomfortable, the opposite. When we are uncomfortable, we start to feel those negative feelings bubbling up inside, and we just keep but will cause you to have exponential learning. You need to know that the feelings are holding you back from actually remembering that this is the feeling of progress. accomplishing those goals, and then That uncomfortable feeling is your creative mind’s way of teaching itself new things, and you need to start to love that you need to start to seek out those feeling. uncomfortable things. There is no shame in being bad at something. There should be shame in not trying. You must persevere through something that is awful before you can see the benefits of it. Tackle your challenges, one by one, or all at a time. Use your tools to get there, and keep your goal in mind to stay inspired. It’s not going to be nearly as worse as you anticipated, and if it is: just be proud of yourself for doing something that challenging! Identify the things that make your stomach turn, that bubble in your throat, when you think about doing 4 step Y: trust other people turn those words that used to defeat you into what they are meant to be: feedback. Has anyone ever told you that you suck at something? Or are you like most of the population, and you tell yourself that you suck? Do not let someone tell you that can’t do something. That is the trick to step 5, is being able to still be able to trust people. Well that’s backwards, because you should get feedback on your problems in order to gain perspective. You need to start to hear other peoples words as what they really are- just words. Listen to what their motivations are for telling you those words, and you can start to identify the really impacting people who can help you on your journey to creative freedom. You will inspire them, if you feel inspired yourself to accomplish your goal. No matter how many times you’ve sworn off trusting anyone else, it’s just another excuse. No matter how many times or how painful another person in your life has been in your past, you need to learn to trust them. If you find that burning passion, have a goal in mind, determine what is stopping you, then start putting yourself out there, the next step is to start to see the human resources that are all around you, waiting for you to use them. Ask for help, and more importantly, be receptive to help. It’s not some weird hippy-talk, what I am saying: it’s real. Using creativity in business is how leaders excel. Using creativity in the workplace is how you set yourself apart. Applying creativity to any activity you do, will ultimately product more innovative results. You have endless power with your imagination, and you accept that. So imagination Just as important as putting yourself out there, is trusting that you can handle whatever is going to happen, using your lies within us, right? We have an infinite supply of anything imagination. Handling the outside world internally, and being inside of us, then we can infinitely output imagination and able to focus on the things that give you an equal amount of have absolutely no loss of energy. focus back. Identify the times in your life where you’ve had your trust burned, and You must learn to trust other what you will do to protect yourself people, no matter how many times internally if it happened again you’ve told yourself not to. 5 step Z: love to be wrong Learn to love finding your flaws, and when something you thought to be true is in fact not true. You should consider yourself lucky, because you have the learn to test your convictions. opportunity for growth. I love to have my assumptions reverse, and my ignorance cured. I find myself awaken We can’t walk around with our heads held so high that to new possibilities every time I find an error in my own we can’t see what’s right under our nose. We need to be thinking. There is a moment of shame, of course, but the constantly figuring out new ways to expand our personal benefits of correctly addressing a recognized problem in growth. your own mind set can change your life. Never think you know it all- you’ll become a target for someone else to pursue their creative dreams. The key is to Now, this mind set puts us in a prime situation to do one thing a lot, which is something I often do: find your passion, and run with it. Never stop moving, and no one will ever catch up to you. Seek the learn from your mistakes, or repeat pleasure in being wrong, but do not confuse this idea with them. assuming you are incorrect. You need to have deep understanding of your beliefs, but you must also be constantly seeking ways to test your convictions. You won’t have to spend your time constantly spending energy seeking new material to learn from-- you can be living, breathing and accepting new information if you adapt your mind to love to be wrong. Not only do I apologize frequently for my mistakes (because I always seek to find them)- I do my best to not repeat the same mistake. That is something that has proven a very simple but effective tactic in becoming a better listener, writer, designer, developer, friend, boyfriend, son, and brother. never stop questioning your own beliefs. Try to remember the last time you had to apologize for being wrong, and try to think of how you handled it You have to be able to defend everything you believe in: to the death- but you should believe in this saying:“I love to be wrong”- and say it with a sense of humility. You don’t actually love being incorrect in your beliefs, but you love 6 step ?: be impatient We all waste our time waiting, watching, and wishing. Never settle for anything less than the complete dedication to fueling that burning desire in your stomach. Do not let that fire go out, and do not let anyone put it out for you. It has to It’s only true if you adopt the rest of this mind set: don’t wait be a forest fire of desire, then creativity is just a product of for anyone else, just start moving. Stop waiting for anyone, that effort. or anything, or even to finish reading this in order to start. Your creative output is measured by your internal input-Stop waiting for someone to help you, and help yourself. If how much creativity flows from your fingers is controlled something isn’t working out like you hoped it would, move by how you point those fingers at yourself. Invest in your onto something else. Never settle for standing still, in a passion. world full of opportunities. You can now use your imagination better than ever before, because you now realize something most people don’t-Imagination is infinite. We all have imaginations, therefore we all posses something that is by definition never-ending that we can use at our will. Not enough people respect the power of imagination, and that is just a shame. to learn fast, You must move fast and learn along the way, creativity is not a slow process, the speed can be adjusted by the person applying it: YOU! Once you learn how to use your imagination to produce results that are external, you won’t ever be the same again. Always be recognizing your goals and problems, and how creativity can help. Never accept an excuse ever again, call them challenges. Be constantly searching for those uncomfortable feelings- they lead to growth. Impatience is a virtue. It’s the process that you learn to love. Trust other people, forever. Love to be wrong, and you’ll never stop learning, and most importantly: It’s a process of learning through personal discovery, while you move forward on your dreams. Without your burning passion in life, you’re probably going to be very depressed most of the time. Never sit around and wait for something to happen, use your imagination to get it done now! 7 conclusion I hope to have stirred some thoughts into your life. If I have failed at my goal of helping you become a more creative person, please contact me: E-mail: Coeyman@gmail.com Facebook: http://facebook.com/Coeyman Twitter: http://twitter.com/acoyfellow LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/coeyman If you have any creative ideas for me, any questions: Do not hesitate to talk to me.