CREATIVITY

"The chief enemy of creativity is good sense." — Pablo Picasso

When I was a young boy my mother used to make costumes for me and my brother, and every year without fail we'd end up winning some sort of best-costume award. The idea of a store-bought costume simply didn't exist in our household, and looking back I think it probably had more to do with our financial limitations rather than any sort of artistic integrity, yet this limitation is perhaps what most inspired my mother's creativity, enabling us to stand out from the crowd.

Whether you're making a costume, writing a book, starting a business, or collaborating on a project, tapping into your creative mind to see hidden possibilities can help you to make connections in places you never before could have considered.

The Magic Word Creativity reminds us that to pursue excellence means standing out from the crowd. As one of my mentors, John Maxwell, often says: we live in an age where you can win some races by standing still! Sometimes simply showing up to the arena is all you need to do to win because many people are simply not interested in putting in the effort to even show up. Going the extra mile truly sets us out from the crowd, and, best of all, there's far less traffic on that extra mile!

REFLECTION

1. Identify an area of your life where you tend to blend in with the crowd. In other words, what area of your life are you the least creative? Is this a place where you might intentionally choose to be uncreative? Why or why not?
2. Identify the area of your life where you most need to stand out. Make a list of all the things that other people in that arena aren't doing. Sometimes it helps to look at other areas that are seemingly unrelated to whatever it is you are doing to get your creative juices flowing here.
3. Choose one item from your least and commit to doing it. Then share your results in the comment section below! How did you stand out?

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Pablo Picasso once said that a good sense is the enemy of creativity. Meaning, it lies in the effective domain rather than the cognitive domain. If you're interested in learning more about creativity to dive into the effective domain, and how you can incorporate the arts into your everyday life, then visit the Picasso page on Artsy.net where you'll find Picasso's biography, along with a collection of over 3500 of his works, exclusive articles about the artist, and up-to-date exhibition listings. Enjoy!