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Creativity Friday: This Week’s 3 Best Articles on Creativity

Today marks the beginning of “Creativity Friday.” Every Friday I will provide my three favorite articles from the week that enhance, encourage, and inspire your own creativity. Read on and use the weekend to work on your creativity.

Hello friday! Creative calligraphic card.

  1. In this article and with these images, recover “the inherent power of a child’s potential and imagination.”: The Hidden Superhero in Every Child’s Imagination
  2. In this video, find an insight into how the co-founder of Summit, a global community of innovators, stays on top of his own creativity game: The Secret to Living Your Best Creative Life
  3. In this article, learn from the things Charles Schulz threw away in the trash can: 10 Rare And Never-Before-Seen Comics By “Peanuts” Genius Charles Schulz
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Caring is a Key to Leading a Tribe

Caring is a key to leading a tribe and loving your work. No matter what you do in life, a key to getting ahead, a key to “success,” a key to building a tribe, organization, or following is to care. And when you really care, you’ll find that people respond. It all leads to more fulfillment and joy in what you do.

Key

The other night I had the opportunity to see and hear in person one of my favorite authors, Jon Acuff. He was speaking about his book, Do Over (which I highly recommend). He drove this point home at the very beginning of his speech.

Jon is a career expert, encouraging people to do things that matter, things they love, things that make a difference. The first point he made was that, no matter our job or vocation, we need to care. He said, “Care about what the people you care about care about.” That’s not a typo or a redundancy.

It breaks down like this:

  1. Care. It seems obvious, but first you have to care. It’s up to you to care. No one can care for you. People can figure it out pretty quickly if you don’t care. It shows on your face. It comes through in your actions. Set your mind to caring, even if, at this very moment, you don’t feel like it. When you intentionally care, it will change your disposition and bring about a positive attitude to even the worst situations.
  2. The People You Care About. Whom do you serve in your daily life? It could be your family, your co-workers, your customers, or your parishioners. Some you naturally care about. For others it may take a bit of extra effort. When you identify whom it is that you serve, find ways to show that you care. Be intentional about it. Demonstrate it through phone calls, emails, compliments, handwritten notes, or a literal pat on the back.
  3. What Do the People You Care About Care About? When you naturally (or even intentionally) find yourself caring for people, you know them: their likes and dislikes, their thoughts and passions, their needs and problems, their problems and joys. To better serve them, take some time to actually think about and write down the things the people you care about care about. Keep that list in front of you: on your computer, your bathroom mirror, or your refrigerator door.

“Care about what the people you care about care about.”

Now that you know what that is, and have written it down, figure out ways that you can meet the needs, fix the problems, enhance the joys, and improve the lives of those you care about. Jon Acuff has figured out that the people he cares about want to improve their careers and enjoy Sundays without dreading Mondays. So he has found a way to provide blogs, videos, books, and even personal interaction to show that he cares, knows what his audience cares about, and provides helpful practical solutions.

When you follow these steps, you, too, will find fascinating ways to serve, and maybe even a surprising following. Care. Really care. Care about what the people you care about care about.

It’s good advice that might even change your attitude and fill your life with surprises.

What do the people you care about care about?

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Encouraging Those Who Create

When was the last time you encouraged someone’s creativity? This past weekend, after our worship services, I had more people than usual tell me that they really appreciated my sermon, that it meant something to them, that it was helpful for their faith life. It may well have had to do with the fact that I preached comfort in light of the recent terrorist attacks in Paris. A need was filled for those whose hearts were troubled. But the kind words meant more to me than most of them probably knew.

Happy group of people with thumbs up

I get my share of criticism, either first hand or “through the grapevine.” I suppose it comes with the territory. I’m a pretty sensitive person, so even though I know I shouldn’t, I dwell on criticism far more than I should.

So when a kind comment comes along, it takes me a long way toward wanting to create some more. The life of a pastor involves creating something that people will listen to nearly every week. Sundays never stop coming. It’s a challenge to put words together that will inspire, hold attention, sometimes bring humor, draw people in, and help them remember eternally important things.

I believe that outside encouragement is a key ingredient when it comes to helping creative people enhance their creativity. Kind words mean that you listened. A compliment means that you took the time and went out of your way to provide a needed boost. A pat on the back means that someone appreciates the time, effort, blood, sweat, and tears that went into creating. An artists heart is always appreciative of even a couple of kind words.

Here are some ideas for encouraging those who create:

  1. Write a note. A handwritten note mentioning specifically what it is about a person’s “art,” whether it is a speech, a book, a blog post, a painting, or a sermon, will make a creative spirit soar. Drop it in the mail and create the lasting impression that comes when something other than a bill or junk mail is in the mail box.
  2. Post a compliment on social media. Use Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram to tell the world how much you appreciate someone’s creativity, and what you appreciate about it.
  3. Pick up the phone and make a call. Can you imagine what it would mean in the middle of business calls, or complaints, a phone call that comes with one, specific compliment regarding a person’s art? I promise you, it would make their day.
  4. Tell a friend. Tell someone else just how much you enjoy or appreciate a creative’s art, and allow them to get in on the inspiration, too.
  5. Purchase art. One of the greatest compliments you can give an artist is an investment of your money so that you can enjoy their art in your own home. If an artist you appreciate has things for sale, make the investment and spread the word. It means more than you know.

What ideas do you have for encouraging someone’s creativity?

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There Is Hope

I was going to preach about hope tomorrow, anyway. But now I guess I’ll have to change my sermon. The reality of the need for hope just hit home for the people of Paris. And when it hit home for them, it hit all too close to home for us, as well.

sky cloud hope concept word inside heart shape

Without getting into the politics of all of it, we know that our faith and our free lifestyle are now targets. We’ve seen the evidence of it in the Christian martyrs who have already given their lives for their faith just over the course of the past couple of years. These are dark times. Racial issues divide us. Politics anger us. Terrorism terrifies us.

There is really only One Thing that can bring hope into the midst of all of this.

In the aftermath of the acts of terror in Paris, the hashtag #prayforparis began to trend. One Paris artist responded with a cartoon asking us not to pray for Paris. He wrote:

Friends from the whole world, thank you for #prayforparis, but we don’t need more religion! Our faith goes to music! Kisses! Life! Champagne and joy! #parisisaboutlife

He’s right about one thing: they don’t need more “religion.” I feel very badly for that cartoonist, and so many others, who have only temporal things in which to trust. To put it bluntly, what they need is more Jesus. He’s the only One who brings comfort, peace, and, yes, hope to a situation that seems unbearably horrific. He’s the only One who delivers comfort in the face of brutal death. He’s the only One who says to those left behind: There is hope.

Whom else do you know has conquered death and the grave through His own bodily resurrection? What other faith delivers forgiveness and freedom from sin in the miracle of baptism? Who else but Christians can say to their loved ones: “Death is not the end. I will see you again.”

Jesus says:

But the one who endures to the end will be saved. (Mark 13:13)

In light of what’s going on in the world, we don’t know when the end or our end will be. But for those with faith in Jesus we do know One Thing: When the end comes, we will be saved. We will, as N.T. Wright says, live a life after life after death. We will put all of our gifts and talents to use joyfully loving and serving one another while loving and serving our Savior in the new heaven and new earth that will be created especially for us. And there will be no more dark times, racial issues, politics, or terror of any kind.

As Henry Lyte wrote in the old hymn:

I fear no foe with Thee at hand to bless; Ills have no weight and tears no bitterness. Where is death’s sting? Where, grave, thy victory? I triumph still if Thou abide with me. (Abide With Me, Stanza 5)

Yes, there is hope. Even, and especially, in times like this.

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Slow Creativity

Have you ever tried slow creativity? We live in world where everything is fast. It’s so easy to take less than two seconds and Google just about anything you want. If you want to do research for a paper, an article, a book, or, yes, even a sermon, just let your fingers do the walking and access the mountains of information on the internet. You’ll be certain to find what you want.

But you may not find what you really need.

Sometimes creativity has to be slow. That’s what I’ve discovered every Monday or Tuesday evening. Since I’m, um, busy on Sunday mornings, I have to tape CBS Sunday Morning every week. You can be assured that I do. In fact, it’s so important to me that I have made sure that it’s taped automatically every single week.

Most every Monday or Tuesday evening my wife, Tammy, and I watch CBS Sunday Morning as we eat dinner. We are both fascinated. Almost every week there is a story that moves us to tears. With every episode we most certainly learn something new. This past summer we even visited the new Whitney Museum in New York City because we had seen a story about it on CBS Sunday Morning.

What I like about CBS Sunday Morning is that I get to see stories about things I would have never seen or heard before. Not only that, but the depth of the stories is deeper than something I might read in three-and-a-half minutes in a blog post or on an internet site. I get to see it with my eyes. Sometimes I even get to hear music with my ears.

One of my favorite bands in my formative years was the Eagles. I still love them to this day. I covet an opportunity to see them live if and when they ever tour again. I never have. But I got to see this video that brought me up to date with Don Henley, a member of the super group, and what the fascinating things he’s up to these days.

“I have things inside of me I need to get out,” says Henley. Sounds like the heart of a creative to me. In this story he reminds me that a creative has to create. And that was inspiration to me.

This is just one small example of the stories that I cherish every single week. Note that the story about Henley was almost nine minutes long. It takes time to tell stories. And it often takes time to absorb them.

CBS Sunday Morning is my weekly dose of creative fuel. In that one program I get to see, hear, touch, and feel things that I would never run across in my daily life the rest of the week.

So here’s some encouragement to set aside regular, significant time to absorb some art. It’s guaranteed to inspire you and help you create your own.

What kind of “slow creativity” do you practice?

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From Corporate to Creative

Daniel Robinson is a bookkeeping and business kind of guy. He’s not really who you’d think of when you think of a “creative.” But there was a creative spark deep down inside of him that he couldn’t ignore as he sat in his Kansas City corporate cubicle.

Colored wooden toys

“About 2 years into working at my corporate job I felt this restlessness. I wasn’t happy. I could see it when I came home from work in the way I was interacting with people. There was this emptiness that I didn’t really understand. I quickly figured out that it was because I was doing something that didn’t excite me,” Daniel said.  So the not-quite-thirty-year-old heeded the advice of some Nashville friends, quit his corporate job, and moved in with them for five weeks just to clear his head and discover adventure.

He ended up working for a business management company in Nashville. The job revolved around a different process, but it ended up being the same old corporate thing. So he went and got a part time job, and began to help his buddy do business management for a successful singer-songwriter. For a few months he did the work for free. Once the songwriter’s team realized he was pretty dog gone good at what he did, they brought him on to do paid work, and his business management company was born.

At his corporate job, Daniel remembered thinking that he would never use the skills he was learning there in the cubicle. But now he’s using all the skills that he acquired from both of those companies to help other people who are on the creative path. Daniel is passionate about interacting with people and helping them. Now he creatively cares for and loves people by taking on the moving parts of their lives and enabling them to focus on just a few things. His clients include musicians, entrepreneurs, and independent artisans.

You can almost hear the “corporate” Daniel coming out when he says, “Be ‘mindful’ of what it is you’re good at. Hear what people say you’re good at. Don’t ignore it. People don’t just tell you you’re good at things when you’re not. People have told me ‘you’re good at this.’ That’s why I have a little business today.”

But don’t think for a minute that there isn’t a creative side to him as well. Daniel’s encouragement to those who feel trapped in a corporate life is to be creative in  figuring out what it is you’re good at. When you notice that you have some special skills you can start to foster those and press into them. You can do it whether you’re coming out of college or if you’re forty years into a corporate job.

He says, “If you want to do something on your own, take notice of the skills you have that people will pay you for. In all reality I don’t know if three or four years ago I even really wanted to be a business manager. I wanted to be a design guru. But I learned that I’m skilled in this area and people can pay me right now. And out of that has come this really rewarding fun job where I get to work for myself.”

Moving out of the corporate life and into his own business has made Daniel happier than he’s ever been. He says, “I might not be making the most money, or have a home right now, but I’m more happy than I’ve ever been in all aspects of life: work, relationships, being active.”

The next time you drive by an office building, think about all the creativity that’s pent up in those corporate cubicles. Maybe it’s your own. And maybe, just maybe, there’s a “Daniel” inside of you waiting to move from corporate to creative and experience a brand new life.

“I can remember sitting at my old job and wondering what it would be like to be outside, work in a coffee shop, or go get food and not feel pressure about taking a little time to go and get it.”

What skills do you have that people might pay you for right now?

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Creatively Filling In Life’s Unexpected Blanks

What do you do when the sentences of life provide an unexpected “fill-in-the-blank”? I recently spoke with photographer Mikaela Hamilton, who found a “blank” in her life and creatively filled it in with color and light.

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Photo credit: Mikaela Hamilton Photography

Mikaela grew up focusing on athletics, and was an avid soccer player. Throughout most of her young life she was a “closet creative.” She always had an interest in creative pursuits, but never thought she’d be able to chase after them.  Mikaela always found herself boxed into the “athlete category.”

She intended to go to college to play soccer, but injured her knee. More than that, she was burned out on soccer, but didn’t want to admit it to herself. Since she was no longer going to play soccer, she found herself at school with an abundant amount of free time. Knee surgery had removed from her everything she had known. Her family wasn’t around, and she was surrounded by people who knew nothing about her.

Life had given her a “fill-in-the-blank.” She figured she could discover a whole new outlet for herself. She asked for a camera for her 20th birthday, and with it went to the Dominican Republic on a spring break with a group from her school. It was there that she discovered just how she was going to fill in the blank of her life.

In the Dominican Republic she volunteered at an elementary school. There was a little boy there named Sam, who had striking hazel eyes. She snapped a picture of him, looked at it and thought, “I really like this whole photo thing.” She went back to school and started shooting anything she could get in front of her camera: engagement photos, sorority houses, weddings…anything she could possibly put into the form of digital print.

This all led to her getting a job at the university with their Department of Technology and Design. Mikaela started to learn the technical side of photography with the incredible equipment she was able to access in that department. She stopped shooting everything on the automatic setting, and learned about light and exposure.

The sentences of life are almost certain to give a “fill-in-the-blank” every now and then. 

  • The question is what will you do with them?
  • Why not take those blanks and fill them in with the pursuit of passions and dreams?
  • What is it that has been latent in your life and wants to bubble up to the surface?
  • What is it that you’ve always wanted to do but never had the time?

Fill in the blank with something that you’ve always wanted to do but never had the time. Fill it in with incremental pursuits of a passion you’ve always had. Fill in the blank with photography, or art, or writing, or crafting, or making, or creating. Fill it in with color, light, and creativity.

Mikaela did it, and you can see the products of her pursuit right here. You can do it, too. Keep an eye out for those sentences in life that provide a wonderfully unexpected “fill-in-the-blank”.

What have you done when life has provided a ________________?

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How to Make Grocery Shopping a Work of Art

Now that we have a new Trader Joe’s grocery store near us, I have discovered that grocery shopping can be a work of art. Creativity and art happen when random things come together to make a cohesive, beautiful, and sometimes tasty whole. I’m certain this would work at other grocery stores, but Trader Joe’s seems to me to be especially conducive to culinary art.

Trader Joe's

I have a couple of Trader Joe’s cookbooks at home, and I use them as inspiration for my grocery shopping, but I don’t rely on them completely. Instead, I use “art” to create meals that are both fun to cook and delicious to eat. Here’s how I do it:

  1. I don’t take a list. Yes, I know that goes against every budgetary guide and every tip from people like Martha Stewart and her home economics colleagues. Instead, I create meals in my mind and from the inspiration of the items in the store. You may know that Trader Joe’s continuously adds new items and discontinues others. That’s what makes a trip to Trader Joe’s exciting. I see what’s in stock, what items are and are not available, and I begin to create meals.
  2. I criss-cross the store. I like to start in the meat section and pick a few things that will be the centerpiece of a meal. Since most Trader Joe’s stores are relatively small, I then criss-cross the store to pick up the things that will complement the meat, poultry, or pasta. This is where creativity and art really begin to take shape. At Trader Joe’s you can mix cuisines, you can add fresh produce, or you can pick a specialty cheese to add some creamy flavor to your dish. The possibilities are almost limitless.
  3. I create meals. At Trader Joe’s you can come home with a weeks worth of meals for far less than you might at a traditional grocery store. And the items are much more varied and fun. It’s so fun to put groceries away and see a pantry and refrigerator full of meals that will please both your family and your own taste buds. Once the week’s meals are planned the fun begins. Each night I get to bring ingredients together to make a culinary masterpiece (well…it’s a work of art in my own mind, if nowhere else).

Grocery shopping and cooking doesn’t have to be a chore. It can be fun and exciting when you look at it as a work of art, an opportunity to exercise creativity. Give it try…especially if you have a nearby Trader Joe’s.

How do you make grocery shopping or cooking a work of art?

New Christmas Music

In years past my sister used to ask me what new Christmas music I would recommend. She knew that I loved the holiday season and that I was always on top of the latest, best, and most fresh music to play throughout a holiday season.

Though she hasn’t asked me this year, I bet you’re wondering where you can find some good, new holiday music. At the top of my list this year is the new offering by Matt Wertz entitled: Snow Globe.

This record contains fresh, new takes on old favorites like Walking in a Winter Wonderland, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, and O Holy Night. But the real stand-outs are the new originals like Snow Globe, Wake Up, Wake Up, and especially Christmas in the City, a tribute to the holiday being celebrated in New York (…no wonder I like it!).

Here’s a link to the CD version if you’re interested: Snow Globe

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10 Creative Christmas Gifts for the Creative People in Your Life

Christmas is just around the corner. You’re finding it difficult to think of the perfect gift for the creative person in your life. You really want to surprise her with a creative gift. You really want to boost his creativity with a gift that keeps on giving.

Creative Christmas

Here are ten gifts for the creative person in your life. They are guaranteed not only to surprise, but to boost the creative juices that every “creative” desires. Just click on the item, and it will take you right to place where you can make a quick and easy Christmas purchase.

  1. Show Your Work!: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered This is Austin Kleon’s follow-up book to Steal Like an Artist, and has incredibly practical information to enhance your creativity and get your art noticed. Interesting tips like “read the obituaries every day” will fuel the fire of any creative.
  2. Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True InspirationEd Catmull, the president of both Pixar and Disney Animation tells the fascinating story of how computer animation was perfected. As he reveals his personal, autobiographical information, he also shows how teamwork and telling great stories enhances creativity to the n’th degree.
  3. Incase Portable Power 2500 Every creative uses a smartphone so consistently that the battery dies incessantly. I have found that this portable charger (under $30) charges my iPhone quickly with a long-lasting charge from the source.
  4. When I Was Younger This collection of songs by the new band, Colony House, was my favorite album of the year. These songs are filled with the kind of hope that every creative needs to stay the course. I dare you not to start singing along after just a listen or two.
  5. Wine and the Word: Savor & Serve Kurt Senske creatively uses the metaphor and the study of wine (!) to show how it enhances our appreciation both of Scripture and of the Christian walk. After all, wine is mentioned, Senske says, 521 times in the Bible.
  6. Aluminum Credit Card Wallet RFID Blocking Case Here’s a great stocking stuffer for your favorite creative. We creatives can sometimes tend to be a little “messy” or “disorganized.” I was tired of having a George Costanza wallet, so I switched to these, and have never turned back. I love the way my “wallet life” has become organized and clean.
  7. Wide Open Here’s a collection of songs from the uber-creative songwriter, Steve Moakler. He opens with a song about how he’d  “rather make a living being myself,” and carries us along with songs of love, and work, and life that will inspire any creative in their art or play.
  8. The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life Twyla Tharp (yeah, that Twyla Tharp…the dancer/choreographer) teaches a master class on creativity in what I consider to be a classic on the subject. Though you may have never even danced a polka, you will learn from Tharp how to be inspired, how to “scratch” for creativity, and much, much more. Every creative should own this book.
  9. Consider the Wildflowers Jewelry If you have a female creative in your life, give her some of this creatively simple jewelry, or send her to a “Consider the Wildflowers Workshop” (for flower design and other creative pursuits). Once she sees the web site or reads the blog, she will be hooked on this jewelry (and 10% of each sale goes to various charity projects).
  10. The ShipIt Journal Five Pack Does your creative friend or relative have difficulty getting work and art out into the world? Give them this 5 pack of workbooks from Seth Godin, master marketer and chief “artist,” and watch them ship their work and art out into the world faster than you can say “creative.”

What “creative” gift would you suggest I get for myself this Christmas?