Creativity or Innovation?

Over the years, I have worked with people and companies to develop creativity, and I have worked with people and companies to develop innovation. Often the two are seen as the same thing, but I would call them more like cousins than identical twins.

Look up innovation in the dictionary and you will get a definition similar to this one: adj - advanced, forward-looking, innovative, modern -- (ahead of the times; "the advanced teaching methods"; "had advanced views on the subject"; "a forward-looking corporation"; "is British industry innovative enough?")  Innovation is almost always about work, the market, productivity, processes, and is generally builds on what already exists. Innovation itself cannot be taught, but a person or company can be taught things that will breed and encourage innovation.

Creativity? The definition is a little different. You are likely to get a definition more like this: having the power to bring into being; having the ability or power to create; Note the difference - here it seems to come out of nowhere. Very Godlike. Something out of nothing. Something completely new. Can creativity be taught? Not in itself. But again we can do things that make creativity more likely to grow.

In coaching or teaching creativity and innovation, the methods are someone different. But in helping a person or company become more creative or innovative, there is one big commonality - generally we have to remove our own roadblocks. This means finding what they are, being honest, then changing them.

Sound easy? It's not. We just don't see ourselves as well as we could. Which is why more and more people choose to find coaches (for their individual lives) or consultants (for their companies and organizations), to help them see more clearly. It's why people go to counselors. It's why we go to friends. It's why books on the subjects sell millions of copies each year.

Which do you want more of in your life? Creativity? Or Innovation? How do you intend to get there? I'd love to hear your answer.

It's Never Too Late

I was reading CS Lewis' Mere Christianity last night, and in the chapter I was reading, there was a section where he talked about going back. He was commenting how sometimes, to go forward, we have to go backwards. Like when we are lost, and going backwards a ways is the best way to make progress. In our progress obsessed world, we often don't see this. We think that progress, growth, the path to ________________ (fill in your own blank) is always full steam ahead forward. But what if that forward progress is taking you to the wrong place?

It's been my experience that more people feel they have lost their way, lost something essential, and want to find their way back to that earlier path. They were more creative, or peaceful, or productive or had better relationships, or.... __________________ (yes, fill in your own blank again.). Why then would we, in coaching or counseling or in self examination, want to keep going forward? Why would we not want to go back to where we strayed off the path, and then look at picking a different path?

I've been there. At times in my life I lost my spiritual way. At other times, I lost my creative way. And at other times, I lost my relational way. It's easier than most people realize to move off a track that is important to us. Life tends to chip those important things away so slowly we don't even realize it sometimes. And then, somewhere down the road, we realize.... we've lost something.

My favorite book on creative recovery is Julia Cameron's "The Artist's Way."  In it an older man said it was too late to take up the violin. She asked him what he would be if he started - a 70 year old man who was a beginner on the violin. And if he didn't start - he'd be a seventy year old man who never played the violin, and regretted it. I have been writing poetry sporadically for 30 years. A few weeks ago my son was up here in Vermont and we went to the Bennington Museum, where we saw a Grandma Moses exhibition. She was ancient when she began painting, way past "retirement" age. But managed to paint thousands of paintings. When I was at Hollins getting a creative writing masters, I wrote it constantly. But I feel away from it, and did not take it up regularly again until my divorce a few years ago. I didn't publish my first book of poems until I was 55.  And trust me, you can do the same, whether it's a book, painting, music.... whatever it is you want to accomplish.

I have a metal bookmark that is on my desk, with a quote from George Eliot: It is never too late to become what you might have been."

Amen and Amen.

Tom

PS - the picture was taken in Times Square in New York City.

Creativity by doing

This guy has set out to draw 10,000 drawings on 3x5 cards. As of a few days ago he was at 1,470. He's a walking talking example of creativity by doing. Are all of them great? Probably not. But many are funny, thought provoking and worth checking up on. And if you really like them, ask him and they are available to buy.

But whether you are in the market or not, they are inspirational because he's doing it. We can too.

Tom

Creativity is the ability to displace an idea

Several years ago, after a particular tumultuous time in my life, I took up meditation as a way to calm my mind and as part of my battle against depression. It's since become a regular part of my life. For a pretty mainline Christian, meditation, so steeped in eastern traditions, seemed a bit "out there", but my experience has been that practicing this eastern tradition doesn't intefere or endanger my Christian faith one bit.

And that realization has opened my mind to eastern thought in general. I regularly read things from Chinese, Japanese and Indian traditions to learn and grow. So I particularly enjoyed this interview with Raghavendra Rathore, from Inda, as he talked creativity, meditation and other things from a slightly different, for me at least viewpoint. The title of this post is one of his central ideas, and a valuable one.

Good, insightful, reading that makes you think.

Tom

Creativity and Honesty

The creativity web is all abuzz with a new study that seems to say that creative people are more dishonest than less creative people. It's a bit startling to read the evidence and see how they came to that conclusion.

This article in the Huffinton Post sums the study up as well as anything I have read. What do you think?

Tom

Creativity and Science

Are we getting closer to understanding the process of creativity from a neuroscience point of view?

That is the question this blog entry asks. And the answer is perhaps we are. But I still prefer to think of inspiration in terms of it's original meaning: God Breathed.

No matter what you think, the article is good reading and food for thought. You can read it here.

Tom

Education must not ignore children's creativity

From The Manawatu Standard:

More than 1200 teachers flooded Palmerston North for the Inspired Impact conference this week. The main attraction, Sir Ken Robinson, stressed the importance of developing children's creativity during a live-streamed talk from the United States.

Ignoring children's creativity could have devastating consequences on a world undergoing a technological revolution, an international expert in education warns....

Now, I happen to agree with this article, but it has some reasons I had not thought of. Go read more here.

Tom

10 Things I know about Creativity

This was inspired by a list by the same name in this column in the Worcester Business Journal. It got me thinking about my own "10 Things"

1. Creativity is a habit. You have to make time for it nearly every day to get the most of it.
2. "90% of everything is crap." It's called Sturgeon's law, after the science fiction writer, who when accosted by a woman who informed him that in her opinion, 90% of Science Fiction was crap (pardon my language, but I am quoting here.), he, with stated simply and calmly, "Madam, "90% of everything is crap." And yes, that means me and you too. Our biggest job is to produce the 90% not so good stuff to get to the good stuff. It's just the way it works, so that leads us to....
3. Creative People have to forgive ourselves. In the same way that a quarterback has to forget the last interception, we creative folks have to forgive that 90%. I am a good photographer who takes 20-30 mediocre and about as many bad shots to get the shots I can actually use and publish. And my writing? You don't want to see the original drafts of anything I write.
4. Everyone can be creative, so embrace other's creativity as well as your own. That's not just poets and artists or songwriters. Embrace the creative plumber, mechanic, housewife, teacher because they add to life and we can feed of their creativity and grow more of our own. We creative types are not as special as we sometimes paint ourselves to be.
   
5. Take a deep breath. Whether it's meditation, prayer, or just a moment to center yourself before you start creative work, a time to still our minds and make it more receptive to new thoughts is well spent.
   
6. Good cooking has to simmer. So does good creativity. Try not to put yourself in a place where you have to have a creative product on short notice. Let it simmer, it will be a better stew, I promise you.
   
7. More ideas mean more good ideas. OK, it means more bad ones too (See number 2 above), but asking questions, asking everyone for ideas will give you more stuff to simmer as you create. Don't be afraid of questions. Most people love to be asked.
   
8. Enjoy it. Don't make creativity a chore. It's play. And when it's play, you can do it a long time with high joy and energy.
   
9. Get sleep. Manic creativity that runs through the night is good, but it likely robs us of long term, sustainable, productive creativity. So a good sleep routine is a long term creativity enhancer.
   
10. Find people who encourage you, and who you can encourage. We all need encourages and creative work, the actual work itself, tends so to be introspective. So having encourages helps us along. And getting such a gift, we should give it as well. it's good for the soul, and good for the creative spirit.
    

That's all for today. Have a blessed week.

Tom

Faith's Role in Creativity

"Because creativity can be a plunge in the dark, faith provides us with the bridge, ladder and whittler's tool we need to capture the imprint of the hand of God and bring it into the light."

This quote is buried in the middle of a wonderful reminder of a post from Melissa Moskowitz, who writes a column in the Jews for Jesus site. There is a reminder in the form of a history lesson from Genesis, then she presents some very practical advice on how to use what we know for a better creative life.

Good reading. Go read it here.

Tom

Take a Lesson on Creativity from Steve Jobs

This article from Business Week is the result of a study of Apple, and particularly Steve Jobs, on how changing our perception can move us from just seeing things, to seeing them in a way that spurs real innovation. It's short, and good reading.

The most important line in the whole thing is near the end, about how our minds will fight us the whole way.... at least for a while.

Read it here.

Tom

Seven Layers of Creativity

Seven Layers of Creativity? Sounds complicated. But it's not. This article outlines, simply and shortly, seven layers of existence than help unlock creativity.

Tom

Is too much knowledge bad for creativity?

OK, here's the question - is creativity a thing we can prepare for, think our way to, lay the ground work for just like any other thing you want, OR, is it something that is spontaneous and inspired? or both?

This article from The Creative Mind, weighs in with the idea that sometimes, knowing less leads to more creativity.
What do you think?

Tom

Using "Templates" as a path to creativity

Just finished reading a nice, short article on Finding Your Own Creativity by Dr. Tian Dayton, that focuses on the use of "templates" to help us foster creativity. Very clear adn wise thoughts. You can read it here.

Tom

Tame Your Creativity

"You come up with too many ideas. Way too many. It’s a curse. It’s a gift. Sound like something you’d say to yourself every now and then? Yeah, me too. It’s ok though because it’s not always a bad thing. There are drawbacks to being a multi-tasker in your mind, but for the majority of the time it brings out nothing but benefits. So today we’re going to look at a few different ways we can tame our over-active minds and find ways to get more done with our creativity."

So starts a nice article on Taming Your Creativity. Written for web designers, I think it's got value to any creative person who at times finds themselves paralyzed by TOO MANY ideas. And honestly, as I get older, I find that is the case far more often than people not being able to find any ideas. They pile up on us until we are overwhelmed, or lose focus and direction.

Good reading, check it out here.

Tom

Thoughts: Creativity Calms

OK, when I get creative, I get into sort of a zone, which I have always thought of as intense. Yet, this article argues, with some real science behind it, that creativity is a calming thing. It uses water color painting and it's effects on executives as an example.

I am always interested in what other creative people think on things, so how about sharing your thoughts.

Tom

Creativity Calms

OK, when I get creative, I get into sort of a zone, which I have always thought of as intense. Yet, this article argues, with real science behind it, that creativity is a calming thing. It uses water color painting and it's effects on executives as an example.

What do you think?

Tom

Courage and Creativity

"Research into the creation of courage shows an openness to experience and creativity. People are more courageous when they see they have options, which is one reason why depressed and negative people often are not courageous..."

So begins this article in CrossWalk linking creativity and courage. His case study is actually about Pope John Paul II, one of the best loved, and most memorable popes of our lifetime. Known best as Pope, he was also a poet, dramatist and used creativity in myriad ways. It's a lesson for us all, whether secular or ministerial. Powerful reading. Go read it here.

Tom

AntiCreativity

If this wasn't so true in many places, it would be funny. Click on the image to go to the video. Or click here.

Tom

The Creativity Blog

I used to post links to articles and reports on creativity here on a regular basis. Mostly I found though, that a different crowd seemed to like those tips and links, versus my poetry and photographs, and in the end, I decided to focus on poetry and photographs here (obviously), But for those of you who might enjoy general information on creativity, I have started a new blog - The Creativity Blog, with links to interesting facts, articles, tips, ideas, essays, etc all over the web, focused on fostering creativity. Not for everyone, but some of you might enjoy it. It's here.

Tom

The Creative Spirit

Those who read my personal blog, or have attended one of my classes, know that I am deeply Christian. Yet, I am not at all blind to the wisdom of other faiths or cultures. So when I read a fascinating article with creative wisdom in it, I like to share it, no matter where it comes from.

With that thought, this article from the Times of India speaks the presence of a creative spirit in all of us. thoughtful reading.

Tom