What Does ‘Creativity’ Mean To You?

          I wanted to write about creativity this week, but for some reason I couldn’t seem to find the right words.

          The word itself – Creativity – has seemed to bombard me lately. Everywhere I go I see books about it. When I listen to podcasts, many episodes are about it. When I look at social media, I see many posts and sayings about it. Why?

          Why has “Creativity” become so popular? Wasn’t it just a few years ago when I was being told there was no way I’d ever be able to make a living as a writer? That I’d have to find another career choice and save “my little stories” for myself or my kids.

          Say you want to be a photographer. I’m sure someone told you that you’d need to find another way to make a living and to keep your photography as a hobby. Even crafting was pooh-poohed by adults as something you only do for fun. You would never be able to make a living simply by crocheting or knitting.

          These days, I’m hearing the exact opposite. Nearly every podcast I listen to, every book I read, every “friend” on Facebook talks about “finding their passion” and determining their “WHY.” I’ve even been having those kinds of conversations with my two younger sons: Philip who is 26 and Derek who is 22.

          Both of them are creators. They draw and write. Philip captures some of the most striking images with his camera and Derek uses his forge to bend metal to his will. My message to them has been: “Don’t wake up some day and find yourself 59 years old, living a life with no purpose.”

          Maybe that’s the key to creativity — purpose for living.

          I have a friend who asked a question on LinkedIn and Facebook a couple of weeks ago: Do you believe that all people are creative? I asked Derek the same question and in true Derek fashion his answer was: “It depends on your definition of ‘creative.’”

          Just what is creativity? Does everyone have it? Is it the same as artistry? Does it even mater?

          Let’s tackle that last question first. Creativity matters because it shows the world how each of us thinks, how we solve problems, how we look for beauty, how we make stuff.

          During a recent episode of the Don’t Keep Your Day Job Podcast, Cathy Heller introduced me to Chase Jarvis, the CEO of CreativeLive, an online learning platform for creatives of all kinds. And he’s written a book – Creative Calling: Establish a daily practice, infuse your world with meaning, and succeed in work + life. In the book he describes four steps to discovering, or re-discovering, your creativity. He calls it the I-D-E-A System:

• Imagine
• Design
• Execute
• Amplify.

          “Imagine” may be the most difficult of the four. I know it was — and still is — for me. Just what do I want to be when I grow up? This can also be the fun part. Let’s try computer programming, or carpentry, or watch-making. Try something. If you don’t mesh with it, look at something else. But you have to try. If you’re going to sit around and complain about your boring life, but you don’t take the initiative to learn anything new, then I don’t know what to tell you.

          Next comes “Design.” Develop your plan for how you’re going to accomplish your goals. But you can’t stop there. You have to “Execute” and put your plan into action. This is probably the second most difficult part of the IDEA system. Because it requires us to get up off the couch and take those first steps. And that means we have to face our fears — fear of failing, fear of making a mistake, fear of not being good enough, fear of ridicule, fear of shame – just fear.

          “I’m trying to help people to get to the other side of fear where all the best stuff of life is,” Jarvis said during the podcast with Cathy Heller.

          “A cool thing happens when you feel fear and step into it anyway,” he continued. “You learn a little lesson, a little tiny lesson, in that moment and that lesson is that not only was that not so bad, but that it actually helped.”

          Bottom line: Experiences can hurt but they can also help you grow.

          Then there’s Amplify. “Community is the lever for all of your dreams,” said Jarvis. It starts with yourself first. Then you share your thing with someone else. “Nothing happens in a vacuum,” he continued. “Your dreams will largely not be possible unless you can bring other people along.”

          So what about those other three questions? You know: What is Creativity? Does everyone have it? Is it the same as Artistry?

          I decided to look up the meaning of “creativity” in the dictionary. Miriam-Webster defines “creativity” as “the ability to create.” No duh. Don’t you just hate it when the word itself is used in its own definition?

          So I went the geeky way and decided to look up the origin of the word “create.” This is the kind of nerdy stuff that makes my heart sing!
According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, “create” comes from the Latin “creatus,” which means to make, bring forth, produce, procreate, beget or cause. So there you go. To be creative means that you make stuff.

          So developing an app for people to keep track of their exercise routines can be creative. Developing a new way for mortgage underwriters to keep better track of their reports is creative. Mowing your lawn so the patterns you leave behind are pleasing to the eye is creativity in action. If you have ever used rubber bands, twisty ties and lunch sacks to build a harness for your guinea pig (don’t ask. It was a LONG time ago) — you were being creative.

          There’s the answer to the next question. Yes, everyone is creative in some way.

          Now, on to creativity versus artistry. Is there a difference? I’m going to fall back to Derek’s earlier answer that: “It depends on how you define” artistry.

          Is there an art to solving an in-depth calculus problem? Is there art in stacking piles of wood? Is there art in sewing a piece of clothing? Those are all things I doubt many people would call “art” but there is an art of some kind in all of them.

          Maybe the problem is in how we treat creativity. Is it something revered or something to downplay? Is it encouraged in your household or relegated to times when you’re bored and need to find something to do?

          I come from a long line of crafters — everything from candy-making, to beading, to knitting and crocheting, sewing, baking, and nearly any other “ing” that means you make something from something else. There is artistry there.

          I think it’s time we all started giving “creativity” the props it deserves. We all have it; we all are artists in some form; we all know how to make something using something else.

          Look around you. Do you have flower beds filled with color? Do you have a garden overflowing with zucchini and tomatoes? Do you teach English to fifth graders? Do you know how to disassemble an engine and put it back together again — without any extra pieces left behind?

          Face it. You are an artist. You are what I’ve come to know as a “creative.” Celebrate your talents. Revel in your art. Be proud of the stuff you’ve made and will make in the future.

          How about you? What is your art? What gets your creative juices flowing? Let me know in the Comments below or send me an email at susie@stix-n-stonez.com. Here’s to you and your art.

Until next week,
Susie at Stix-N-Stonez.com

P.S.: I guess I found a few words after all!