Creativity

There are lots of ways to be creative. It doesn’t need to be artistic or generate anything. Just living every day can be creative.

An elegant solution to a problem. Finding the right words to say to someone. Making something inconvenient or painful less so. Cooking a good and tasty meal that you can’t wait to eat. Planning for your future demands creativity, for sure. So does just making today work, sometimes.

I did my first print job for a customer today — just 120 little round labels. I had to get creative to get the images centred in the labels. Shaving off the blank sides of the image with the crop tool worked a treat. It took ten tries, but who cares? Now I have a solution I can use next time I run into the problem, and a bit of experience. It’ll be five tries next time, and three the time after that.

It’s tempting to look at that as drudgery, a waste of time, or some other negative thing. It’s certainly what I was taught to do growing up! That doesn’t serve me now, though, and I’ll never get better at something by beating myself down for not having it perfect the first time out of the gate.

I’ve been watching a lot of Guy Fieri‘s shows lately; especially Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. What stands out to me (beyond the awesome food) is the imperfection of pretty much everything in the show. It’s not often hidden, and it’s usually celebrated. I would be on the ceiling, freaking out about things not being perfect, and at my wit’s end. I’m learning something from his attitude, which seems to be to have a good laugh, acknowledge the situation, and get on with it. I’ve never seen him go down the “I’m such a failure” path.

And why would he? He’s got a bunch of restaurants, a handful of TV shows, and a strong community surrounding him. I don’t have those benefits, but I’m going to guess he had his good attitude first and that’s what helped get him there, along with a million other things. But I’m pretty sure creativity played a big part in it as well.

I just hope to bring that level of creativity one day. I’m working on it.

Who else is in?