While on a ride going to work I was thinking of an idea that I could present to a friend and possibly asking him if he would like to have a share on the idea and be a business partner.
But the idea is just afloat in the air, it was nothing specific. Several times I would daydream of the same scenario but it would often end up like a bubble burst.
The friend I was talking about gave me an advice before. This made me look back and think of what was preventing me from being creative... What blocks creativity?
I ask myself... Hey, I know a lot of things! I know this, I know that... I know photoshop, I know Java, I know how to blog, I know blah, blah blah. But wait! I said to my self... I think I finally figured out.
"Show Me Some Kind Of Creativity!" ~Garry Winston (villain in the movie Antitrust)
What You Know Blocks Creativity
What you know can be helpful especially if it's an experience that you could recount to during limited situations. However, what you know can also be a limiting belief. Let me go deeper into my story...
In my imagination I was presenting an Internet application, a website. I quickly asked myself how it was going to be made and I took inventory of the skills I have. However, I would hold back my ideas because I think I cannot implement the idea using the skills that I have.
So you see, instead of focusing on implementing the idea I focused on how hard to do it... The process. What I know limited my creativity. And it's the same thing as we grow older. As we become professionals, the child-like vision and day-dreaming disappears.
If creativity is like a free-flowing stream, what we know could be rocks that could either shape its path or block it and eventually make the water stagnant.
If this is the case then, how can we avoid this dangerous trap?
"We don't need television, as long as we have our... imagination. ~ Spongebob"
Be An Empty Cup
Ok, so there's this song about a young ninja entitled "wind" that I really like and it goes..."Don't try to live so wise.
Don't cry 'cause you're so right.
Don't dry with fakes or fears,
'Cause you will hate yourself in the end."
Some people try to make it as though they know everything. If you don't know something, they act like you know it and ask silly questions. This then leads to creativity, our brain somehow works more imaginative when there is curiosity.
I'm not telling you to forget everything you've learned in your life. I'm simply suggesting that if you want to learn, and let your mind take its true nature then you should set aside what you know for a moment and truly listen to your environment. Has it ever made you wonder how some people become rich upon coming up with an idea while walking alone in the beach?
When your mind is full of things, perhaps it's time to take a rest. Take a vacation, drive your car to the beach and listen to the siren sound of the waves.
Photo Credit: Spongebob image and Spongebob quote are copyright of their respective owners.
Filed Under:
Creativity
Self Help
Hi Tim,
Thank you for this post. Sometimes we get too focused on what we lack that we fail to makes the most of what we have. When you were telling about a brilliant app and idea you've got, I remembered a quote most programmers might be familiar of, "I wanted to change the world but they wouldn't give me the source code!" haha. I guess that's what happens sometimes, we may get robbed with opportunities and resources but may we always remember that there's nothing worse than robbing our own selves with the chance to TRY. There's nothing more satisfying than knowing that we tried. :-)
Hi Jonha, yes that is right. I focused on what I lacked that moment. I remember a quote from Robert Kiyosaki where he said to "always challenge your ideas" and that includes that limited beliefs that we set on ourselves.
Here's another good example of how you know blocks creativity...
I loved to draw when I was young, I was told "never to copy" other people's work and create my own style. This limited my creativity because I discovered years after that I could create my own style by adapting other people's style, putting it together or omitting what I think is not nice. Thus, making my own style to draw...
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