Your Creativity Is In Your Hands

Are you in charge of your creativity?

Do you play with new ideas, new textures, new techniques? Your creativity is yours to manage and it's also in your hands, literally. From another angle: your hands create.

Think about a sculptor at work, her hands carefully forming her art. Her mind is completely engaged, maybe even in a flow, and her hands instinctively, creatively, know what to do. That only comes after hours of practice.

Think about a concert pianist: the mind is involved, the heart is involved, and the hands are doing far more than running thru the paces of mechanical memory. The hands are creating tone, inflection, articulation, emphasis, texture, stylization, and yes even emotion. The hands add what the brain hasn't even imagined until it hears it coming straight from the hands. That level of synthesis only comes after many hours of practice.

Name the format and the hands are there -- not just as a set of useful tools but also as generators of inspired creativity: painting, sketching, sewing, quilting, crafting - the hands are at the heart of creativity. Hands design, they deliver, and when necessary they destroy -- all in the spirit of creativity.

Yes, you are in charge of your creativity. And if you are blessed with two strong hands you are truly blessed indeed because within your hands are entire worlds of creativity.

-- doug smith

Creative Actions

Fold a piece of paper into a shape you haven't considered or tried before. Let your hands guide the action and make the changes. Leave it up to your hands.
Feel hands-full of beach sand. Hold it, fold it, let it touch your hands back. Do that for a few minutes. What ideas do you have for something to create?
Put your hands in your shoes for a moment. How does that feel? Consider walking somewhere without your shoes - barefoot if possible. Let your feet enjoy the creative freedom of touching the earth.

Comments

Save that thought...

Whenever I ask a class "have you ever said anything that you regret saying?" the answer is always 100% yes. A mumble easily becomes a stumble when it's tainted with trauma, distrust, anger, or sorrow. There are things we could say that don't help in any way. It's better to keep those things to o oneself. I had a boss once who wisely told me "Doug, when you're upset, pause and count to ten." "And what if I stay upset?" "Then count to a hundred." She might as well have said count to a thousand, because I knew exactly what she meant. Some things do not need to be said. We've all got better words inside us willing to take that mistake away. -- doug smith

Careful With the Question

Have you ever been in a conversation so intense that you question the health of the person who is arguing with you? Most of us have. In that moment, when our nerves are frayed and our anger is rising, it is ever so easy to say the wrong thing. It's tempting to ask the wrong question. When we push against someone's dignity the reaction will not be positive. You know that, I know that, and yet we've done it anyway. Here's a note-to-self: stop, pause, breathe, evaluate. What would be the best thing to say or do? Because...if you ask someone what's wrong with them they will likely find something wrong with you. And they might not be wrong about that... -- doug smith

Not So Obvious, Is It?

People work on bad goals far too often. It sounds good, it reaches for some vague feeling of satisfaction, and yet the goal is a poor match for who they are or where they are. How you form your goals matters. Get the goal right before you work on it to save yourself lots of aggravation. Keep it simple: action word, result, and time. Keep it ambitious but possible. And check to make sure that what you want is what the goal will give you. Otherwise, that poor goal is a waste of time. -- doug smith

Collaborate Instead of Commanding

As a recovering know-it-all I remember making many mistakes, trying to solve someone else's problem. I've learned that maybe, just maybe, I can help, but it is highly unlikely that I'll solve that problem. The problem with solving someone else's problem is that it may not fit into their schedule. Or their plan. Work together. Collaborate. Share. If the solution emerges between you, let them take credit for the brilliance of the solution. You'll never run out of problems to help on, unless you try to solve them all on your own. -- doug smith

Better Is Better

What we work on matters. What we choose to focus on not only matters but it's also completely up to us. What's your focus today? This week? This month? I'm learning to limit my focus to what matters most, one goal at a time. How about you? Better goals create better lives. That's what we want, and deserve. -- doug smith

A Daily Goal

Some people take a vitamin every day. Some people read a passage from a favorite book every day. Positive daily habits support a successful life. Set a goal at least once a day and then achieve that goal. It builds the kind of momentum that leads to wonderful things. And you do want wonderful things, right? -- doug smith

The Smartest Person

What makes a team member seem smart? Is it their knowledge? Is it their experience? Or, are they simply gifted? High performance leaders work to build teams that include people smarter than they are. They are out there, why not bring them to your team? If you think that you are the smartest person on your team you are either wrong, OR not finished recruiting. -- doug smith

Right In Front of You

It isn't possible or necessary to solve every problem. Focus on the problem in front of you. Solving that first problem builds momentum and experience for solving the next problem. You'll never solve them all, but imagine how much better things will be after you've solved the ones right in front of you. -- doug smith

The Team You Deserve

Whether you are a great leader or something less, the reality is that you will build the team that you deserve. High performance teams develop accountability, excellence, and positive results. High performance leaders develop that and more through clarity, courage, creativity and compassion. Leaders need clarity around their vision, their mission, and their goals. Teams need to know which direction to move, direction provided with clarity. Leaders need the courage to stand against obstacles, to resist temptation to take the easy way out, to fully back their people. Teams need leaders with the courage of their convictions and with visible assertive support of their team. Creativity gives a leader the ability to generate new ideas, to innovate in a constantly moving environment, to think of new ways to inspire and motivate their teams. Teams, equipped with creativity, never get stale. They find the fun in what they do and they convert that fun into positive results. Since leaders deal wi...

Hard Work

What's the hardest job that you've ever had to do? It might be hard, it might not be fun, it might consume far too much time, but hard work builds skills that otherwise go neglected. Hard work teaches patience, tenacity, fortitude, resilience. Hard work build character. When it gets to be too easy, it's time for another challenge. Hard work will always pay off in one way or another. What are you working hard at now? The payoff will be worth it. -- doug smith

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