Illustration by Kyle Stecker
On a recent podcast I was asked about how creativity plays into my Coaching work, and how my clients use it. You may know that I am a painter and explore a wide array of media in my resin block work.
But that's not the creativity people use to find success and happiness in their life.
It comes down to one word: imagination.
First, let's address some obstacles to success and happiness.
LIMITING BELIEFS
Anyone who tells you that they are just their job, or just a parent, or just ... any one thing, they're either fooling themselves or trying to sell you something. None of us are just our jobs or just our professions. We are all multi-dimensional.
Whatever you do, you also exist in the world with friends, relationships, and if you’re reading this there’s a good chance you live in a place with people. You eat food, maybe you have kids, you have or had parents, maybe you do more than one thing, or maybe you do one thing and wish you did another. Maybe you travel, play board, games, taken on a new hobby, or are an online Fortnite champion.
You’re a friend, a diner, a chef, a parent, a sibling, a child, a gamer, a knitter, or a long list of other things.
None of us are one-dimensional, even when we describe ourselves that way.
BEING STUCK
In my workshops, it’s fascinating for me to see how many different ways people’s lives are made up and from how many different pieces. And yet with all this variety, stuckness seems to be a common piece of the puzzle.
While choices are different for everyone, everyone has choices. The most basic choice is how we react to the situation we are in. But I'll save the summary of Stoic philosophy for another post.
So, all of our lives are made up of many different pieces. And therein are the key words.
Our lives are made up. Feeling stuck isn't a lack of choice, it's a lack of choosing.
UNCERTAINTY
Lack of certainty stops many of us, maybe you, from stepping into more creative solutions for success and happiness in your life. Call it fear or discomfort or risk-aversion. The fact that if we are unsure about whether to apply for a job, whether to start a blog, whether to paint one thing or another, or whether to reach out to a new potential client, uncertainty and doubt is a thing that stops so many of us.
However, we can use tools to check our math, see how uncertain exactly we are, and start to take more calculated first steps with a clearer idea and emotional preparedness for any eventual outcome.
PRAGMATISM
The enemy of Possibility, pragmatism, practical thinking, reason. How old is the tale of the young person who suffers through a career they never wanted because their parents smothered them with the lesson of practicality?
How many opportunities have you walked by because in one or more areas of your life it just didn't seem like a fit?
How many of those have you regretted?
If you've seen the movie The Social Network, Andrew Garfield's character decides to pursue the very reasonable and practical goal of his financial education over joining Facebook. He regretted the decision when Facebook became a multi-Million (now multi-Billion) dollar company. (note: his character then goes on to sue the company and walk out well-paid. Still, just go with me on the point of the analogy)
Contrast that with the artist David Choe who accepted potentially useless shares in the company for painting a mural. He's now a hundred-Millionaire. No lawsuit.
This is not to say that you should throw caution to the wind. And we know that if you want to live a life you haven't lived, you have to do things you haven't done.
SO, CREATIVITY
Can you simply imagine your way to success and happiness?
Maybe not exactly. I propose imagination is absolutely necessary, though not sufficient.
There is a kind of creativity we all share. It's what David Graeber called one of the Thee Basic Freedoms, The Freedom to Imagine, in his seminal work "Dawn of Everything" .
Let me say upfront that this is not going to be a “do what you love” article. That well-trodden advice is frankly hooey. We all have truly immovable objects in our lives, physical limitations, forces of oppression, or varying degrees of privilege, or none at all. There are things that you can do that are not available to me and things that I can do that are also not available to many.
That said, when I say that everyone is creative the response I hear most is “not me. I can’t even draw a stick figure.”
Who said anything about drawing? We are talking about imagination.
If you’ve ever applied to a job, you have used your imagination. In that process you have in some way created a possibility in your own mind of you having that job. More specifically, you have imagined yourself in the job and what you would do and who you would work with. You may even have imagined how your life would be better should you get the job.
If you have ever cooked, travelled, changed jobs, applied to a job, made plans with friends or a romantic partner, walked somewhere on a different route, and if you have ever found your favorite way to do literally anything, you have imagined.
And if you're a parent, you. have. imagined. things. And you also know how to take a small step into uncertainty, away from practicality, and how being stuck is not an option. You know the feeling of being unsure, making a plan anyway, and seeing what happens. To make that plan you had to imagine how it would go, how it would work, what it would be like. To act, you had to access some courage.
This is a creativity that all of us share. We all imagine. The question then is, what's the point of imagination without tools to make some of those dreams a reality?
BUILDING THE CREATIVITY MUSCLE FOR SUCCESS AND HAPPINESS
Other than private Coaching, a relationship all about making dreams real, here are some exercises you can do to exercise and embrace your own creative imagination.
NOTICE
This is the main tool, this is the gold, and it works if you do it.
I feel compelled to add this caveat: I admit my own resistance to "woo-woo" exercises. Take a breath, get present, find your center, etc. Then I do them and they work. So, if you are experiencing resistance to this type of tool, from one who has been in your shoes I invite you to just give it a shot.
The practice itself is simple: take time, at least once a day, and list all the moments big and small where you had to imagine. I recommend writing, if not writing typing, if not typing at least thinking through the list and counting how many are on it.
The process of slowing down, taking a breath, recognizing and evaluating things is a powerful way to build appreciation, resilience, and the G word, gratitude.
Wait why are these important? It primes the pump. It offers you more thinking space to imagine more, and with more ideas, more possibilities open up. From there you have more chances to make positive first steps.
It also reduces any discomfort around BEING creative when you see where you are doing it already.
Did you come up with a good solution to get your kid to take out the trash?Did you apply to or start a new job?
Did you try a new hobby?Did you find a cool solution at work?
Did you add a different spice to your recipe?
It. All. Counts. Because you imagined it and did it.
When you look at the long list, you’ll be clear at how much creative imagination you bring in to each and every moment of your day.EXPAND
Looking at where you are already imagining, imagine bigger. Make a new list.
What would be an impossible stretch of the imagination?
If you're creative in the kitchen, would a dinner party challenge you?What about opening a restaurant?
Go deeper, in more detail.
What would the name of the restaurant be?What would the decor look like?
What food would it serve?Where would it be located?
Who would come?
What praise would Gordon Ramsay shower upon your chef and staff?
The point is not to actually go do it (maybe with great Coaching) but to get way out of your comfort zone.
When you come back to your current reality, you'll have your current choices in perspective. You might even find some courage to take one small action.EVALUATE
Final list.
What has shifted?
Has your edge of comfort shifted?
Are there things on those lists that seem actually possible that didn't before?
If this is your second or third time doing the exercise, has anything moved up or down on or between lists?
What do you notice about your relationship with creativity, imagination, and your behavior?
Once you create these lists, let them sit in the back of your mind. Don't put pressure on yourself to act, just imagine.
There's zero risk and only reward in allowing yourself the permission to imagine.
There's more to these lists and if you want to go even deeper on any of these subjects, I invite you to reach out and book a Breakthrough call with me.