Your creativity is needed now more than ever, but you weren’t taught how to create.
Everyone I admire has one thing in common. They share their creative insights, and they have a lot of them.
Foremost examples of inspiring creative people are easy to find. Beyonce, Elon Musk, Zendaya - we idolize them, simplify their stories into parables, and categorize them as super-human. Phil Collins can’t help but write music so inspiring that we make memes about him 30 years later.
So, how am I, the Average Joe, supposed to be as creative and inspiring as the man who wrote Two Worlds, Two Worlds Reprise, Two Worlds Radio Version, and Two Worlds Finale?
The bad news is that you won’t be the next Phil Collins. The good news is that this is the most opportune moment in history to explore and exploit your creative insights.
Learning to approach life as an artist is the key to creating self purpose and indispensable value.
Rick Rubin defines art as “To bring something into existence that wasn’t there before.”
Seth Godin’s definition is “A personal gift that changes the recipient.”
I define art as a vulnerable expression made available for others to receive. My definition has two parts:
Vulnerable - the art includes a piece of yourself.
Available - it is only art if others can receive it. There is a chance that no one else sees your work, but the bravery to publish your work to a public forum is critical in the creative process.
Most of us don’t consider ourselves artists. The term is reserved for traditional forms of creation: art, music, literature. I don’t believe this is true. Traditional artists may create a higher volume of art or distribute it more widely, but we are all artists.
You can be an artist as a Starbucks barista, a construction worker, a musician, or a software engineer. We all create art every day without knowing it. A new way of communicating a technical concept to a co-worker is art. A child-like fart joke that makes your partner laugh is art. A sick 🤙 new strategy to win a game of Fortnite is art.
My primary craft is Software Engineering. Many job descriptions for software engineers will discuss the need to be good at “debugging.” To become a senior engineer at my last company, you had to “master the art of debugging.”