Creativity Connects the Dots in New Ways
"Creativity is having enough dots to connect." Steve Jobs CEO, Apple, Inc.
Sticking with the familiar seems like a safety zone. We think we are safe when we are on familiar ground. In reality, there is no guarantee of security that comes with familiarity at all, we just like to think it does.
We encourage children to experiment with the unknown all the time: try this new food, ride your bike without the training wheels now, walk into that new classroom - nothing to fear, it's easy.
As adults, we don 't like changing things. From daily routines, to our work schedules, to the processes we move through to complete our work, even including habits and opinions, it's easier to stick to the familiar than reach into the unknown. We're comfortable when the expectations and outcomes are familiar.
The problems facing us today in the world are massive, gaining in complexity and speed. Solving them with the same thinking that built them is not the answer. That will be more of the same. Everything is so tangled up and fragile and one slight movement over there affects something over here and then the entire thing is out of balance.
Each one of us was born with a creative side to our brain. Some access it easier than others. All of us have the capacity to access it. Thinking from the creative side of the mind enables us to see things in new ways. It enables us to connect the dots in new ways.
This is where each one of us can contribute to solving the massive problems we face today: Start with ourselves and develop our own creative capacity. Color. Sing. Make something. Imagine shapes in the stars and clouds. Sit so quietly in the woods that birds and squirrels approach. Play in water. Throw clay pots. Write stories. Take classes in things you think you might not be very good at. Explore and experiment.
This is how you begin to add more dots to the picture and then you can connect them in new ways. Get rid of what no longer fits. This is when new solutions form and a new thinking takes hold. You begin to see problems in new ways and connect to new ideas and solutions. Eventually, you will find solutions beyond where you accepted limits before.
This is the direction we're headed in as a mass of humanity and the Universe seems to be sending us clues about how to get there: the need for more networking and connectedness, the need for more creativity so that we stop trying to solve problems with the same thinking that we used to create them.
Sticking with the familiar seems like a safety zone. We think we are safe when we are on familiar ground. In reality, there is no guarantee of security that comes with familiarity at all, we just like to think it does.
We encourage children to experiment with the unknown all the time: try this new food, ride your bike without the training wheels now, walk into that new classroom - nothing to fear, it's easy.
As adults, we don 't like changing things. From daily routines, to our work schedules, to the processes we move through to complete our work, even including habits and opinions, it's easier to stick to the familiar than reach into the unknown. We're comfortable when the expectations and outcomes are familiar.
The problems facing us today in the world are massive, gaining in complexity and speed. Solving them with the same thinking that built them is not the answer. That will be more of the same. Everything is so tangled up and fragile and one slight movement over there affects something over here and then the entire thing is out of balance.
Each one of us was born with a creative side to our brain. Some access it easier than others. All of us have the capacity to access it. Thinking from the creative side of the mind enables us to see things in new ways. It enables us to connect the dots in new ways.
This is where each one of us can contribute to solving the massive problems we face today: Start with ourselves and develop our own creative capacity. Color. Sing. Make something. Imagine shapes in the stars and clouds. Sit so quietly in the woods that birds and squirrels approach. Play in water. Throw clay pots. Write stories. Take classes in things you think you might not be very good at. Explore and experiment.
This is how you begin to add more dots to the picture and then you can connect them in new ways. Get rid of what no longer fits. This is when new solutions form and a new thinking takes hold. You begin to see problems in new ways and connect to new ideas and solutions. Eventually, you will find solutions beyond where you accepted limits before.
This is the direction we're headed in as a mass of humanity and the Universe seems to be sending us clues about how to get there: the need for more networking and connectedness, the need for more creativity so that we stop trying to solve problems with the same thinking that we used to create them.
Labels: capacity building, fundraising, nonprofit growth, nonprofits
posted by Jean Long at
5:30 AM
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