Episode 11: The Importance of Creativity

In today's Creative Work Hour podcast, we explore the importance of creativity, its role as a motivator, and a tool for problem-solving. We discuss how humor and gratitude can enhance creativity and whether the creative journey or the final product holds more value. Lastly, we consider the impact of criticism and feedback on creative work. Join us tomorrow for more insights!

Welcome back to another Creative Work Hour podcast.

 

Today is November the 11th, 2024, day 11 of National Podcast Post Month.

 

What we're doing every day during November, we're doing a little podcast and I ask a question to get the conversation started and we see where we go from there.

 

Why is creativity important?

 

And just feel free to jump in.

 

Oh my gosh.

 

Well, that's, that's like a broad question.

 

I know.

 

Jeez.

 

I don't, I don't know if I can give it a definition exactly why it's important, but if you look at it from the opposite of when you don't have creativity and you think of how you feel at that time or how lacking things seem without a creative aspect, it kind of brings it to light of how important creativity is.

 

It keeps you motivated.

 

It helps you learn.

 

And.

 

Never stop learning is one of my big goals.

 

Sure.

 

It's like a life force, right?

 

Without it, where would we be?

 

Any other thoughts on that?

 

I know I'm throwing some, some crazy questions out there.

 

Well, I, that just reminds me of the question, or sorry, the quote from Einstein saying creativity is intelligence, having fun.

 

And also the imagination is more important than knowledge and, you know, so often the solution to problems is not.

 

About who has the smartest answer.

 

It's about a creative answer and people, and it's a muscle to me.

 

Creativity is a muscle and you can't just summon it on demand.

 

If you don't practice creativity, it's hard to just get creative when it's needed.

 

So just from a very practical aspect, I find it helpful with working with life to solve all the problems that get thrown at us.

 

And creativity helps us do that.

 

And if we want on the side, we can have fun with it.

 

But it's also kind of fun.

 

So I think it has a lot of uses.

 

Sure.

 

I mean, creativity is the basis of all, I mean, I look around my studio here and I look at all the books and, or the, my photographs or the dragon sculptures I have and all the different things.

 

Everything was, is sourced from creativity.

 

All our music, all our art, all our writings came from someone's endeavor.

 

To.

 

Be creative, to create something.

 

Could you say creativity is a form of energy?

 

Oh gosh, that's yes, definitely.

 

It is to create.

 

I mean, that's kind of a driving life force for everybody.

 

I think.

 

How does humor influence creativity?

 

Does humor influence creativity and how?

 

I think it's a form.

 

I mean, it's an expression of creativity.

 

I think a lot of creative people.

 

Are funny.

 

They often go hand in hand, but not necessarily, but, you know, I guess I could see some very serious visual artists painting and maybe not funny, but I just see it as that's one way that people express creativity.

 

If that's how your brain is wired, that's how the muse wants to speak.

 

Then that's a completely valid outlet for that creative energy.

 

I was going to say, you know, for me, I repeated this before, but.

 

It's so important to me when I'm talking about changing your state, and this is a Tony Robbins concept that I sort of, I'm not a huge Tony Robbins fan, but I liked this idea of his, which is.

 

If you're stuck in your state, which could be to go for a walk, or it could be a lot of different things that just get unstuck mentally and creativity for me is one of the best ways to do that.

 

If I can get into a little bit of creative project, whether it's to make a joke or write something that definitely gets me.

 

My.

 

At least it gets my analytic brain unstuck.

 

If I'm trying to solve a problem with my brow furrowed and, you know, trying to think my way out of it, if I could just take a break and get unstuck with a little bit of creativity that completely feels like it rewired my brain for a moment.

 

Then when I come back to that analytical problem, I often have a better approach and at least a path to a solution than what I had when I was just trying to just grind it out.

 

So.

 

As a state changer, important as a state.

 

Changer.

 

How does gratitude shape the creative process or the creative mindset?

 

I don't think I've ever, like, I don't think I actually connect that have made that connection about that thought about that.

 

What I'm grateful for and, and the creativity.

 

I just, I know that I suppose you could, I mean, that's something to think about.

 

It's different concepts to me, but connecting them would be a form of creativity in and of itself.

 

With one of your next classes, if you are the winners you do, what do you like best about being able to tackle you, to help you navigate this journey back to where you started?

 

How do creativity and gratitude connect?

 

Or do they?

 

And even that is a form of creating and creativity.

 

And that next thought.

 

Yeah.

 

Because, you know, it could be if gratitude does affect creativity, then is creativity a form of obedience or respect to being grateful for being able to create?

 

Indirectly, I can see or I experience it.

 

Gratitude can put me in a better mental state to be creative.

 

If I'm having anxiety or depression or some mental state that's not conducive to creativity, gratitude can be a bridge to get me there because it'll get me out of my funk at times.

 

I go, you know what?

 

Yeah, actually, things are okay.

 

I'm actually pretty doing okay.

 

So, hey, how about I create?

 

I create something.

 

So maybe it's a facilitator for me, which is just as important as anything else.

 

You got to get there to get the benefit.

 

What's the most rewarding part of creating something new?

 

Seeing someone else feel better because of it.

 

Yes.

 

That's my complete full stop.

 

If I create something and I see like if I create a joke and someone else laughs or I create a story and someone's like, oh, that was fun.

 

Anything.

 

If I see someone that feels better because of something I did, that's it for me.

 

I'm like, hi, for the rest of the day.

 

Yeah, I think so, too.

 

I think if someone looks at one of my photographs and can get a sense of and it changes their state in some way and they have a reaction in some way, then that's very satisfying to me.

 

Yes.

 

Creating it for myself is.

 

And being there in the moment of being that creator of doing it.

 

And being there in the moment of being that creator of doing it is something that feeds me, the actual doing it.

 

But the end to see that next step where you pass it forward and that sense goes to someone else and they have some kind of reaction, it's pretty amazing.

 

Gretchen's got a special breed of creativity because it often takes place within feet of bears.

 

So.

 

Yes.

 

I definitely have a unique reaction to her creativity than other people.

 

I'm like, dear God, how close was that bear when she took that picture?

 

Is it within feet of bears or within bare feet?

 

I think maybe sometimes it's both.

 

No bare feet when I'm hanging out.

 

I need to.

 

Yeah, I think that joy of seeing something for ourselves as well, not just for other people.

 

It can be a sense of accomplishment that you actually you started something.

 

And you finished it.

 

So that begs the question, is it what is the most important part of creativity?

 

Is it the journey or is it the end result, the actual creation of the masterpiece?

 

I like to say that we all work for stickers.

 

I mean, that gold star, whether it's your paycheck or whether it's someone's reaction to your creativity or your song or something, it's like the gold star.

 

It's like the gold star on the paper or the sticker that you got when you were a kindergartner.

 

We all go for the sticker and the gold star no matter what we say.

 

Oh, I'm just it's just you know, no, huh?

 

We all back there want that gold star on the top of our paper.

 

Sure.

 

By the way, not.

 

You know the famous study that showed that kids in kindergarten who loved drawing, when you gave them stickers for their drawings and then later stopped doing it, they stopped drawing.

 

Yes.

 

Oh, wow.

 

So I don't I think it's the answer is a combination of the two.

 

Because most people don't ever feel like something's done when it's done.

 

You know, most artworks people ah, maybe or it could have been this or, you know, I wasn't sure about that.

 

And it's part of that also ends up being something for you.

 

Or the next piece, whatever it is.

 

Curse of the artist, right?

 

There's always one brush stroke that wasn't

 

Oh, that's not just the curse. That's being an artist.

 

It is, yeah.

 

Yeah.

 

That's being an artist.

 

Ah, yeah, I thought of it.

 

There's this.

 

I'm going to try and work that out in this one.

 

You know?

 

So sometimes you feel like a piece is done.

 

But I think it's both a journey and somehow or another getting to see your stuff outside of yourself.

 

But it also is an excuse as an artist.

 

And a lot of them that they give for not putting their work out there.

 

It's that not willing to be a part of it.

 

It's not quite done.

 

It needs that one more.

 

But there are the ones that are out there.

 

I know a lot of people who show their work all over, and that piece is done.

 

And that it is done.

 

And there's not another stroke that they need.

 

And I have photographs that they are done.

 

There's not another thing that they're done.

 

And when you put them out there, that completes that.

 

It's that thing that artists kind of give themselves an excuse.

 

And in some ways, they're not willing to admit it.

 

And very hard to.

 

And because of the perfectionist kind of, it's okay to be perfectly imperfect.

 

It can make you quite vulnerable, can't it?

 

Yes.

 

Putting something out there.

 

Yeah.

 

Oh, yeah.

 

It does.

 

But it's worth it.

 

For sure.

 

For me, the whole online proliferation of platforms and places to post things, for all the writing I've done that for decades sat in various desk drawers and file folders, you know, completely unseen.

 

And, you know, as we're saying, in my mind, I'm finished.

 

But when I was able to post it to someplace like Medium, you know, it gave it a sense of this is done.

 

If I want the changes, I'm going to have to go through several steps.

 

If I think it's important.

 

I'm going to have to go through several steps.

 

And if I think it's important enough to go change this again, and it's not going to be like the way I posted it.

 

And that has helped me.

 

One, it was a shorter distance to getting it out there.

 

And two, it gave it more sense of completion than, okay, I put a staple in this and put it in the folder marked finished, which I could change at any time.

 

So that's a positive to it.

 

Plus, I made like, I don't mean to brag, but I've made like three, four cents on Medium stories before.

 

So, you know.

 

I mean, that pride of the professional author.

 

I guess as well, it comes in.

 

How do you judge success, right?

 

Do you judge success?

 

And that's different for different people.

 

I would, I would imagine.

 

Do you judge success that you finished it and you created and you're done now?

 

Or do you judge success that someone liked it?

 

You know, if it was a blog post, they uploaded it or they clicked a like, or they liked your Facebook post or they bought the masterpiece or they made a comment about it.

 

How does that work?

 

That's a different question.

 

I think it's a different question.

 

Ask that again, please.

 

Does it affect how you think of the piece on whether or not how somebody reacted to it?

 

It was a success, right?

 

Yeah.

 

To me, if I know the person that reacted to it, that actually has more value in the statement than the random out there that reacts.

 

I think I'm.

 

I'm commenting about people that have a tendency to just be negative and throw negative content comments out there at people.

 

And so many people I know just put themselves in total paralysis when they get that one negative comment on a post or when they get some troll that says something on their YouTube channel or something.

 

And it's like, why?

 

Why?

 

What?

 

Well, there's a whole industry, right?

 

For criticism.

 

What do you know about?

 

What really counts more is if I got a honest response from Devin or from you or from Melanie who that I know who is coming from a place of honesty and my own goodwill.

 

I think I don't know about these other people.

 

That's and so that's not going to necessarily hold the value that something else would.

 

And if I'm in a live show, the people that are.

 

Coming in and seeing the show and I'm I'm watching him, then I have a chance to interact with them when I get their response.

 

Yeah.

 

You know what I learned in art school?

 

It was the most interesting thing.

 

Yeah.

 

Once you got a lot of criticism, like if a whole class criticized your stuff, it gave you a perspective on criticism.

 

So let you see where you were defensive and let you see shit you'd never thought of on your own ever.

 

And it, you know, it was helpful for decision.

 

So my, you know, my guess is that if it's if criticism now is not like in an art, an art class and it's from friends, it's sort of that sort of serves some of the same purpose.

 

But, you know, there's some things I I'm it's interesting to me to get criticism like I postmodern criticism or art history criticism based.

 

And it's not what I do, but it's.

 

It's not what I know a ton about as much as I do.

 

I still like hearing that and knowing that and using it as information, if not, oh, my God, my work is great or terrible.

 

Right.

 

And I think it's the intent of the comment.

 

Well, there's a whole industry built around criticism, right?

 

There's restaurant critics.

 

There's movie critics, art critics.

 

I guess criticism and critique are not the same thing, right?

 

And it's interesting when I've been thinking about this quite a bit, about the connotation that we assign to words and the negative connotation that we oftentimes instantly assign to words.

 

What happens if we take that negative connotation and say, I'm not going to think of criticism or critique as negative anymore.

 

I'm going to think of it in another way.

 

And that can really shift the whole mental aspect that you have around something.

 

And by simply shifting your perception or how you approach a word or a concept from negative to positive, you know, who assigned that negativity to that word?

 

Somebody, who knows where it's gotten to that?

 

Why do you have to?

 

Why do you have to accept it?

 

Right.

 

Well, that's taken us to a little bit past the bottom of the hour.

 

Thank you for taking part.

 

Come back again tomorrow.

 

We'll be here.

 

If you've got a question that you'd like to hear the Creative Work Hour crew discuss, send an email to: me@creativeworkhour.com