So I get it, adjusting to a different approach can be difficult. Change is hard and change that asks you to look to your creative side ‘might’ even seem impossible. So let me tell you a quick story.
Inspiration can spark from anything
DID YOU KNOW that David Usher has a long list of accomplishments. He is a business consult, a book writer, a specialist in Augmented Reality, a ‘maker’ and a Researcher at Concordia and the creator of the climate change countdown clock. I know! As a technophile and small business owner, I gotta say- Insta-swoon.
Truth be told, I didn’t expect that a one-hour inspirational speech would make me a ‘superfan’ of the multi-talented David Usher, formally of ‘Moist, but that’s exactly what happened and I bet I can get you on team too. But all in good time.
It was mid-Fall, 2017. I found myself at a corporate event, not my company and not my event. Instead, I was the +1 of a dear friend, Geoff Peters. First a bit about Geoff. You see, like David Usher, my friend Geoff Peters works to be the best he can, at many things. You may know Geoff for his Food Blogs and photography http://geoffmobile.com/blog/author/admin, or as a songwriter http://www.gpeters.com/about.php or a video editor, a dog lover or as an ever-improving public speaker.
It was Geoff that invited me to attend this special event hosted by his company. He has a job as a modern-day inventor, he is a ‘software developer’. His company, SAP recognizes the opportunity as an industry leader and to nurture this offer their employees paid time to work on free, creative projects. That’s really all I know but it explains how I found myself at a creativity seminar, with 100s of engineers.
Further to this, it explains how I found myself learning about creativity from a Canadian alternative rock star. So now I’ve set the stage and hope I still have your attention let my share my favorite take homes from his CREATIVITY talk.
The framework of the seminar was built along 3 areas:
Disrupting social patterns: Those funny repeating habits we all cling to,
Agile Methodology: Agile is a disciplined project management process that encourages frequent inspection and adaptation,
and willingly, enthusiastically, embracing the uncomfortable???
I am advocating for you to incorporate all three in your life And I’m sure that you’re wondering how these three could ever be connected along the topic of creativity.
“Creativity is 5% inspiration + 95% structured work” – David Usher
So are there ‘creative’ people? Well, David Usher doesn’t believe so. We all have ideas about how to improve on the things we come in contact with. It’s those that believe they are creative that search for the opportunities to make stuff happen. We NEED creative people! But creativity it lives in structured work. According to David, “The energy for a project lessens the longer that project planning goes.” So although David did not deliberately state it, I believe he was encouraging us to stop planning and find ways to MAKE things happen. It became clear that sometimes it takes a team to envision an idea but taking that 1st step that’s ONE, that’s on you. Starting is the hardest part…it’s the work that drives creativity.
“Turn towards fear” – David Usher
Ok, so that brings me back to fear. The great unknown, and another true story. When I was a kid, I was the kind of kid that felt I could wait out fear. I believed: “Stay quiet at the back of the room and the teacher won’t call on me.” “Monsters in the shadows? Easy, stay still and quiet under the covers they’ll never find me.” “Confronted with the playground bully, all I had to do is NOT look their way and they couldn’t find me.”
When I was a kid, I was the kind of kid that felt I could wait out fear. I believed: “Stay quiet at the back of the room and the teacher won’t call on me.” “Monsters in the shadows? Easy, stay still and quiet under the covers they’ll never find me.” “Confronted with the playground bully, all I had to do is NOT look their way and they couldn’t find me.”
Now an adult, I don’t have a reason to stay invisible but occasionally I still retreat inside of anonymity. I wish I had learned this simple concept. If I had made a habit of turning into the fear, to keep it from intimidating me, then I could have done so much more with my energy. Where was the adult David when I was a kid.
So I asked David, that day ( and in so, asked for myself)… how can I help my clients overcome the challenges that come with a new approach. He considered my question. He looked right at me and he said… “Tell them to turn towards fear.” So what do you say, I’ll try it if you do.
“Break the 4th Wall!” – an example
I’ve got an idea. Let’s make THIS COMMITMENT easier on ourselves. Listen to what David did that day. Think of how you can use his approach to your advantage too. We can practice together.
Imagine you were in the audience beside me that day. You will have to imagine, that’s OK. David was explaining that as children, without knowing the rules we had a much easier time finding ways to combine the familiar into something unique. David reminded us that as adults social constraints keep us from seeing the possibilities our ‘child’ selves see so readily.
His solution… Break the 4th wall. Something he enjoyed demonstrating by moving away from his expected location on the stage, in behind a microphone and in front of his guitarist to leap off the stage and continue his discussion only TWO inches away from the increasingly uncomfortable and exhilarated crowd. David shared with us that he often looks for ways to connect with his audience by breaking known patterns and by pushing at those adult limits. He informed us that it was the only way to to connect in that ‘child-like’ way. By getting into this personal space bubble, by doing what is uncomfortable is the quickest route to wake up a awareness of to the opportunities abundantly around.
Good advice right? And so simple too.
Having a foundation of structure, lets you take risks
So what does all of this have to do with software developers? Well, funny enough. It’s the structure. You see, many of them work with Agile methodology. That little bit of structure that lets them hack away at problems by dealing with small chunks at a time also frees them to be creative. It offers the security of using a know and reliable template at the foundation.
You can do this too. How? Let’s re visit my monster in the shadows… the 5-year old me had a secret weapon. I had a stuffed animal. When my stuffed animal was near, I could take a step into the darkness unharmed. My familiar brown bear tucked under my arm gave me that structure to let me be curious.
For you that familiar might be a time of day where your are free to just observe, a content planning calendar, an editor to look over your work. Whatever you need to get curious and break that 4th wall to find new opportunities.
I suspect David and Geoff would approve. I think finding a little-bit of structure, whatever it is for you, will help you be creative in ways you did not think were part of your repetiteur of superpowers, but I see it!