Creating a creative path towards creativity
I recently finished reading Andy Stanley’s the Principle of the Path and decided that this principle really had a lot to do with my approach to being creative. As a video producer I am constantly trying to be creative in the way I write, shoot or edit videos. Not all the time, but sometimes I feel I lack in creativity and usually this is because I am not on a path.
Creativity is just one of those things you really have to work at. A lot of people believe they are not creative, however the truth is being made in the image of God we are born with the ability and desire to create. The difference from someone that is often labeled as a “creative” compared with someone who struggles to be creative is that the “creative” often chooses to work exceptionally hard at being creative and often times has a clear path to do this.
One example in describing this principle are body builders in the way they maintain their strength. You would never walk up to a body builder and ask, “so how did you get to be so muscular?” You know they had to work at it and put extra effort to not just be heatlhy but to be stronger than the average person. Their strength wasn’t an accident or lucky dna strand, they chose to take a path to maintain their strength.
To stay healthy you might need to work out X number of times a week, but to maintain creativity the path is not always as clear. There are no real creative counselors that will sit down with you and give you a prescription for what to do in order to maintain a creative well, however there are some approaches that will foster creativity if practiced often and routinely.
As a Christian I believe that first I must ask God to be creative and must ask him to give me ideas. Part of depending on God for strength is depending on God for creativity.
As a film-maker I believe that I must constantly be watching films of all kinds both independent, foreign, short and major blockbusters. I must be reading books on film-making, screenwriting and cinematography. There must be a large in-take of not only certain films but certain writings that will serve to not only inspire me but direct me in what has been done and what should be done.
As a lifelong learner I believe I must be reading blogs, books and magazines on various subjects and especially those of Christianity. Having a cultural and spiritual well to draw from is extremely important. I also believe that I must be observing what other creative people are doing and following their example. Stealing other creative people’s ideas and making them my own is one example of this. One of my friends Matt Coleman of Unblind Productions was telling me about his screenwriters group that has really helped him be consistent in writing screenplays. This group he created was able to foster an environment of creativity because of the objectives and goals they set in place.
As a leader I believe I must help others foster this creativity by writing blogs like this one, speaking about creativity and helping others create a creative path in order to maintain creativity.
What are ways you are able to maintain creativity? I’d love to hear your thoughts….
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