Articles on creating video content for the web.
.jpg)
Let me ask you this. Is creativity a way of thinking or a way of being?
There is so much emphasis on thinking creatively as if it is something you learn. Some people think they are creative while others think they are not creative at all. the fact is that we al have creative energy running through us. With each breath creative things happen in our bodies, in our minds and in our world. Energy transformations take place with every breath, from harnessing energy from oxygen in the air, to converting it to movement, building blood, muscle and bone, to crafting things and making stuff. Creativity is not something we have or don't have, it is part of our very being.
We direct the process of creating or making things with our thoughts. We are not our thoughts, we make our thoughts. We have freedom to choose what kind of thoughts we want to make. Some will be more effective in achieving a desired outcome than others.
If I were to make thoughts about how my business was going very well, or if I was to make thoughts about how my business was struggling, those thoughts would generate behaviours that would affect my business according to the quality of those thoughts.
I chose the image above as a metaphor for this phenomenon. In this picture we have a landscape, the image of a landscape through a spherical lens and the hand of the person holding the lens. To use this as a metaphor for my business or any other phenomenon in my life, the landscape is my business, the image through the spherical lens is the thought or my lens' interpretation of the landscape and the hand belongs to me. I am not my thoughts. I hold or choose my thoughts, I could choose a completely different type of lens and I would see the landscape, my business, differently. I am not my thoughts. How I think about things depends on the lens I use. I could use different lenses to invert the image, magnify or diminish it.
The crucial concept here is to know that I create my thoughts. If I don't put any effort into creating the thoughts I want then my thinking will default to what "always" happened in the past. There was a time when I didn't know I made my own thoughts, I thought my thoughts were a true representation of the way things are, without realising that the way I saw things depended upon the lens that I had chosen.
In thinking about our business, one of the challenges is to remain mindful that the thoughts we have about our business are just an interpretation. So if I can choose any interpretation which interpretation is the right one. Well, you have probably guessed it; there is not right on. However, there are some thoughts that are more likely to get me to my goal than others. If I get anxious about not doing the right thing, is that thought likely to get me to my goal? If I stress about not working hard enough, or too hard, is that thought likely to get me to my goal? If I think I don't know enough, or don't have the money to invest in what I need to do, is that thought likely to get me to my goal?
So choose the thoughts that lead to the behaviours that are most likely to get you to your goal! I say most likely because once we use out thought to commit to a certain course of action other factors that we could not have imagined magically intervene to assist us.
This is Part 2 of Growing your Business Creatively. Click here for the Introduction Part 1
