A short story for your inquisitive ears:

Recently, a friend was telling me about a recent train journey.

Across the aisle from my friend was a mother and son.  The son had pen & paper in his hand and was enthusiastically scribbling away.

At one point he stopped scribbling, glanced up and a short conversation took place.

It went as follows:

“Look Mummy.  I’ve drawn a dinosaur!”

“How nice sweetie”

“Now it’s your turn mummy. Your turn to draw a dinosaur!”

At which point my friend said a look of absolute horror spread across the face of the Mum.

The conversation continued:

“Why don’t you draw another dinosaur honey?”

“No mummy.  It’s your turn to draw a dinosaur”

“Errrr.....I’m not sure I can. I’m not creative like you are”

My friend was telling me this with chuckle.  I was chuckling too.

But it got me thinking:

Why is it that children are so creative, expressive and imaginative, yet at a certain point this creativity usually starts to fade?

I can think of a few reasons.

Reasons like the fear of being judged or criticised...

Stories about what being “creative” actually means and in whose domain creativity does & doesn’t reside...

Maybe even worries about how being creative can be seen as unproductive, frivolous or self-indulgent.

And this all comes together with most adults saying “Well, I’m just not creative”.

But I’m here to declare:

Never has a falser word been said!

Sure – most adults aren’t Picasso.  They’re not going to paint multi-million dollar masterpieces or sculpt marble statues in their garden shed.

But every single person on this planet is creative. 

When we come into this world, we are little bundles of creation and creativity.

Creativity is as much a part of us as the blood pumping round our body.

When we can, we start to express this in all sorts of interesting ways.

But we don’t lose this creativity as we grow up.

We can’t.  It’s impossible to lose something which is part of who we are. 

So whatever our age, our creativity is still pumping round our body.  It’s just masked by the stories we tell ourselves.

A lot of these stories carry some real oomph.  They look like facts rather than stories. 

But stories they are.

Bottom line is this:

Thinking you’re not creative has nothing to do with how creative you are, and everything to do with your thinking.

I can tell myself as many stories as I want about the fact that I’m The Queen of Sheba.

I can really, truly, deeply think it and believe it.

But it doesn’t change the fact I’m not The Queen of Sheba.

I’m Tom.

And it’s the same with creativity.

That’s my two pennies’ worth for today.

 - Tom

p.s. I’m currently reading a book which is, quite possibly, the most insightful book I’ve ever read about the creative process.

If you’re interested, I’ll share the name of the book with you.

Just hit reply to this email, tell me one thing you’ve created recently, and I’ll reply with the name and author of the book.