So often we think of creativity as dreaming up something totally new and unusual.  Creativity is much more than that!  Yet, this definition leads most people to think they’re not creative when actually have creatively pouring through their veins every minute of the day.

Here’s a couple of ideas to expand your definition of what CREATIVITY IS:

APPLYING THE OF ADVANCEMENT OF OTHER DISCIPLINES TO YOUR JOB/LIFE. So often the challenge that ministries and social services face in being creative (in addition to cultures that try to reward conformity) is that they don’t apply the learnings of the arts, technology, engineering and so on, to their work until those learnings have been previously digested by the greater population and watered down.  Instead, get on the front line and look for new things that are happening in these areas RIGHT NOW and imagine who those developments can affect your work.  How can developments in architecture change the ways churches share community? How will technology change the way RESCUE MISSION’S connect with their ALUMNI?  How can we use therapeutic art to bring spiritual healing?  What changes in employment law on the horizon will allow us to create a super innovative culture in social services and ministry?  The exciting advances that could be possible for you are endless and will help make you super creative in your field and position.  Don’t be afraid to learn from an area that has seemingly no relation to your work.  Just ask the questions and see what happens.  You might be surprised what improvements you cold make by applying the learnings of others.

Doing a “360″ on the NEW THING to se if it applies to your work. Here’s the usual pattern we’ve seen throughout history; a new development in technology, communication, learning, etc, comes out and the masses don’t reject it as “not useful”  A handful of creatives take the new technology and instead of rejecting it out of hand they do a “360″ on the new innovation.  By 360 I mean they look at it from all angles, turning it upside down, left, right, front and back to examine who it might possibly be a benefit to their work both now or in the future.  The handful of creatives then take the learning from their 360 degree review and make some astounding advancements, and so it goes.  In this age of technological advancement we think that masses just aren’t ready for this speed of change, but it’s more than that.

I was recently reading a book about CREATORS and came across the great artist Turner.  Apparently Turner was known for always looking for new colors.  He would be among the first to try bold new colors and it greatly benefited his work.  The masses were shocked at the vibrancy of his paintings because they were great, yes, but also because they were slightly different in their shades and vibrancy.

So you see it’s not just about technology and communication, it’s been happening since the beginning.  The masses adapt to technology once it has been proven.  The problem for you and I is that the masses often miss critical profit, benefit, and blessing from the months, or even years between the development of a concept and it mass acceptance because they don’t examine and 360 for themselves.  Not everyone has the sensibility to desire to do a 360 on new technologies and methods, but more people should.

For example, how many of you are thinking and looking at ways to use IPad technology in your work?  Yes, I know that it’s not out yet, but just imagine for a moment.  How would this change the way you share information?  Would you benefit from an App on a larger screen device such as an IPAD?  Would this change the way you need to develop your website interactivity?  How would you change the way you record and plan your teaching, newsletters, communication with supporters? Now that the KINDLE is opening for apps as a response to the IPAD, how would that affect your literature development and book budget?  There are are probably about 1000 other questions you could ask on this subject alone, yet most people still don’t wan to commit to even using smart phones even through the next advancement has already begun.

Let’s push oursevles and each other to ask the great questions that will bring us to a place of developing creatively.  It’s not just about dreaming up things that have never existed, it’s about using things that now exist in new ways.

DC