photo by D Sharon Pruitt

I believe the syllabus looks something like this:

Creative Intensive Syllabus

Module One:  What is Your Creativity?
Review your creative history for highlights and sources of flow and satisfaction.  Explore your creative preferences.  Do you work in creative bursts or methodically move to completion?  Do you prefer deep focus or enjoy juggling multiple projects?
Assignment: journal about your creativity and creative preferences.  Isolate two factors vital to your process.

Module Two: The Creative Process
Many models define the creative process.  We will focus on four aspects: 1) Stimulus/Inspiration, 2) Generation/Divergence, 3) Development/Convergence and 4) Implementation/Application
Assignment: Choose one aspect for focus and design an activity relevant to your weekend project.

Module Three: Field Trip
Building on Module Two, take yourself to a relevant venue and DO the activity.

Module Four: Review
Reflect on your experience.
Assignment: Write a poem, create a collage, make a movie, photograph or illustration about your experience.  Do not make it great.  Just make it.

Module Six: Action Planning and Re-Entry
Note the highpoints of your weekend intensive.
Assignment Options: Schedule the next one and begin planning for it OR Identify one method to bring your insights into your daily life.

Daily Activities
Morning Check-In: unscheduled time lingering over a warm beverage followed by a walk outside.
Post-Lunch: napping
Evening: Sitting in a lobby or on a log and merely observing for 15 minutes.

PreRequisites:

•     A belief that your creative side deserves attention
•     An open mind and a willingness to surprise yourself
•     Respect for the newborn ideas or products you generate

As your informal Adjunct Professor, I encourage  you to take this Creativity Intensive sometime this fall.

Location Suggestions:
- A coastline B&B such as the Sylvia Beach Hotel
- A mountain cabin
- A randomly selected Road Trip
- A retreat site such as a Trappist Abbey or Hollyhock

And don’t forget your school supplies!

Here is an model I developed to help you identify the areas where you are strong and where you need to get more innovation support.

You can download your own version here: InnovationBalanceInventory

Try it.  Your creative efforts deserve all the support they can get.

Many of us tend toward more moderate lives.  We get distracted by the routines of daily living and another season elapses.  We may not always find time to honor our muse.

Your Creativity Benefits From These Enabling Assets:

Inspiration

Your creativity will be triggered by regular walks off the beaten path.  Make Artist Dates (field trips for yourself), read periodicals from outside your field, do things kids do, treat yourself to eye candy and ear candy.  Stimulate your senses.  Seek out Exemplars in your realm.
To what degree are you stimulating your imagination with inspiration?

Community and Cheerleaders

Creation–the act of making something new–requires risk.  By definition you are taking a chance and you need the support of champions as you venture forth.  Seek out a tribe–find others who are working in the same domain.  Ensure that you have a support system.
To what degree do you have support for your creative endeavors?

Environment

While it is possible to create in a grey cube without any natural daylight, it is not ideal.  You will feel happier and be more productive in a pleasing and well-equipped space.
To what degree do you feel inspired by, comfortable in your working space?  Do you have a ‘room of your own’?

Collaboration

Creative work benefits from others who can help you refine your ideas.  The creative process is stimulated by differing points of view.  Other minds can add to your ideas in ways that have not occurred to you.  {special note: I mean collaborators–not spontaneous critics and naysayers–avoid them as you would a poisonous, rash-producing plant}
To what degree do you have a brain trust to help you refine your creative work?

Passion

Doing original work requires stamina.  Loving your project, your media, your problem will sustain you through the grueling labor pains.
To what degree do you care about this creative work?

Physical Health

A healthy, happy host body is important for creative work.  Your productivity will be sub-par if your brain isn’t getting oxygen and good fuel to fire those chemical and electrical systems.
To what degree is your body your creative temple?

Self-Awareness

Each of us has peak times for original work.  Do you know how to work with your own creative rhythms?  Can you give your brain assignments and know that your brain will do its homework?  Every Creative Producer I’ve ever interviewed has techniques that enhance their work and help them avoid blocks.
To what degree do you understand your own creative process?

I encourage you to perform an inventory and identify one or two areas where you might honor your creative work more.  Really, you deserve it and the world wants to hear from you.  Download your own copy of the CreativeAssetsInventory here.

SoulCollage(TM) is a consistently effective tool for tapping your intuition and letting go of your logical, linear mind for a time.  Images are a mainline to the psyche.  Here are a few examples from my SoulCollage(tm) deck:

The cards are so versatile and provide a wonderful window to your creative self.

Thanks again to my beautiful Winter Spa participants.  If you’d like to join the Spring Creativity Spa watch this space for dates.

I was doing equally vital work–cleaning out my junk drawer.  Anything to avoid the dread schoolwork.

Since then I have referred to such avoidance tactics as ‘rolling dimes’.

Although I could be finishing preparations for my client work this week in Chicago, I am instead wandering the internet…hopping from one link to the next.

Here’s my favorite site this evening: http://creativeeveryday.com/

And, as I am a coach for the creative process, I’m going to call this INCUBATION.

In my coaching and consulting practice I use different assessments, each designed to measure something specific.  The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator measures one’s preferences in fundamental daily action.  The FourSight measures where you like to play in the  creative process.  And on and on.   There are hundreds of assessments, each with varying degrees of research behind them.

A new tool that I am really excited about is called the Focus Energy Balance Indicator™.  We just call it the FEBI.

The FEBI comes from the work of four remarkable women.  Dr. Josephine Rathbone, a kinesiologist working the the thirties,  identified four basic patterns of movement and established that certain patterns are easier for us than others.  Thirty years later Dr. Valerie Hunt validated the patterns with sophisticated lab equipment.  Betsy Wetzig, a dancer, connected the patterns to personality and called them “Coordination Patterns”.  Dr. Ginny Whitelaw developed the instrument to capitalize on the theory and research.  If you’re as fascinated as I am by this work checkout her book, Move to Greatness.

Physiologically, there are four fundamental patterns of movement (did I tell you I have an undergraduate degree in Exercise Science?).   These physical patterns connect to our temperaments:

The Driver (Thrust pattern)

People who thrive in the Driver pattern love to direct and tend to stay focused on the issue at hand.  They challenge ideas and enjoy being the winner.

The Organizer (Shape pattern)

People who thrive in the Organizer pattern tend to be steady, disciplined and enjoy taking one step at a time.

The Collaborator (Swing pattern)

People who thrive in the Collaborator pattern like to have fun.  They are engaging influencers and are comfortable with improvising solutions.

The Visionary (Hang pattern)

People who thrive in the Visionary pattern like novelty.  They are open to new ideas, let go of the status quo and enjoy thinking big.

Fascinating, Maggie.   So what?

Perhaps you’ve noticed that you are really natural and effective in some activities.  And there are other things you do poorly or never seem to get to?  Chances are that you thrive when you are in your “Home Pattern”.

For example, I have client who is an Idea Machine.  She thrives in ambiguity and she is extremely social.  Her dominant patterns are Swing (Collaborator–very playful, comfortable with give-and-take).  But her inability to put some discipline to her ideas keeps her from leveraging her talents.

Another client is an Execution Machine.  He runs his unit, his life like an efficient factory and nothing slips through the cracks.  But he has trouble partnering with leaders in other business units and can’t move to a more strategic point-of-view.

Both of these people want to capitalize on their strengths and they know, ino order to do that, they need to become more versatile.  In another post I’ll describe how the insights from the FEBI and some enhancements to a personal practice is helping them create some breakthroughs.

If this sounds familiar I extend the same words of comfort to you as I did to my young coaching client:

You can have it all…..eventually.

My wise friend, Janet, is fond of reassuring me that, “Life is long”.  She doesn’t mean that I can squander my time unconsciously.  She means to reassure me that there will be time for the important things.  And I believe she is right.

Eventually, I did graduate and life settled down and now I have multiple creative pursuits.  That young manager will return to her painting when her job is more familiar, when her children are older.  Or she will find another outlet for her creativity.

I know this because it has been my privilege to find role models who are proofs of the concept.  Diane Lou is one dear friend who is having the unexpected time of her life.  On her blog she writes of her art and delight in learning new things.

So, please stop beating yourself up because you haven’t yet written that novel, started that blog, sewn that purse, finished that woodworking project, picked up your guitar…..

You WILL…or find something even better.

(photo from mylittlepieceofcyberspace)

I like the idea of a set of Principles to guide behavior but I never liked all the ‘Thou SHALT NOTS’.  So here is my own list of  ‘THOU SHALTS” for my creative process.

I. I shall take my creativity seriously enough to fund it with time and money.

II. I shall seek out kindred spirits who can teach and support me.

III. I shall practice ‘respect for the newborn’ and give myself permission to be less than good as I begin a new activity.

IV.  I shall cultivate habits that support my creativity.

V. I shall recognize that creating is not a linear process and appreciate that I may not always be in control.

VI. I shall enjoy myself as often as possible because happiness contributes to my creativity.

VII. I shall recognize that showing up is my work to do (not letting myself off with excuses that aren’t true).

VIII. I shall speak to myself as kindly as I would to a dear friend who is trying something new and unfamiliar.

IX. I shall allow myself to be inspired by other creative people knowing that there is an audience for everyone.

X. I shall stand in awe.  Creativity is everyday.  Creativity is divine.

Now, think about your own values around the Creative Process.  What might be your Ten Commandments for Creating?