After hearing author David Epstein speak on a radio show, I have added his book to my reading list. Epstein wrote Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World. It piqued my interest because I’ve always seen value in spending your time in multiple lanes as that way you don’t know which rules you’re not allowed to break. Creativity comes from connecting dots from far flung places and it’s hard to see those dots when you’re specializing in just one area. This, along with the fact that our young people will be working one day in jobs that don’t even exist yet. So how can you prepare? You can be a creative, critical thinker. Epstein talks about embracing trial and error in life in order to triangulate (almost like finding a given cell phone by comparing the pings off a number of towers) and figure out which signal suits you most. You find out where you belong by finding out where you don’t belong. Continue reading
Tag: Creativity
Photographer Chase Jarvis shared a video recently with some exciting news. He said that the oldest university in the world, Oxford, which has been teaching students for almost 1,000 years, has partnered with Chase and his Creative Live online education program. Oxford is now offering this program to all 24,000 students studying there, not just those in the arts.
Chase talks about how literacy used to be for the elite, for royals and the clergy. Then the printing press arrived and it was democratized. Anyone could learn to read and reading set you free. It changed the world.
Now, Chase says, creativity is the new literacy. Whether you are in engineering, medicine, management, finance or anything in between, everyone does a better job when they colour outside the lines.
The fact that a university like Oxford sees the value creativity brings to critical thinking and problem solving is a big deal.
Creativity allows you to create the life you want or change the life you have. What you do with your time, how you move your body, what you cook for yourself or your loved ones, what you read, the stories you share, the music you listen to or create.
As author Annie Dillard said, “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”
How can you inject creativity into your day? What creative solution can you find for your closet, your schedule, your pantry, your vacation, your weekend, your life?
As Sir Ken Robinson, author and education advisor, said, “Creativity is putting your imagination to work, and it’s produced the most extraordinary results in human culture.”
How can we harness our imagination and create the results the world needs? Think outside the box and add action to your ideas. You never know what you might create next.
As my oldest son considers what courses to take next in high school to prepare for a future career, I told him that the one thing that will help him no matter what he ends up doing for a living is creativity. Thinking outside the box. Continue reading
As my 15-year-old son practices almost daily for the upcoming high school Shakespearean play, it reminded me of the value of the arts.
In Shakespeare’s time, people came to his shows to see what he would say about society, leaders, beliefs, love and war. They came to see new views on the lives they were living. They came to think. Continue reading
I was listening to a webinar by author Benjamin Hardy this week and he made an interesting point. All the growth and creativity happens when you rest.
If you are trying to build muscle, you work hard at lifting weights but the muscles get bigger during the recovery period. Continue reading
Thirty-eight years ago, on June 1st, 1980, CNN was launched. Before this time, the news was broadcast at a certain hour each day and if you missed it, you had to wait to find out what was going on. Ted Turner decided to change that. Continue reading
A quote from designer Jac Vanek made me stop and think this week. She said, “You are the books you read, the films you watch, the music you listen to, the people you meet, the dreams you have, the conversations you engage in. You are what you take from these. You are the sound of the ocean, the breath of fresh air, the brightest light and the darkest corner. You are a collective of every experience you have had in your life. You are every single day. So drown yourself in a sea of knowledge and existence. Let the words run through your veins and let the colours fill your mind.” Continue reading