How was your day? We utter this question blithely every day, not realizing how monumental it is. Indeed, it’s the single most important question you’ll ever ask. We talk about life being short, but 80 years is really a long time. Life’s too long to fight evolution. When you have the opportunity to be fulfilled, life’s way too long to be bored making mediocre stuff all day.
You’re missing the point if you’re focusing only on what’s gone. And you’re missing the point if you bemoan the fact that the past 100 years of nonstop advertising has conditioned us into a constant thirst for the next new thing. This is actually good news for you!
The gap between boredom and novelty, along with the decentralization of power resulting from the Internet revolution, has created a huge opportunity for you to set yourself free to be more creative.
You can express your creativity in 3 ways:
• Innovate. Create something new based on something that’s already on the market. You can upgrade—add to—an existing model, like the recliner added new features to the chair. Or you can make something easier to use or more attractive by subtracting features, like the iPod stripped-down the mp3 player.
• Invent. Come up with something that has never existed before. Henry Ford didn’t innovate a faster horse, he invented a whole new class of transportation: the automobile.
• Create. Express a talent or skill, like singing, painting, writing, building, etc.
As I’m fond of pointing out, the marketplace has proven time and again: the thing that yields the highest ROI (return on investment) is passion.
When it comes to innovation, you don’t need a permission slip signed by your mommy to change the rules, to raise the bar, or to play a different game. You have more individual leverage today than ever before.
Rattling the cage of the status quo can be profitable and fun. And it’s a boost to your career to push the edge of whatever envelope you find intriguing.
However, when you’re ready to embrace your innovative nature, self-doubt can creep in. Your desire to express your creativity will wither on the vine.
But remember, you’ve already disproved your doubts hundreds of times by going after and getting what you want. Like leg cramps, you can walk doubt off.
When you’re passionate about something, your innate creativity is immune to doubt. It won’t stop cranking out ways to get what you want until you’ve got it.
The main thing that prevents your passion from flowering is the confidence that you can do it, that it’s worth doing or that you won’t crash and burn in the process of doing it.
The old excuses that you’re not motivated enough, smart enough or trying hard enough are only a smokescreen. Just as confidence plays a role in how capable you feel of attaining your desires, your level of confidence will dictate how creative you believe you are.
When your confidence is weak, your creativity will be, too. And you’re just shooting yourself in the foot if you say: Oh, I’m just not a creative person.
What you’re really saying is that you’ve not yet discovered something you have passion for. Once you know your passion, the steps toward it will become clear as you head in that direction.
The old excuse—you don’t got game—doesn’t hold water any more. A quick glance around any group of people will show you how passion inspires the genius to compensate for skills, talents, resources or genes you don’t think you have, and thus to thrive in new situations. Using passion as your guide, you’ll be more creative, thereby offsetting any limitations of ability and novelty.
It’s time. Make the choice. Everyone I’ve coached who made the choice was glad they did. Their only regret was that they didn’t do it sooner. My only regret is that I don’t have more feet, so I could wear more shoes (just kidding).
Coaching Question: What’s the next step in expressing your passion in a more creative, innovative or inventive way?
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