Creatura - the Creativity Fairy
By Jeffrey Baumgartner
Wham! You suddenly find yourself desperate for ideas, but desperation kills your creativity and ideas fail to blossom in your mind. What do you do? Look for ideas on Google? That's fine and dandy, but it is also what every other idea-deprived desperado is likely to do; your idea will be about as original as a red brick on a red brick wall. You could just do the conventional thing and pretend it is creative, but you will not be fooling anyone, least of all yourself. Or, you could call upon Creatura, the Creativity Fairy.
Creatura, like most fairies, lives in a region that borders upon fantasy. If you believe in her, she not only exists, but exists to serve you with creative thoughts when you need them. But if you do not believe in her, she disappears into thin air like steam on a summer's afternoon. So, believe in her, my friend and creative ideas are yours for the asking.
Playful
What is this fairy of creativity like? She is a delighted child who can fly in and out of your mind. Like all children, she loves to play, not merely with toys, but with ideas, words, images, concepts and anything she can get her mental hands upon.
Where there is play, there is creativity. But, where there is no play, there is stagnation.
You need to design a better mouse trap. You think about mousetraps, especially the good, old-fashioned, traditional mousetraps. So how do you improve your vision of a mousetrap? Perhaps a stronger spring?
Perhaps?
Hmmmmm...
No ideas? Let's see what Google has to offer. Oh look, there's a video of a better mousetrap! It's only been seen by five million people.
Creatura plays. She plays with mice and traps and ideas in her head. She plays with cats who capture mice through cunning and sharp claws. She plays with nets and boxes and cages and bazookas; yes, bazookas because you cannot ignore any option when playing with ideas in your head. A bazooka connected to a tripwire would do the trick. But, it would be messy. So, she keeps playing
Ideas come together in Creatura's mind and, as often as not, disappear in a flash of non-viability as she plays again and tries out new ideas. Soon, creative, zany, fun and somehow viable ideas form and take shape in her head. They do not dissipate, at least not right away. She is delighted to share these ideas with you if you let her.
Laughter
Like children at play, Creatura laughs with delight all the time. If an idea fails to work in her mind or in the real world, she laughs and tries again. Ideas are cheap. They are easy. They are not worth taking seriously as far as she is concerned.
When an idea works, she likewise laughs with delight and pride. She gives the idea away for free to you or me. Her ideas may be cheap and easy, but they are also a pleasure when they bring value to others.
Mischief
Like many fairies, Creatura does not take rules seriously and delights in breaking them to suit her needs. Tell her something cannot be done and she will tell you that you are stifling her with your reality.
But she also likes teasing you; she enjoys purposely misunderstanding you. One of her great joys is in rearranging your words.
Tell her you need to redesign your product to make it more appealing to younger customers and she will pretend to understand you said you need to redesign your younger customers to make them more appealing to your product. Tell her you want to create a more pleasant working environment and she will imagine you said you want to create a more workable pleasant environment.
Yet, somehow, her mischievous misunderstanding of your needs will inspire the most remarkable ideas; ideas that solve your problems and achieve your goals if you are brave enough to make them happen.
Energetic
Creatura is always bursting with energy and constantly moving. Invite her into your mind and she will be like a curious child in a library − dashing about, pulling books off shelves, reading them and then moving elsewhere. She'll knock things over, spill things and disrupt the peace and quiet of your ordered mind. As she does so, you will be overwhelmed with chaotic thinking.
You may not like it. You may be tempted to grab her and cage her. But if you do, she will at best fall asleep or at worst get miffed with you. In either case, she will fail to inspire you or share ideas with you.
Instead, you need to run and fly with her. Follow her as she dashes about exploring, playing, laughing and causing mischief. Better still, play, laugh and cause mischief with her. She will be delighted. She will be your friend for life.
Fly with her and you will be delighted. Your mind, once devoid of ideas, will overflow with them.
Invite Creatura to Play
The next time you need ideas, do not run to Google. Do not do the conventional thing. Instead, invite Creatura to play. Play with her until the ideas flow like water down a grand waterfall. Play with those ideas and make them grow. Make them happen. Make them real! That's your job. Creatura can inspire you till you burst with ideas. But only you can make them real.
Recent Articles
Leading Diverse Teams
Filed under: Business Innovation
Diverse teams are more innovative and smarter than homogeneous ones. But, they are also harder to manager. Here are some tips. By Jeffrey Baumgartner -- Read the article...
Questions you should ask when an innovative project fails
Filed under: Business Innovation
You can learn a lot from the failure of an innovative project, but you need to ask the right questions. Here are those questions. By Jeffrey Baumgartner -- Read the article...
Unmarketing the Competition
Filed under: Business Innovation
A look at creative, but unethical dirty trick marketing campaigns designed to damage the competition By Jeffrey Baumgartner -- Read the article...
Imaginativefulness and the Fisherman
Filed under: Creativity
What does a fisherman wearing a cycling helmet have to do with imaginativefulness? Quite a lot, it seems. By Jeffrey Baumgartner -- Read the article...
Actually, Criticising Ideas Is Good for Creativity
Filed under: Creativity
People have long assumed criticising ideas in a brainstorm inhibits creativity. Research and experience shows that is wrong By Jeffrey Baumgartner -- Read the article...
Imaginativefulness
Filed under: Creativity
Imaginativefulness is a state of heightened imagination in which your mind allows thoughts, memories and ideas to play with each other freely. By Jeffrey Baumgartner -- Read the article...
Why and How to Exploit Alternative Uses for Your Products
Filed under: Business Innovation
Discovering new ways customers use, misuse and could use your products can inspire innovation. Jeffrey Baumgartner explains. By Jeffrey Baumgartner -- Read the article...
The Cost of Not Innovating
Filed under: Business Innovation
If your company fails to innovate, you pay a steep price in terms of loss of leadershop, tight margins, missed opportunities and more. By Jeffrey Baumgartner -- Read the article...
Don't Trust the Status Quo
Filed under: Creativity
Jeffrey Baumgartner has never trusted the status quo. He explains why this is so and why you should also not trust the status quo By Jeffrey Baumgartner -- Read the article...
Index of all creative articles...
