Recently, I saw a piece on CNN with their chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, about what it takes to be truly creative. They talked to rappers, jazz musicians, and stand-up comics. And it turns out that what it all boils down to is "letting go." (Hah! I knew it!)
And of course, it's true. If you want to create something truly new - in any medium, in any arena, in any endeavor - if you really want to "make it up" - you have to abandon self-monitoring, self-critiquing, self-consciousness, the fear of looking bad, dumb or foolish. You need to "turn yourself off" and "turn on" to, well, the possibilities of whatever you happen to discover.
So, imagine Paul McCartney sitting in a bus shelter on Penny Lane, waiting for John Lennon to show up. While he was sitting there, he jotted down the things he saw, including a barber's shop with pictures of its clients and a nurse selling poppies for Remembrance Day - November 11th, the day World War I officially ended. And, of course, John Lennon’s “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” was inspired by his young son, Julian, who had created a lovely drawing of his best friend in nursery school that he titled: "Lucy — in the sky with diamonds.” Okay, I have a little thing about the Beatles, but when I listen to their music, I feel inspired to look at the world around me as a source of infinite, creative possibilities – just waiting to be discovered.
Okay, I've got a little thing about Robin Williams, too. And frequently, when I'm struggling to create a unique way to move people, I use what I call "The Mrs. Doubtfire Method." (And sometimes I probably do look dumb or foolish, but I don't care.) You remember that hilarious film, when Robin Williams (who, of course, can make something out of absolutely anything) was secretly interviewing on the phone for the position of nanny to his own kids, and his estranged and unsuspecting wife said, "You sound absolutely perfect for the job, Mrs...uh, Mrs...uh, oh, I'm sorry, what did you say your name was?" Williams looked momentarily stricken and then stuttered, "Oh, my name?? Oh, didn't I tell you, dear? Why it's uh, it's..." and then "she" looked down at a newspaper headline and saw the words, "...doubt fire..." and the rest is history.
Imagine if, for a moment, we suspended our preoccupation with “how it is” and began to consider “how it could be?” What if we abandoned our fear of looking dumb or foolish and embraced the possibility that we could create something that would thrill, delight, support or move others. Imagine if we stopped thinking of ourselves as “creatively limited” and began assuming we were wildly inventive; that we were one of those people who could make something new out of just about anything…a new song, a new look, a new design, a new book, a new business, a new cure.
Listen, creativity and innovation have never been more desperately needed - in countries, companies, families...in our lives...than now. And nothing kills creativity faster than fear…the fear of "getting it wrong." But if you dump some old idea of what "getting it right" looks like, leap into the rich unknown of your imagination, trust your instincts, and go with the word, the color, the sound, the idea that pops up, who knows what brilliance, or magic, or just plain delight, you might create?
Hey, if those guys could create, “In Penny Lane there is a barber showing photographs…Of every head he's had the pleasure to have known…And the people that come and go...Stop and say hello...,” what could we do? No harm in giving it a shot.
