honor your creativity

How often do we say what we mean? How many times a day do we think through things long enough to actually believe them to be true? 

I would guess that most of the time, for most of us, the message has to stop--like a busy train--at 8 different distractions on its way to its final destination. So rarely these days are we uninterrupted that we forget what it feels like, and why it is so important. 

In almost every vocation that requires (or at least invites) deep, critical thought, people who can spend the mental energy to engage with what they are doing come out ahead. And the ability to spend that energy necessarily requires having the space to be uninterrupted. 

And here's why it matters: if you can carve out the time to be uninterrupted, and then apply the energy to think deeply, the prize at the end is called creativity. It is the place where new ideas sprout.

While I have thought a lot over the last year about "honoring the creativity" in my life, today I am trying to take a step toward institutionalizing that commitment. In the spirit of Seth Godin, here are the first of some daily words I hope to write. I hope it helps me say what I mean, say things that are true for me, and gives creativity another functional part of my daily life.