The Big Leap

Who said creativeness was limited to the arts anyway? I mean, no one really says that, but what I do hear often is people say, “I’m not that creative”. In most cases, they are referencing a comparison of themselves to someone who is creative in the arts. This is so far from the truth. Even though my personal creativeness is connected to music, I know without a doubt, that all people are creative whether they’ve identified what their creativeness is or not.

Every time I drive thru some newly built, highway mouse trap looking thing, I am blown away by the kind of minds it takes to pull something like that off. When I go see my accountant, I am thoroughly impressed and thankful for his creative gifts. When I witness a person running a thriving organization with employees that are flourishing and loving life, I marvel at the mind that can manage all that. I could write pages of paragraphs of examples, but you get the point. These folks are as creative as any musician or artist out there in the world.

I know personally what makes me feel uncreative. It’s a simple explanation. When I avoid doing exactly what I was created to do, call it my Zone Of Genius, I will feel uncreative. You do that long enough, a life of vitality and excitement will begin to drain out of you until you don’t even remember what your creative gifts are.

The day I made the mental shift back towards my creativity was the day I got my life back. If I go even a day without picking up my guitar, it affects my mood. It’s what I was created to do. I learned this from “The Big Leap” by Gay Hendricks. Your “Zone of Genius” are the things you do that cause time to disappear. I have spent hours playing the exact same guitar lick I just learned...over and over and over. I enjoyed every second of it and couldn’t wait to do it again. That’s how you know.