A lovely inspirational
line on a ‘creative mindset’, I got or rather caught for myself ;-) while
reading through the famed 2015 rod judkin read titled, The Art of Creative Thinking.
rod judkin, Professor
of creativity at the world-famous St Martin's College of Art says here,
A creative mindset can be applied to everything you do and
enrich every aspect of your life. Creativity isn't a switch that's flicked on
or off; it's a way of seeing, engaging with and responding to the world around
you. The creative are creative when filing documents, cooking, arranging
timetables or doing housework. Try to develop an alternative way of thinking
that can be applied to any challenge or project, no matter how far out of your
comfort zone.
rod judkin starts off
by penning down his inspirational thoughts on art's first super star,
Michelangelo -
Undoubtedly one of the world's great geniuses, Michelangelo had
not so much a divine gift as an intensely nurtured talent. Brought up by
quarrymen, he could chisel and cut blocks of stone from the age of six. By the
age of twelve he had been carving stone for thousands of hours. At fourteen he
was apprenticed to an artist's studio. That level of skilled training is not possible today. In fact, it's illegal.
The old masters are a great source of inspiration, but we cannot
ever emulate their level of skill. We have to discover our own strengths. Creative
thinking is like a muscle that needs to be strengthened through exercise. I often
set exercises that each last five or ten minutes, rather as an athlete might do
a series of short workouts to get fit.
says rod judkins.
How lovelyyy! How
bubblyyy!! How trueyyy!!!
Some of his thoughts
are real inspirational stuff! –
Sample this –
Everyone is searching for originality. Ironically, it is
right there within them, but most people are too busy being someone else.
Creative people are prepared to be themselves. They make the
most of their own experiences whether good or bad. The advantage of being
themselves is that they are original. There is no one like them. This makes whatever
they do unique.
We spend much of our lives not being who we really are. There
are huge pressures on everyone to be someone else; to live up to others'
expectations - to be a perfect parent, obedient employee, selfless partner or
high-achieving son or daughter.
We lose the ability to be good at being ourselves, and we
forget who we are.
The world is pushing constantly to submerge you in
orthodoxy, to make you indistinguishable from everybody else. To fight against
it is to be involved in a lifelong struggle.
To be successfully creative you have to realise it's OK to
be yourself.
We all have weaknesses and strengths; the creative accept
them and use them both.
The biggest benefit you can be to your company, school,
business or family is to accentuate what is special and unique about yourself.
That's difficult in a society that puts huge emphasis on conformity.
True, ain’t it???
And finally, to end
with the snippeting part, ;-) the info that he gives us all on one of our
favvys, Paulo Coelho – and Coelho’s creative vibes, is the real icing on the cake
–
The incredible struggle of Paulo Coelho is an extraordinary example
of sheer determination. As a teenager he passionately wanted to become a
writer, but his parents considered this madness.
They wanted him to become a lawyer, a secure, respectable
profession. To 'save' him from his writing ambitions, his parents had him
committed to a mental institution three times. He was subjected to electric
shock treatment.
He refused to compromise. He instinctively knew he was meant
to be a writer, and he went on to become an author with a unique vision.
His book The
Alchemist was translated into eighty languages, sold sixty-five million copies
worldwide and provided Coelho with unequivocal, lasting financial security.
To all ye literati of
the loveliest order out there - For the next few days, I would gently recommend that
you go on ‘Digital Minimalism’ mode for a full twelve hours a day, and pull
out a kindle version of this rod judkin read to get some real inspiration for our
literary souls from this rod judkin-ian delight! ;-)