I’m noticing the whir of creativity in the air these days.
Another year is winding down, and thoughts of a new year are wafting in. A fresh new year feels like a reboot, an opportunity for new ways, new thinking, new possibilities.
As 2015 peeks over the horizon, I encourage you to call upon the mystery of creativity.
Business owners often go straight to the “how.” How to get it done? How to make it work? How, how how. Focusing on the “how” can sometimes have an oppressive effect — you start noticing all the ways your big idea won’t work. Lack of resources, lack of time, lack of support. Oh dear.
Instead, how about putting all that “how” thinking on hold for a few moments, and turn and look in a different direction… what do you see? Maybe you see a beautiful new vision for your life. Maybe a new business idea. Maybe it’s resurrecting a hobby you had put on hold. Maybe it’s rekindling a feeling you have lost touch with. Hope, perhaps.
Maybe it’s a big question mark, a mystery. Ahhh, now that is uncomfortable terrain for most of us.
Mystery. Uncertainty. Scary!
We have been so programmed to know the answers, to check the facts, to present our knowledge with precision and certainty. To utter the words, “I don’t know,” brings feelings of failure and shame. Not always, sure, but think about how frequently you avoid that response. Especially in business. Our management training demands that we KNOW! And that we exude confidence.
And when you don’t know (even if you are faking it), you might feel less than valuable… Somehow, uncertainty has become wrongly conjoined with failure.
You could wallow in that uncertainty, but try this other option: Wallow in the mystery of it all. Get curious about everything around you. Allow the mystery of uncertainty to reveal an answer you could never find in Wikipedia!
I have a mantra: Curiosity Creates Compassion. The moment you move from certainty thinking to curiosity, you begin to open yourself to compassion… for others, and for yourself. The more compassion you conjure, the more free you will be to relax into that place of creative flow.
And guess where creative flow will lead? To the next great thing for you! The next project, the next idea, the next way of being that will enhance your life, your leadership practice, your business. All because you muddled around in mystery.
Mystery leads to curiosity. Curiosity leads to compassion. Compassion leads to creative freedom. Creative freedom leads to new ideas. New ideas lead to joy, fulfillment, and success! As good ol’ Charlie Sheen would say, #Winning!
I heard one of my favorite coaches, Laura Berman Fortgang, speak a while back. She said, “We’ve lost our reverence for mystery,” and went on to quote a statistic that more people are reading mystery novels than any other type of book at this time. So while we seem to be uncomfortable with being in uncertainty, at the same time we are craving the lure of mystery! That’s a mystery in and of itself, I suppose!
So I invite you to try letting go of your control over certainty… and wallow in mystery a bit.
