Creativity!

The idea of being “creative” is a funny thing to me. What defines creativity? Someone sitting on their couch every day of the year doing nothing is creative in their own way. I mean hey, maybe they are onto something with that? But not by societies definition of creativity. I don’t even know how I would really define creativity. Is thinking “outside the box” creative? I guess so. Coming up with the iphone? That seems to be creative. I think to me one way to be creative is discovering solutions to life’s problems in ways that have never been done before. This could be something like coming up with a new offense in football, or writing a new song that changes the way people hear music forever.

I feel I am creative. I pride myself on figuring out ways to come up with unique solutions to problems or issues that arise. A perfect example is an experience I had with BeatBox. Without boring you with all the details of Texas alcohol laws, there was a time last year when it seemed like our plan to create our product was simply unfeasible within the legal guidelines of Texas. Instead of giving up, I came up with a pretty wild solution that has to this day allowed us to get to where we are. The solution was to actually build out a manufacturing facility ourselves so we could feasibly self-distribute in Austin and the rest of Texas to show proof of concept. Let me tell ya, that creative solution has come with a TON of work I never even knew existed!

I think to me the times I am most creative is when I am discussing an idea or problem with others. I am especially good at taking an existing conversation and extrapolating this to a wide variety of potential ideas. It is amazing to me the exponential growth in creativity when a group is talking out loud. A simple thought can within an hour turn into an elaborate business plan. It really is amazing to me the innate human trait of problem solving.

Let it be said, Sunday’s after a long weekend of drinking I am ESPECIALLY uncreative. Just like that guy on the couch I was talking about before.

In my past life I was an equity analyst, which funny enough does require a certain element of creativity. There is a constant barrage of news flow every day that finding ways to figure out what is really going on in the world is exceptionally difficult. Our group as well became very creative. There were only 4 of us responsible for a market of about 1,000 stocks, so coming up with ways to narrow our investing universe had us always thinking of new creative ways to navigate the market.

Though it ended up being disastrous, the very first company I worked for was creative as well. Directly out of college I worked in the corporate finance division for Countrywide financial. While our group wasn’t necessarily creative, the broader company was. When prices for homes in California reached their peaks, and consumers couldn’t afford mortgages anymore (around 2005), Countrywide started offering the “pay-option arm” where borrowers could pay even less than the interest owed on their monthly payments. Despite bankrupting the company in the long-run, that is one hell of a creative mortgage loan!!

It is more difficult for me to be creative on my own, though I am always thinking of new ways or ideas to solve problems. However I think it is definitely possible for someone to be creative by themselves. I would look at all of these “youtube” sensations for being especially creative. There are individuals with millions of followers on youtube, or twitter, or instagram for simply thinking of a way to address a societal need. That may come with daily food recipes, or a one-a-day photo of a cute cat. These people are very creative on their own.

Groups within an orginazation are VERY capable of being creative. I think the best organizations foster this kind of environment among their employees.

I found the article pretty fascinating, though not necessarily revolutionary. I do think I am going to repaint my walls blue now! It seems the key for all of this is to think with an open mind (or after a few drinks!) If you are too narrowly focused you miss the bigger picture. Travel, have more diverse friends, share in more experiences. All of these things will allow you to be able to see the world in a way others cannot.

It is refreshing to me to see I have accomplished a lot of the tricks of the trade to be more creative. I have been to over 20 countries, have studied abroad, have a wide array of friends, and drink a lot! I also tend to be very relaxed and easy going which lets things come to me.

I believe different people will respond to creative processes in different ways. Just like some people love to blast loud music before a football game while others prefer to sit alone in silence. There is no one “answer” for all people. So in sum I think it is important for each person to think about what allows them to get into the right state of mind for them, not necessarily what they think they need to do or what others tell them they need to do to be creative.