Creativity is all about…dots?
Collecting dots to connect them later
Creativity is about seeing the world in new ways, finding hidden patterns, making connections between seemingly unrelated phenomena, and generating solutions. It is the act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality.
In short, creativity is about connecting the dots.
Creative people collect more dots, so they can connect them later.
What are dots?
Creative people are constantly exposing themselves to to new experiences, environments, ideas, and ways of thinking. These are dots.
Dots are new experiences, points of view, information, people, environments, ideas, and ways of thinking.
By opening the doors and windows to their brain, creatives allow more information to flow in, which enables them to piece together seemingly disparate data points and generate new solutions.
You can collect dots by reading, taking a class, going to a concert, visiting an art museum, traveling, experimenting, meeting new people, watching TV, listening to music, or learning a new skill.
In short, dots are brain food. You want to feed your brain with as much information and data as possible.
The coolest part of creativity is that no experience, learning, insight is ever wasted. Dots provide a goldmine of ideas just waiting to be connected. It means your old skills, experiences — yes, even the weekend you spent watching a House of Cards marathon on Netflix — might be the very link you need to inspire a new idea.
Be a Dot Collector
Think of yourself as a dot collector. Be open. Take risks. Collect as many dots as possible, then push yourself outside your comfort zone and collect even more.
Never stop growing your collection of dots.
You never know the magical ways you’ll connect them later.
You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something–your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life. — Steve Jobs
Post 8/100 of my 100 day writing challenge for 100 Naked Words.
