Secret To My Success: Playing Around

Seeing how every piece fits together is key to success as a Creative Director.

It happens a lot.

You start explaining your vision and get the blank stares. Silence.

Why? Did you not explain yourself well enough? Should you have flushed out your example a bit more?

While that could be the case, on many occasions the problem isn't you, your concepts, or your delivery. It’s the audience and their lack of imagination.

When I was 8 my parents bought my brothers and I a checkerboard set and 2 huge sets of LEGO® cities. I asked them why not a chess set? My father said “you have to anticipate moves in life, but if you're the only one playing a game everyday, life wouldn't be too much fun.”

LEGO® building sets were my first interaction with real physical problem-solving. Likely it was yours as well. I spent hours looking at the box, back at my pile of unassembled LEGO® and thinking to myself, “how am I going to put all these pieces together?”

But once I got rolling, it clicked. At that moment I supercharged a skill inside of me that was waiting to burst out. It’s the same thing that allows Tiger Woods to hit blind bunker shots and get it close to the pin.

If you have an imagination, you can already taste this. BANGARANG!!!

Sadly, most people stop developing their imagination. They lose the ability to see into the future and make it a reality. They replace free-thinking with restraints and safety. Sound familiar? It should, because it’s called growing up.

Imagination or Nothing

I've never been able to turn that part of me off. My imagination is not only in color, but it’s in IMAX 3D. I see education patterns in conversations, design UI in problem discovery and UX efficiency in my continual efforts to better myself and the experience of others with empathy. I can’t stop it.

We can learn how to build and problem solve very early in life

It goes back to the checkerboard and LEGO® set my parents got me. They wanted to teach me strategy to complement my imagination. It worked.

It’s allowed me to keep life in perspective, think through big decisions, and most importantly have epic dreams that I get to live everyday trying to make come true.

It took a great imagination to make this shot happen.

What does your imagination allow you to do?

Thanks for reading ☺