Creativity Secrets

I saw this today and since Whitney likes secrets so much I thought I'd post it here...

From this blog http://www.creativesomething.net/

Six confessions from creative professionals.
Posted October 1, 2008

Secret confessions, to be exact.

For the past thirty days thirty different creative professionals (who make a living by being creative) were asked to send their creative confessions to Creative Something.

From not really being creative, to thinking that creativity is incredibly hard, these creative confessions are an interesting look into the secret thoughts of some of the biggest creative geniuses of our time.

Without further ado, here are some of the top confessions from a creative professional.

* I don’t consider myself to be creative. Whenever I go out to conferences and am asked what I do for a living, my reply is almost always: “I solve problems”. The response is often wide eyes and a big grin. Most people don’t understand that I do what everyone else does every day of their lives, I just get paid to do it.

* When the going gets tough, I ask for help. My wife is like my own backup creative brain. If I need help coming up with a solution or a new product promo, I just ask her and she helps me come up with new ideas. It’s a bit embarrassing to call myself a creative “professional” yet always have to ask my wife for ideas.

* I still find it hard to be creative on the spot. If ample time is not given for me to come up with an innovative idea, I get stage fright. I find myself coming back to my team with new ideas because I’ve had time to relax and think. It’s hard for me to be creative just nitty witty; it makes me wonder if I am really the right man for the job.

* I don’t always use my talents for good. I can recall several different occasions when I created a fake ID badge or parking pass or “legal documentation” for a friend or relative. I know it’s illegal to use my talents for forgery or this and that, but there’s something especially challenging in creating something you know you are not suppose to be creating.

* I once stole a major award. I worked with a colleague to find an answer to one of our local cities major problems. My colleague came up with the solution by himself, I was the one who reported the discovery. A few weeks later I received a major award from the city and took it too. He said that he didn’t mind who the award was given too, just that we had found an answer. I don’t believe him.

* I am just like you. You may not realize it but I am just like you. I am just like everybody else. Even though I get paid to be creative, I am still just as creative as you and everybody else. What makes me different is that I have more experience being creative, but that’s it. You have just as much potential as I have, it’s just that I have done something with my potential.