CREATIVITY: The Bedrock of All Genius

Man of Genius

The key question isn’t “what fosters creativity?” but it is

why in God’s name isn’t everyone creative? Where was the human

potential lost? How was it crippled? I think therefore a good question

might be not why do people create? But why do people not create or

innovate? We have got to abandon that sense of amazement in the face

of creativity, as if it were a miracle if anybody create anything.

-      Abraham Maslow

One of the noteworthy personalities of history whose sense of creativity and genius enthralled generations and still continues to amaze many is the Italian born Leonardo da Vinci. He was called Homo Universalis, a ‘universal man,’ for the incredible ability of his mind to master diverse disciplines he pursued.¹ Having excelled in the field of painting, sculpture, architecture, music and engineering, he was admired by his peers and his proteges for his extraordinary innovative works and was seen as a quintessence of all talents coming together in a simple person. This quality certainly set him apart. His notebooks inspired many and were regarded as being centuries ahead of him as well as centuries that followed. John C.  Maxwell, a leadership expert accounts in his book Talent Is Never Enough that ‘… Leonardo’s notebooks go far beyond an artist’s sketches. They display a highly teachable mind … and the depth of his thinking.’² Among his artistic paintings included the Mona Lisa or “la Gioconda”, arguably the most famous of his works.

What is Creativity?

Looking around us today, we may ask ourselves where from all these magnificent buildings, aircraft, cars and trail blazing technological advancements purposed to make the life of man better? Everything we see with our eyes in some years, decades and centuries ago never were or existed. However, they came by dint of the creative ability of men being motivated by the desire to realize that which they conceived in the mind. They are all as a result of the creative power of man.

Creativity is the underlining rock of every art, science and invention. Industries, business organizations and even nations have been spawned unto great and enviable heights from the pursuit of creative ideas and concepts. It has helped produced great companies and to drive economies forward. Thus it is esteemed by all aspects of the economy and is essential in almost all professions such as music, graphic design, web development, business, science, teaching among others.

Creativity as defined by the Webster’s Dictionary is marked by the ability and power to create or bring into existence something new. It has to do with the skill and ability to produce something new, either as a product, thought or process. Our creativity comes to bear as our ideas are applied to produce an end result. Man’s creativity comes in many forms. It can be scientific creativity, resulting in the inventions or medical cures. It can be artistic or musical, resulting in beautiful paintings, sculptures or operas and songs. It can be creative writing resulting in novels short stories and poems.³ Carl R. Rogers said, “The very essence of creativity is its novelty, and hence we have no standard by which to judge it.” Thus the creative ability of man cannot be undermined. We cannot tell the next idea to be launched tomorrow and even its impact on the globe.

Who is Creative?

In his book Unleashing The Creative New You, Will Edwards states that, ‘creativity is bred into us as humans. It’s in our genes – a part of our very DNA… Creativity is the power and essential to our well-being.’ Research shows that our inventive ability often shows up very early in our life. The ability to invent comes to us during our childhood. At this stage of life we are not limited as to what we can or can’t do and thus we are free to experiment whatever comes to mind. The playtime of children is replete with myriads of creative ideas. The child learns about math, verbal skill, music and visual arts during playtime. They learn to explore and they learn the thrill of discovery.⁴

Each and every one of us is endowed with some level of creativity which requires nurturing for success. We all have the inherent ability to create or produce something new. Creativity always has to begin with you before it can grow to affect the world. Anytime we create sometime we assume the divine nature of our creator - as creative beings. There are key tools we need to consider in the development of our creative power.

Unleashing your Creativity

In recent times, the end products of creativity our generation most relates with are the ones that have to do with technology. The globe is so much influenced by technology as it has facilitated the processes of globalization – making the world a global village. This technology we benefit from reflects the creative nature of man. Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Twitter, Facebook and the likes which we usually visit almost every day were all inspired and birth from man’s ingenuity. They were once all ideas which have been creatively nurtured for global impact.

We may not be creative as the Einstein’s or the da Vinci’s but we are creative in our own right. We all have something unique to offer. Creativity does not have to be about developing something new to the world, it is more to do with developing something new to ourselves. The truth is that, creativity is a skill that can be developed and a process that can be managed. Learning to be creative is akin to learning a sport. It requires practice to develop the right muscles, and a supportive environment in which to flourish.⁵ There is the urgent need to develop our creativity for great impact in the world we find ourselves.

A very essential key to nurturing our creativity as is developing an open mind and a right attitude to inventiveness. The greatest handicap a person has is not realizing his potential; the potential to create something. An appropriate attitude that makes you aware of a tremendous creative power helps you remove the impossibility lids that hamstring your ingenuity. Developing an open mind requires the readiness to entertain new ideas. Have a possibility mindset – that everything that is conceivable can be created. This gives you the urge to explore breathtaking ideas and discover a plethora of awesome concepts that hitherto may have been hidden from the society or considered mundane. The more you explore, the more you see opportunities and the greater your potential to create.

Curiosity is also important in the pursuit of nurturing our creative minds. This kind of curiosity should be purposed to understanding how things work especially in your field of knowledge. The desire to listen, learn and apply especially in your field of interest helps equip you with the requisite knowledge. This will eventually broaden your scope of thinking. Look around you and analyze what you see and how they function. Get to comprehend the issues and think of ways to improve the way things are done. Let your curiosity drive you to learn.  As the German philosopher Goethe advised, “Never let a day pass without looking at some perfect work of art, hearing some great piece of music and reading, in part, some great book.” Teachable people are open to new ideas enhancing their creative ability as a result of the desire to learn.

Having the confidence and courage to experiment out thinking ideas comes as a vital key in consolidating our creative ability. A lot of people are not being creative not because they do not know that they are creative beings but because they lack the confidence to put out what ever idea they have. They are afraid it might not work or others will make fun of them. If we are not confident enough to bring out our less ingenious ideas then our creativity will gradually stagnate. Have confidence in your creative power and be motivated to create something new. If you are not prepared to be wrong you can never be creative. Until you release that idea of yours the world will not know what you have to offer.

In their book, The Entrepreneur In Focus, Bill Bolton and John Thompson assert that the ‘joy in creativity is a powerful motivation to continuing creativity – to experience that special moment again and again urges creative people forward.’ Unleash that idea now and the motivation that follows from it will push up your confidence level. As your confidence level soars high so does your prospect of innovation grows.

The truth is that, the world outside there is in earnest expectation of what you have to offer for it is the gift of God to the world and until you develop your creative power you cannot live to your full potential. Your creativity reflects the element of the divine. As you unleash your creativity, you better yourself, develop awareness, increase your horizons and eventually make the world a better place. Our creativity is the bedrock of all genius. Thus unleash it.

THE CULTURE OF DISCIPLINE: An Essential Quality for Achievement

A Stunning Global Landmark

Nothing is more harmful to the service, than the neglect of discipline;

for that discipline, more than numbers gives one army superiority over another.

                                     -George Washington (America’s first President

On the 8th of August 2008 the attention of the entire global community was focused on China as it unveiled the Beijing Olympics with a grandeur opening ceremony. At the center of this awesome occasion was a awe-inspiring stadium, which according to the New York Times embodies everything from China’s muscle-flexing nationalism to a new found cultural sophistication.¹ The Herzog and DeMeuron’s Olympic Stadium, fondly referred to by some as the “Bird’s Nest” because of its innovative grid formation, is a feat of engineering, an aesthetic marvel, and an uber-green machine to boot.² The £250 million Stadium, designed by Swiss architects Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, is comprised of an outer skeleton of 42,000 tons of steel making it to last for a century and withstand a force of eight magnitude earthquake.³ Being such an quaint and gleaming landmark, the stadium won the institute’s prestigious Lubetkin Prize – the international award given to the ‘most outstanding work of architecture’ outside the European Union by an RIBA member.⁴ A view at such a shimmering edifice depicts its intricate patterns and the difficulty the engineers might have faced in bringing the concept from the paper into realization. The stadium’s design shows an integration of myriad complex systems all rolled into such an aesthetically and conceptually simple but stunning object and thus exude an unthinkable ingenuity of mankind.⁵ For most people traveling to China, the Great Wall of China symbolizes the long and great Chinese history and cultural heritage, while the new stadium represents the modern and constantly changing side of the country.⁶

The Art of Discipline

An indispensable quality exhibited by the construction team, which unfortunately may be unnoticed but contributed significantly to such a tremendous success in the world of architecture was the culture of discipline; willingness to go through all the onerous processes of realizing their dreams irrespective of the challenges. Key among the challenges was how to make the ‘bird’s nest’ stand on its own feet? The large steel skeleton of the project weighed 42,000 tons, with the roof and the hanging parts around it accounting for 11,200 tons. To bear such a heavy load, 78 supporting structures were temporarily installed and distributed in different points under stress, i.e. 24 supporting structures along the outer circle, 24 in the middle circle and 30 in the inner circle.⁷It was therefore necessary to discharge all the supporting objects from a weight of 11,200 tons. The unloading process of the supporting structures was divided into seven steps and each step was conducted in the order of outer circle, middle circle, inner circle, middle circle and inner circle. 35 sub-steps are used to complete the whole process.⁸

HouZhaoxing, a leading expert in the construction of the 2008 Olympic projects, said tens of new technologies, involving design, materials, manufacturing, installation, monitoring and management areas were used in the process.⁹The constructors were that disciplined and determined to ensure that they achieved their goal thus making use of every technology available. ‘Discipline is doing what you really don't want to do, so that you can do what you really want to do. It's paying the price in the little things so that you can buy the bigger thing.’¹⁰Discipline makes you pay a price today and win the prize tomorrow.

Talent without Discipline

Mickey Mantle is one of the few endowed players in terms of talent in the history of American baseball. He was known as a great baseball slugger and was known as the fastest man in the major leagues.¹¹ When he began his baseball career, he was probably the fastest man in the game. He was clocked making it to the first base in 2.9 seconds left handed drag bunt. And he could run the bases in an incredible 13 seconds. Yet, his speed was nothing compared to the power of his hitting. It's been said there were home run hitters, and then there was this man - in a league of his own.¹²

His talent was that extraordinary to the extent that In the 1950s and 1960s, Mickey Mantle's name was synonymous with baseball. By the age of 19 he had been called up to play for the New York Yankees. By the time he retired, Mantle had played more games as a Yankee than any other player, and had been named MVP of the American League three times. He still holds the all-time World Series records for home runs, runs scored, and runs batted in.¹³

Yet, in spite of his impressive accomplishments, experts believe Mickey Mantle never reached his potential. Most blame Mantle's chronic knee injuries for preventing him from doing more. But injuries weren't the root of the problem. What most people didn't know was that Mantle was a raging alcoholic. In assessing his career, he observe that he “never fulfilled what my dad had wanted [to be the greatest player who ever lived], and I should have.” Everybody tries to make the excuse that injuries shortened my career. Truth is, after I'd had a knee operation the doctors would give me rehab work to do, but I wouldn't do it. I'd be out drinking... I hurt my knees through the years, and I just thought they'd naturally come back. Everything has always come natural to me. I didn't work hard at it.¹⁴

Mickey Mantle had such a great talent, but never got to his full potential for his lack of discipline off the field. His potential was limited by the level of disciplined he exercised.  

A New Mindset, Old Results

For many years, decades and even centuries, a major hurdle that stifled the progress of man from unearthing his full potentials proved to be his mindset. Mankind for ages has been limited by his thoughts. In James Allen’s book ‘As a Man Thinketh,’ he remarks that

All that a man achieves or fails to achieve is the direct result of his thought.”Fortunately, the unfolding of time has made possible the mutation of our thoughts and a shift in our paradigms – a mindset that propels us to be who God wants us to be. Amazingly, many are not able to achieve much even with a new and positive mindset. Some people are still stuck in their situation after a great deal of reorientation of their thinking. This is because they lack the discipline to go through the process of achieving.

Especially now, a considerable number of the youth in our part of the world have experienced a shift in our paradigms where our ingenuity have soared encouragingly. This is symptomatic of the wonderful personalities who have become impactful on the globe not only with their lives but also their teachings and books. Many have crossed the hurdle of humdrum thinking and average mindedness but seem to be deficient in the discipline required for achieving good results. How many times have we not thought of wonderful and brilliant ideas and left them on the shelves? How many times have we not made very important resolutions to better our life and failed to live by them? And again how many times have we not quit from achieving something we thought precious initially? These are obvious scenarios we may have either witnessed or fallen victim to, but do we ask ourselves why that is the case?

Synergizing Right Decisions with Discipline for Success

One of the books that have made significant impression on my life for the past few years is John C. Maxwell’s Today Matters. In this book, he shares tremendous wisdom on how we can make today a masterpiece for tomorrow’s success. He briefly communicates the essence of good decisions and discipline in making ‘today a masterpiece’ in pages 22 and 23 of the book.

  I believe there are two ingredients necessary to make every day a masterpiece: decisions and discipline. They are like two sides of the same coin; you could call them “goal setting” and “goal getting.” And they can’t be separated because one is worthless without the other. I say that because…

Good Decisions – Daily Discipline = A plan without a Payoff
Daily Discipline – Good Decisions = Regimentation without Reward
Good Decisions + Daily Discipline = A Masterpiece of Potential¹⁵

Decision making is a critical issue in the life of every individual, a doctor, a lawyer, a politician, an entrepreneur or a student. It is of the essence since it gets us started on the  journey of success. However, what should be given much attention is how we manage these decisions. This is where discipline comes in. Decision helps us start but what helps us finish is discipline. It is not the decisions that make us successful but how through discipline we achieve the things we hoped to. The culture of discipline is a way of life that enables us to relive our decisions each and every day. It is significant to the journey of achieving success in whichever activity we may be involved in as it gradually keeps

focused and committed. Discipline coupled with commitment helps us attain desired results. When you combine a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship, you get the magical alchemy of great performance.¹⁶

The neglect of discipline in either an organization or an individual’s life is perilous and puts their future into disarray. It is true that today’s discipline helps bring the excellence of what is over and above the expectation by sustaining us on the journey to achieving whatever one wills. The culture of discipline is always indispensable to preparing ourselves for the success of tomorrow.

In their book 100 Ways to Motivate Others, Steve chandler and Scott Richardson, state that discipline is like a language and since anybody can learn any language then anybody can be disciplined also. Many have done it and have succeeded, so also can you.

FOOTNOTES/FURTHER READING

1. Nicolai Ouroussoff, “Olympic Stadium with a Design to Remember,” New York Times, August 5, 2008,http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/05/sports/olympics/05nest.html (accessed January4, 2011).

2.  Emily Pilloton, Beijing’s Olympic Stadium by Herzog and DeMeuron, July 3, 2007,http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/03/07/beijings-olympic-stadium-by-herzog-and-demeuron(accessed January7, 2011)

3.  Gordon Rayner,Beijing Olympics: The Bird's Nest stadium, August 7, 2008,http://www.telegrah.co.uk/.../Beijing_Olympics_The-Birds-Nest-Stadium.html (accessed January 6, 2011).

4.  Richard Waite, “Beijing 'bird's nest' stadium wins coveted Lubetkin Prize,” Architects Journal, July 15, 2009, http://www.architectsjournal.co.uk/...birds-nest-stadium.../5205134.article (accessed January 6, 2011).

5.  Emily Pilloton, Beijing’s Olympic Stadium by Herzog and DeMeuron, July 3, 2007,http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/03/07/beijings-olympic-stadium-by-herzog-and-demeuron (accessed January7, 2011)

6.  Vytautas Kraujalis, Bird's Nest Stadium: A symbol of Beijing, February 19, 2010, http://www.en.radio86.com/travel-destinaions/list (accessed January 6, 2011)

7.  The Beijing Organizing Committee, How does the 'bird's nest' stand on its own feet? September 17, 2006, http://www.enbeijing2008.cn/80/33/article212043837.shtml (accessed January 9, 2011)

8.  The Beijing Organizing Committee, The steel skeleton of the 'Bird's Nest' to fall by no more 30cm, September 17, 2006, http://www.enbeijing2008.cn/80/33/article212044444.shtml(accessed January 9, 2011)

9.  The Beijing Organizing Committee, New technologies used in unloading of National Stadium's supporting structures, September 17, 2006, http://www.enbeijing2008.cn/80/33/article212044242.shtml (accessed January 9, 2011)

10.  John Maxwell, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow them and People will Follow You, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1998), (accessed January11, 2011)

11.  Mickey's Mantle of Faith, October 19, 2006,http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=52498(accessed January 11, 2011)

12.  John Maxwell, Discipline: The Path to Potential, 2011, http://www.giantimpact.com/article_discipline_the_path_to_potential.htm (accessed January 11, 2011)

13.  John Maxwell, Discipline: The Path to Potential, 2011, http://www.giantimpact.com/article_discipline_the_path_to_potential.htm (accessed January 11, 2011)

14.  John Maxwell, Today Matters: 12 Daily Practices to Guarantee Tomorrow’s Success, (New York: Center Street, 2004), (accessed January 14, 2011)

15.  John Maxwell, Today Matters: 12 Daily Practices to Guarantee Tomorrow’s Success, (New York: Center Street, 2004), (accessed January 14, 2011)

16.  Jim Collins, Good to Great (New York: Harperbusiness, 2001), (accessed January 14, 2011)

FOOTBALL – THE UNKNOWN FORM OF IDOLATRY

           

A few years ago, as I relaxed on my father’s new couch and watched the usual evening news on one of the television stations, I was hit by one of the news packages; some Argentine football pundits of the football legend Diego Maradona have decided to worship him as their ‘God’.

Has it gotten to that? I asked myself several times as I squirm restlessly in the couch.

Like the ‘Jew’ condemning his fellow ‘Gentile’ I begun to condemn these ‘useless Argentines,’ I chose to call them may be for lack of a better adjective to describe them. I even went to the extent to judge that ‘hell’ awaits them.

But now I see no difference between them and me - I have being enslaved by the excitements and intrigues of the game so much that I can now comprise church activities and other equally important programmes for the game. If there is any difference between them and me then it must be the fact that they are aware of this ‘unknown god’ but I am not.

If I were the only victim of this ignorance then I would not be writing this since many will term worthless it. In that case it would have been my problem to deal with. The unfortunate thing is that these victims are numerous, as many as the lovers of the game of football, you can imagine.

Football or soccer is arguably the most developed game (sport) with a huge fan base and is still pulls more fans. It is full of drama, suspense and a display of talent as well as dexterity. One pundit once said that ‘in the game of soccer thousands of people who are in need of exercise watch twenty two men in need of rest play’ and I think that there could not be better description than this. The excitements that characterize this game in that ninety minutes span makes it the finest product one can patronize and to some extent I can chose to agree to all this fuss made about the game. Moreover the build up to most football as well post match conferences and analysis contributes to the growth of the game. It is a wonderful game with wonderful fans.

Nonetheless, we have to restrict how we give ourselves to the game just because we think is a nice game. Matches from the English premier league, Spanish La Liga, the Italian Serie A and the European Champions leagues tend to turn the world upside down with clashes like Chelsea against Barcelona, Liverpool playing Real Madrid, inter Milan versus AC Milan and Manchester United against Arsenal. On occasions of such clash between the finest teams in Europe it is easy to miss church, a lecture or something important and get to the nearest pub, restaurant or game centre to watch the match. Tell me, has it not become a god?

Nowadays, especially in schools it is possible to spend close to six hours on matches involving the big teams in Europe. I once was a victim in a match between Liverpool against Manchester United. I had to be in the TV room nearly two hours before kick off to secure a comfortable seat and from that time to kick off was when both fans of Liverpool and Manchester argued, most of which were unnecessary and petty. The football match took additional two hours and almost an hour and a half minutes after the match for arguments. The funny thing was that we argued in the TV rooms, argued on the way to our rooms and it did not stop there, we continued arguing in our rooms. In fact my whole day was wasted on just a football match.

Yes, it might be my choice to have done that but the issue is that I’m not the only person; others are caught to this unrealized god of the contemporary world.

The purpose of this piece of literature is not to create an impression that loving football is bad or ungodly but as a wake up call to the public about how we have allowed ourselves to be enslaved by the game. Many are unaware to this making it even worse because as long as a person doesn’t know what he doesn’t know, he does not grow.

Our so called love for the game is affecting our religious life, academic life as well our productivity as individuals. There are a lot we can do with the time given us by our creator.

The Holy book in 1corinthians 10:23 says “everything is permissible- but not everything is beneficial.” Let us try to limit the time we make for the game.

BUILDING THE FUTURE FROM TODAY

‘The best thing about the future is that it comes a day at time’
-Abraham Lincoln
Everything we see and cherish never came out of the blue or was achieved in day but had undergone a process of making. The house is certainly not built in day but daily. I could not agree more with Albert Einstein when he says the only reason for time is that everything does not happen at once. The product or outcome of every event is so much dependent on the process of realizing the event in question and for that matter the process of making something is very important - when the process gets altered the outcome ultimately changes.
Every growing child has wild dreams that they would want realized when they mature. It is always heartwarming and gratifying to hear a child (mostly with smiles) tells you what he or she wants to become in the near future. We usually hear things like ‘I want to be a doctor when I grow up,’ ‘as for me I will be a pilot in future’ and other wonderful ones. However, somehow halfway through the journey of life most of these dreams that we cherished as children fade away leaving our fate to be determined by what nature brings us. Is it that as children we are oblivious of the reality of life and our dreams back then really do not count? Or is it that as a child whatever dream you have can only but be recognized as wishful thinking?
It is rather unfortunate and disheartening to find most people blaming society and institutions for what they are today and others go as far as attributing their plight to fate. ‘I never had both parents’ and ‘I do not come from a rich family’ are few of such infantile comments people make. For so long a time we have lived under ignorance which has affected our orientation and approach to life. Life is not really about what happens to you but most importantly your reaction to what happens to you. This is what Albert Ocran meant when he penned these words ‘life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.’ How right he was!
Abraham Lincoln through these words presents as with an enlightening awareness to unmask the reality of life and how we have ignorantly relegated ourselves to one of mediocrity. The future is presented to us daily, giving us as individuals leverage over what makes of us the near future. As every day of the nine month period of the baby in the mother’s womb is important for the formation of the baby, so is every day essential in the creation of our dreams. Everyday we witness in life is an opportunity to be a better person and build our dreams. It is indeed good news – whatever you want to achieve or become, you can if you resolve to take every day as an opportunity to realize it. Bryan Tracy puts this truth clearly when he says ‘the best way to predict your future is to create it.’ Everyday therefore becomes necessary as far as the creation of our dreams and goals are concerned. Our decisions today are paramount for our success tomorrow.
Let us make a conscious effort to tackle the future on a daily bases as they come and by that we can stand against the odds and achieve our dreams for our dreams whatever they might be are very remote from impossibility but close to possibility. It has indeed become urgent for us to commit ourselves to building our future and dreams knowing that we shall be worth tomorrow what we add to our lives today. It is important that we examine our lives daily on how we have developed and enabled the attainments of our goals.
WHATEVER YOU WANT TO BECOME, WHOEVER YOU WANT TO BE AND WHATEVER YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE, KNOW THAT EVERY DAY COUNTS!