My 7 Rules on Being Creative

My 7 Rules on Being Creative

1.  Create out of need not out of want….   I remember just starting out in children’s ministry I would try to find an awesome game or experiment or visual then would try to fit a bible story to it.  That is so backwards- create something after your biblical work is done!

2.  You don’t have to try to keep out doing yourself. I still struggle with this; just because you did some mind-blowing creation doesn’t mean that you have to outdo that creation next time. Just do what you do and it will be awesome.

3.  Sometimes we have to except things are just good enough!  I have a problem with perfection.  I want to be in control of everything and not allow others to help me.  I worry that they may screw it up or that it won’t look as good as if I did it.  Let go and let others help.  Let a youth paint something for you; teach them how to be creative.  In the end even if it isn’t as good as perhaps you would have done, they got more out of helping then anybody probably got out of the project.

4.  Be Risky….   Great things come with great Risk.  Don’t hold back!  If you fail you fail.  You will live to create another day!

5.   Befriend someone scary.  Put yourselves around people that aren’t like you.  They will make you think in ways you never knew you could.  Creativity comes from many different avenues and other creative people are one of those avenues.

6.  Take a walk and just dream.  I get all kinds of looks at me, this big guy, spending an hour walking around crafts 2000.  Go to a store and just dream.  Go to Lowes and look at pvc piping and then paint colors get your creative juices flowing.

  

7.  You have to have a lot of TIME-ENERGY-MONEY!  But you have to have 2 of these to be creative.  Especially if you are  being creative on a budget, you can still be creative.  You can do things cheap but it will still cost you time and energy.  You will get out what you put in, it costs something somewhere.