Scott Jeffrey » creative genius

Relinquishing Control of the Creative Process

Scott Jeffrey — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 12:30:47 +0000

The more you try to be creative, the more creativity will elude you. Trying to capture the creative impulse is like grabbing water in your hand—the tighter your hold, the less water you retain.

The human ego has a constant drive to control its environment. Secretly believing that it is the source of the universe, the ego willfully looks to change everything. From the ego’s perspective, it is the source of creative inspiration.

Consciousness and psychological research, however, has demonstrated that the ego actually blocks creative expression. The more humility you possess, the more you are able to get out of your own way. As the ego’s hold is minimized, your creative potential is realized.

Instead of attempting to control the creative process, let go trying to change anything.

As a Student, your job is to explore the problem from every angle. But then, the Wanderer must step in. In the state of the Wanderer, the creative genius surrenders to the problem to something beyond himself and awaits the Muse’s answer.

When confronted with a difficult problem, seek to understand the nature of the problem. But then, simply allow the problem to be there. Your creative output can soar.

Seven Attributes of a World-Class Team Member

Scott Jeffrey — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 11:00:01 +0000

We’ve already stated the obvious: Companies that foster effective teams have a competitive advantage over those that don’t. Since effective team building is difficult and takes an investment in time and energy, mastering this area of business can be a financially fruitful endeavor. Plus, being part of a great team makes your work more enjoyable and adds to your overall quality of life.

What does it take to be a world-class team member? What qualities must you possess to help contribute to and support your collective?

1) Results-Driven

You are driven by a larger vision—an end picture bigger than your own personal objectives. You keep the team’s objective in mind at all times and work diligently towards its achievement.

2) Accountability

You are accountable for your actions and responsibilities and you hold your teammates accountable for theirs. Your high level of accountability gives your team members certainty that you’ll get your part done.

3) Empathy

You are aware of your own feelings and the feelings of your teammates. You aren’t overly sensitive and you don’t engage in office politics, but you are aware of what’s not said, which deepens your connection and ability to communicate openly with your teammates.

4) Integrity

You uphold a high personal standard. You are honest, open and trust-worthy. You don’t play mind games. You do what you think is best for the team and the greater good.

5) Humility

You are confident in character and grounded with humility. You are not afraid to ask for help, admit ignorance or say you don’t understand. Humility is the universal trait of creative genius as it brings the willingness to grow.

6) Supportive

You are supportive of your team members. You find ways to uplift, inspire and honor them. In serving your team members, you serve yourself and the team.

7) Willingness

You are willing to go above and beyond what is expected of you. You serve as a role model for the rest of the team and inspire a deeper level of commitment within the team.

All seven of these attributes represent areas of growth and discovery for each of us. You might excel at certain attributes and be deficient in others, but by becoming aware of each of them, you can constantly grow in your abilities as a world-class team member.

The Single Commonality of All Creative Geniuses

Scott Jeffrey — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:58:44 +0000

Creative geniuses intuit the impersonal nature of thoughts, ideas and creativity. Masterfully, they don’t take credit for their work; instead they credit a “higher power” as the source of their inspiration.

William Blake called it “Poetic Genius.” Puccini said his greatest opera Madame Butterfly was “dictated to me by God.” Both Brahms and Beethoven appealed directly to the “Creator Himself.”

Like Aristotle before him, Rudyard Kipling looked to his “Personal Daemon” for inspiration. And, in recounting his experience with the creative process, Mozart said, “What has been thus produced I do not easily forget, and this is perhaps the best gift I have my Divine Maker to thank for.”

A true genius does not wrestle between the polarities of false modesty and overt narcissism. If your thoughts aren’t personal, can you take credit for them as “mine”?

Humility is the trademark of creative genius: available to all, accepted by the treasured few.

Exercise: Close your eyes and tell your mind to stop thinking for 30 seconds. Notice how your mind will continue thinking, despite your best efforts. Next, close your eyes and simply observe the thoughts that come to mind for 60 seconds. Notice the random nature of the thought flow. This exercise will help detach you from the notion that thoughts are yours, paving the way to greater humility. This new awareness can increase your alignment with higher creativity.

Creative Geniuses Surrender to the Moment

Scott Jeffrey — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:00:40 +0000

Even the tenacious devotion of the creative genius must at some point “let go.” Creative inspiration doesn’t come from sheer will, but through the willingness to relinquish control and enter the state of wandering.

The ability to let go—to surrender to the moment—is perhaps more difficult than a laborious decade of study. In our Western world, we tend to neglect the wanderer within.

Our lives are inundated with perpetual activities, work and family, emails and phone calls, and other demands of life. Yet, it is those rare moments of allowing when the creative impulse ignites. Intense study and practice is likened to swimming upriver; surrendering to the creative impulse is like floating downstream.

Periods of reverie are a prerequisite for inspiration. The analytical mind drifts aside, allowing the intuitive mind to align to inspired ideas.

Playwright Neil Simon acknowledged this altered state of consciousness by saying, “I slip into a state that is apart from reality. My mind wanders—even when I talk.”

We’ve all experienced these precious moments of insight while taking a shower, driving on the freeway or walking through the woods.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart reflects, “When I am, as it were, completely myself, entirely alone, and of good cheer—say, traveling in a carriage, or walking after a good meal, or during the night when I cannot sleep; it is on such occasions that my ideas flow best and most abundantly. Whence and how they come, I know not; nor can I force them.”

Poet Rudyard Kipling also understood the need to lay the conscious mind aside and embrace the wanderer: “When your Daemon is in charge, do not try to think consciously. Drift, wait and obey.”

Exercise: Commit to walking in nature, cracking open your journal, reading poetry or sitting silently. Schedule time, even just 20 minutes, to minimize distractions and surrender to the moment.

Honoring Creative Genius

Scott Jeffrey — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 08:21:57 +0000

They enchant us, surprise us and serve us. We don’t understand them, yet we marvel at their extraordinary creations and discoveries. They are the world’s creative geniuses.

They come from every background, culture, nationality, occupation, religion, and age. Trying to find mysterious commonalities in their personalities is futile; creative genius is as diverse as the work it produces.

Creative genius is revealed in all forms of art, invention, scientific breakthrough, philosophy, business, medicine, engineering, and even sports. Virtually every endeavor has its pioneers and gifted souls who transform how we think, feel and live our lives.

If brilliance is so elusive, how can we learn from these creative and artistic souls?

Read first-person essays of extraordinary individuals to learn how they view the mysteries of the creative impulse. First person narratives of creative geniuses will teach you far more about the nature of creativity than academia’s top research papers on the topic.

A book like The Creative Process: Reflections on the Invention in the Arts and Sciences, edited by Brewster Ghiselin, illuminates personal reflections on creativity by geniuses like Einstein, Mozart, Kipling, Henry Miller, and Jung.

We have a lot to learn from creative geniuses. Honor them, learn from them and emulate them to discover the creative genius within yourself.