“We have a natural right to make use of our pens as of our tongues, at our peril, risk and hazard.” Voltaire
Sometimes, you have to stand up for your rights. Free people know theirs and defend them. Creative people should do the same.
Developing your creative imagination requires freeing your mind. Maybe it’s time you declared your innovation and crafted your own Creative Bill of Rights.
Mine includes things like the right to change my mind, the right to screw up, and the right to start all over again.
What freedoms must you defend in order to do your best and most orignal work?
Write them down, put your John Hancock at the bottom, then nail the document to the wall.
Remind yourself that you hold these truths to be self evident, that you have creative potential, that you are endowed by your imagination with certain inalienable flights, that among these are the love of life, creativity, and the pursuit of mastery.
And don’t forget. You can always make amendments.
Think, Draw, Write.
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Love this! I give myself the right to step away from my desk and the never-ending To Do list so I can take a walk or park it at Peet’s coffee and journal some juicy ideas.
Also, as a writer, my secret to cranking out lots of books and content: I check in to a hotel every month for two to three days and write, write, write. I have a favorite place an hour away that is on the water so on the drive over, I listen to a good audio book and prep myself for major creative productivity. It works like a charm!
Keep up the great work here!
Sounds awesome. Audio books are da bomb, are they not?
Well said, Ken!
I particularly like that you included the right to change your mind. I cringe when I hear someone say (usually to a politician) something like “But in 1987 you said…” as though staying ‘consistent’ is more important than continuing to think.
The only way to be 100% certain of everything you say would be to never say anything — the opposite of creative expression.
Thanks for your clever rephrases of the Founders, too. I’m sure Jefferson would approve.
Matt Blair´s last blog ..Fragments of My Future?
“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
YES to “freeing your mind!” My creativity flows best when I can change my mind or do whatever it takes to see something differently.
I give myself the right to shift my mindset. And, the truth I hold self-evident is that I can use my insight to see and not just my eyes.
I love giving my clients a “Creativity Boost Session” and your Bill of Rights idea is right on. Thank you for the inspiration!
I like it, Jenifer. Everyone needs a creativity boost session every now and then.
I love this Ken!…top three for me 1.the right to let it flow without judging 2.the right to keep putting creative stuff out there regardless of reactions 3.keep following the creative path which expands
Sheila´s last blog ..Fishegg # 78 Narcissus – Mythology
Love it. And it doesn’t just expand. It turns and twists as well.