What do you want to create? Stop looking at or to others.

I realize I am taking a big risk by mentioning this performer's name as many people find him irritating. But it is a good example, so what the hay. (Make sure you look at the bottom of the post, there is an important Crossroads Dispatches link.)

Yanni. There I said it. Yanni - the long-hared Greek born new age musician. People generally love or hate Yanni - kind of like Martha, Hillary, and Trump.

This post is not about Yanni, but about something he once said in an interview several years ago. The interviewer asked Yanni what type of music he listened to. Yanni said that when he was composing music, he did not listen to anyone else because he wanted to create from within himself.

I am all for benchmarking and keeping abreast of new approaches, but I think Yanni was on to something. If you want be creative, you don't want to be TOO influenced by what everyone else is doing. If you are, all you will create is vanilla ice cream with a few colorful sprinkles.

I felt this way when I was writing my book about focus. There are other books about focus, but I did not read them before I wrote my book. I wanted to write MY book about focus and say what I THINK and have learned is important about focus. And you know what? I really like the book and it is nothing like the others. I am thrilled it is nothing like the others.

In what ways do you want to be creative? You might want to try ignoring what others are doing or saying and creating what you really want and think.

Hugh agrees. In this post and his e-book called How to Be Creative, Hugh says:

1. Ignore everybody.

The more original your idea is, the less good advice other people will be able to give you. When I first started with the biz card format, people thought I was nuts. Why wasn't I trying to do something more easy for markets to digest i.e. cutey-pie greeting cards or whatever?

You don't know if your idea is any good the moment it's created. Neither does anyone else. The most you can hope for is a strong gut feeling that it is. And trusting your feelings is not as easy as the optimists say it is. There's a reason why feelings scare us.

And asking close friends never works quite as well as you hope, either. It's not that they deliberately want to be unhelpful. It's just they don't know your world one millionth as well as you know your world, no matter how hard they try, no matter how hard you try to explain.

Check out the rest of Hugh's post here and his How to Be Creative e-book here.

In Yanni's case, he created a unique style of music that is very, well, Yanni-ish.

Do you want to create something amazing? Something uniquely YOU? Stop looking around and get inside your own head for a while. You might be surprised at what is brewing inside!

I am intrigued by what Evelyn is doing with her citizen journalism project and return to the Tsunami region. Check out this compelling post and please offer your support if you can. She leave in just a few days, so act now. Those of us who vicariously join her are not just supporting the project - we are fueling innovation and enabling profound connections. In many ways, Evelyn is ignoring everyone and doing this at the beat of her own drum. I admire her gumption, bravery, passion and resolve! She is really putting herself out there and risking a lot of creature comforts that many of us covet and only dare to go without during weekend warrior camping treks. She is more alive that most people I meet.

Comments

[laurence haughton]

It a good idea but there's a trap.

I've known many people who were not aware that what they thought had been thought and expressed by others long before them. (I see this a lot in blogs and business books.) These people were so impressed with themselves (conceited) and yet their creativity was really nothing more than a rehash.

How do you find the balance between knowing what came before you (even centuries before) and striving to be original?

[Lisa Haneberg]

Laurence:

Really, most new creations have roots elsewhere. I don't think that diminishes their value. The concepts and beliefs we have are based on years of learning - so everything links to something. I don't think that we should ever be so conceited that we say something is "original." But it is important to articulate and create something that comes from our hearts and minds.

There are times to understand what the field of knowledge offers too. But perhaps we should pull out our own thoughts first before they get overly influenced. It's interesting to see where our thoughts are consistent and where our point of view is different.

Interesting question!

[maude jocelyn]

j'ai besoin des photos de yanni chaque semaine.yanni est le plus grand key bordiste et le plus grand pianiste du monde.merci!

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