Why Me?

Why is it that in the past creativity has been designated as a mysterious, ephemeral act able to be practiced by the few? Aren’t we all born with curiosity that pushes us to understand the world around us…and the ability to create our own reality?

The Industrial Age business model decided that individual creativity not to be profitable nor did it fit into their “one to many” distribution model. As a result, creative individuals became outliers of society.

The cultural result of Moore’s Law is that the individual now has control over what information they want to consume and where they get that information. (Of course, those who control the pipes control access but that is another story). 

With the advent of PC’s, smartphones, tablets, cloud computing and search, the institutionalized “one to many” model has been disrupted in favor of the individual now being in control of their media world thus promoting a “one to one” distribution model. 

This seismic shift in cultural activity has brought the act of creativity back into the mainstream. We have seen any number of seemingly insignificant types of content gain massive viral popularity on the web. Random videos grab a slice of the attention pie without any clear-cut methodology as to why that happened. The medium was too young to have any established rules or conventions.

Now, 10 years after the launch of Youtube we are beginning to see business models emerge that embrace this new medium utilizing new methods and ideas that were not possible in a broadcast world.

We are witnessing outliers becoming the majority.

You might wonder: what does this mean to me?

IHMO- it means EVERYTHING!

If you hold on to the notion that the creator is the outlier you will be left behind. If you think “I’m not creative” you will be lost in the sea of content without the ability to discern for yourself what is good or bad and who to trust.

We are all born with creative instincts. We have been conditioned to believe we don’t. Our challenge is reigniting and developing our individual creative instincts so we can thrive in our non-linear information environment. Our challenge as a  culture is to organize this new found creative freedom in our society lest we descend into anarchy.

Uncertainty is now a common thread in our life and times. We can no longer depend upon mass media or dogma to shape our culture. The changes we have seen, and will continue to see in the world dictates that we have to approach our lives and careers differently – with new ideas that reflect our changing environment. We have been empowered to dictate the norms not just follow the ideas of others.

We now live in the age of independent consumer….to an extent.

Survivability and prosperity require us to embrace uncertain and become better decision makers by improving our ability to better understand our needs, wants, and desires. It is then and only then we can make informed, qualified and inspired choices.

What I’ve described is the basis of life as a creative individual as I’ve experienced through the years: define your purpose, analyze the situation, make the commitment to an idea, execute on your idea, get to the end and complete your project and then measure your results.

These steps are intrinsic to the creative individual.

Unfortunately, we can get stuck thinking that this process only applies to the creative “arts” and not life. I’m bullish on the opportunities around us…and how the highly functioning creative person can flourish. All it takes is the courage to acknowledge and accept that what has worked in the last century will not work in the 21^st century. Then, apply your creative skills to find a niche that works for you.

For more about creative tips and tricks: http://bit.ly/1RmIwrn