We start with an idea.

Usually it’s not a good idea – it’s just an idea.

Ideas start conversations that birth other ideas – better ideas – until we get the right idea.

But, we NEVER get there if we’re not brave enough to:

• Step out and share.
• Vocalize our idea.
• Become vulnerable.
• Be willing to fail.
• Take a chance.
• Be brave.
• Be audacious.
• Be willing to risk.
• Start.
• Start again.
• Keep working.
• Not settle.
• Finish.

Being creative is not about being cool, it’s about being brave enough to ignore safety.

Being creative isn’t about knowing the answer, it’s about being willing enough to ask harder questions.

It doesn’t take the most creative person to ignite great ideas, just the person brave enough to try something different.

Can you be brave today?

We spend a lot of time working. For most of us, our work is in creation. Thus, we spend our lives creating.

If you do not love what you are doing…stop.

It’s not worth it. If you can’t be happy investing into what you’re doing, change tracks.

It won’t be easy.

It will be scary.

There is no security.

But living miserable is not an option when creating is tied to work performance. We create from our emotion, and to move our art to the level that’s required to make a difference takes a level of ownership that can’t be fabricated.

The flip side of this equation is the importance of valuing the times when you love what you get to do…what you get to create.

When you love it, you create your best work. In fact, our work often doesn’t even feel like work because of the enjoyment that we get out of creating and the understanding that the opportunity isn’t common or freely given.

Do an inventory. If you’re spending more time dreading your work than you are inspired and excited to get up and live your art, it’s time to make a change.

“Not everybody can be famous but everybody can be great, because greatness is determined by service.”

― Martin Luther King Jr.

About every six or eight weeks, we hold a meeting for potential music team volunteers. This meeting sets the expectations to join our team. Being on the music team at Cross Point is a fun place to serve, but it comes with a cost. We strive to help people understand that cost before they jump in and are overwhelmed.

During our meeting, our band & music director, Matt Warren, usually makes this statement:
“We refuse to be a good enough ministry.”

If you have ever been to a Ritz Carlton hotel, you know that they leak excellence. Everywhere you turn, every touch point, every experience is excellent. They’ve set a standard and refuse to allow anything less than excellence to represent them.

What if  when you checked in they gave you a free breakfast voucher that was cut using scissors and printed on the copy machine in the back room? You would probably wonder if it is even valid. I mean, you could eat off the floor at the Ritz! If the bellman handles your bags like they’re fragile and treats you like a dignitary, why would they hand you a black and white, printed, hand cut voucher for breakfast? And at that moment, your opinion about the Ritz – even if you’re not “creative” – would change.

People may not recognize greatness immediately, but they do notice when things are less than.

We would not do a birthday party, plan it all out, order catering, get a Cake Boss cake, and then a day before send out a hand written invitation.

We would not wait until Saturday to figure out what our stage or props are going to be for Sunday.

We would not invite 500 people to a dinner party and forget to order the food.

We can’t settle for being good enough when we know that greatness is achievable.

Jim Collins book, Good To Great, sums it up best:
“Good is the enemy of Great.”

In creative fields, we are commissioned to help keep that bar raised for greatness. It won’t be easy, but it is worth it. Part of our job is to eliminate the obstacles that prevent people from bumping into God. It takes showing up every day, being committed to making things great and knowing that the battle is uphill. It’s daunting, and sometimes we will miss…but promising to stay resolute in the battle is worth the work to represent what we believe is greatness.

So today, don’t settle for Good Enough. Great is waiting and makes a huge difference.

You are different. Some people say you’re weird. Sometimes you feel like you’re weird. You are.

Some days you wake up and wonder if you’re an alien in this world, a creature from another planet that no one understands. You are.

On occasion, and usually at the worst time, the voices of insecurity are so loud in your head and your heart that you wonder if you can even continue to go on. You must.

You wonder why you have to care so much. Why each piece you create, note you sing, word you hum, and story you edit has to be so personal. Why every word of criticism or correction shakes you to your core and makes you want to run away.

Even when you’re doing your best and most honest, important work, you feel the sting of rejection because you’re different than the rest.

You’re overcome with wonder – wonder if people love you for who you are or what you do for them? Do they love the person or the creations the person makes?

This is the tension of being an artist. This is the curse of being creative.

But God created you this way. Intentionally. He planned this.

He Loves You. He not only accepts you for who you are, he purposefully made you this way. The designer of the universe designed you like you are – with the faults and flaws, the fears and insecurity, the gifts and wonder, the imagination and creativity, the leadership and ability to be uniquely you.

You feel deeply because He uses you to show his beauty to others. Your art matters to you because it’s a reflection of who you are…just like you are a reflection of who He is.

You’re different. You’re unique. Great artists always have been and it’s not because you have tattoos, dress different, or are “odd,” it’s because the uniqueness of your identity was given to you by a heavenly father that knew you needed to be different to share how He is different. He knew you would be the chocolate in a world filled with vanilla. He knew you would feel alone and lost, misunderstood and confused. He knew you would be filled with fear and overcome with passion…and He did it anyway because he loves you more than you could imagine. He loves you so much He could not for one second allow you to be ordinary because that would be a waste of the amazing gifts He has given you.

So today, embrace the artist that lives inside of you.

Walk confidently in the fact you are original and in the art that makes you uniquely you.

Allow His image to shine through you.

Find your identity in Him, not in the things He allows you to create.

Tell your fear to beat it because this art you create, this person you are, this space that is being created for you is not yours in the first place…it’s His and He created it for you.

As artists, we too often get lost in these things; we allow our identity to be trapped and our fear to keep us from creating. The truth is we are at our best when we’re aware of all these feeling and emotions, and then we press on anyway.

When we do, we honor our Creator more than our creations and we allow Him to be our source…not the stuff that we create.

Be uniquely you today…and forever.

Most of the time our best ideas are not going to be birthed in a “meeting”. The environment is usually not cultivated for creative expression or ideas. The reality is our lives are littered with meetings and there are times and types of meetings where ideas can flow if we are paying attention to a few laws of ideas in meetings.

• Pay attention – Don’t look at your phone or email. Be silent, stay comfortable, and learn from those around us.
• Have a captain – Have someone who is leading the meeting and facilitating the right type of questions, purpose, and structure.
• Probe – Ask a lot of questions. Questions help make us know the why, how, when, and then help us uncover answers that birth ideas. Use open-ended questions to understand other people’s points of view.
• Create a mood – Lighting, music, seating, gadgets on tables, colored pens, doodle pads, snacks all help set mood for creativity. Know your audience and your subject matter. Pick locations that can inspire when possible. It will help you create a mood where creativity can thrive.
• Have a collector – A person who is responsible for collecting ideas and taking notes. You will want these after the meeting to know what was good.
• Permission silly answers – Even the silliest answer might uncover the answer to the question or problem that is keeping us from innovating.
• Don’t Judge – Take your time. Don’t inject your opinion on all the ideas. Let them develop and bounce around. Conflict usually does create creative culture. We don’t have to always be right.
• Use analogies – Analogies help make the beginning of an idea personal.
• Summarize – Intentionally and often. Keep restating the theme and purpose to keep members on task.
• Come Prepared – Send an agenda, notes, themes, or direction so teammates can show up with ideas, images, sounds, and visuals. Evernote is a great tool to help organize these pieces.
• Celebrate – Celebrate ideas, opinions, and momentum creators.

Creativity can change the course of a project or decision. It is a force that when we inject it in our organizations can distinguished us from the clutter in our spaces. These small little steps will help us foster cultures of creativity.

What are some additional ways you help your teammates be creative in meetings?

We all want to have better ideas. We want to work and live in places where we’re poised to be our absolute best. We all have the ability to be better creatively; it’s part of our nature. While there are some personality traits that are common among creative people (being open to experiences, impulsive, in touch with our emotions, and non-conformists), there is now research that supports how environments can enhance our creativity. From 42 studies on the relationship between creativity and environment, these fourteen keys to enhancing creativity emerged:

1. Positive exchanges between teams, team members, and departments
2. Being stimulated intellectually
3. Working where there is a challenge
4. Flexibility and support in taking risks
5. Being supported by superiors
6. Healthy and supportive relationships with superiors
7. Peer groups that are positive and supportive
8. Clear vision and clear mission
9. The ability to believe in the organization
10. Being involved, not just being a pawn
11. Being clear on what needs to be done
12. Rewarded for good work – emotionally and financially
13. Being fully resourced
14. Having the space to do work without being micro-managed

When we’re not working in these types of environments we have two choices: 1. Quit and go someplace else or 2. Work to create these environments. As leaders, it’s our responsibility to build environments where our artists can create their best art.
Do you get to work in an environment where you thrive? Are you given the ability to be your absolute creative best? How can you help create these type environments?

Be Open.

When we are open we create an environment that is conducive for creativity.
When we stay open we allow room for God to come in and…well…be God.

Every Sunday, people are coming and looking for a connection. In order to make that connection, we have to be open.

Open to differences.
Open to people who don’t think like us.
Open to people who don’t look like us.
Open to people who don’t sound like us.
Open to a great day.
Open to setting up, breaking down, and trying something new.
Open to making adjustments if things aren’t working like we thought.
Open to a tough day.
Open to things that might scare us a little.
Open to changing things.
Open to walking in someone else’s shoes.
Open to looking at our church or service through the eyes of someone
else – someone who may never have been in our world before.
Open to grace.
Open to mercy.
Open to whatever happens.

Being open allows us to welcome, love, try, change, and adjust. Being
open provides an atmosphere where grace excels, status quo starves,
and creativity thrives.

Being closed is the equivalent to maxing out. If we stay closed, we
will soon be closed for good.

Stay open.

Linus Pauling was a chemist, biochemist, author, educator and activist. He won multiple Noble Prizes for his work in different fields. Pauling was gifted and talented, but he understood the value of “doing reps” when it came to ideas and creativity. Pauling was credited with the quote: “The best way to get a good idea is to get lots of ideas and throw the bad ones away.”

Reps. We have to do them and we need a lot of them.

Creativity is a muscle. If you want to be more creative, have better ideas, and come up with more creative stuff, you have to commit to working out your creative muscles.

• Write.
• Draw.
• Paint.
• Sing.
• Read.
• Watch a movie.
• Take a picture.
• Film something.
• Look at a magazine.
• Listen to music.
• Have a conversation that inspires you.
• Look for something to inspire you.
• Make something.
• Go on Pintrest.
• Surf the Internet.
• Do work.

Without reps, we will be tempted to say we’ve hit a wall when the reality is, we just haven’t kept our tank full and our muscles ready to work.
What is your favorite way of staying sharp?

It takes intentionality to live in our sweet spots. Organizations, teams, job or whatever is not created to set us up to be our best, they are set up to achieve an objective. That’s the nature of a position. So we have to be intentional to be our creative best by making sure we are managing the process of finding our sweet spot and then staying in it over time. Here are 5 keys to knowing if we are headed in the right direction:

• Explore the world & opportunities. To figure out where we are our best we have to do a little exploration. What makes us tick? What makes us feel we matter? Stop focusing on the title on your door and more on the passion in your heart.
• What excites you? When you use your core strengths it becomes obvious to everyone around you. What projects make you feel most engaged? Where do you feel the energy?
• What makes you unique? What sets you apart from everyone else in your organization? What do you bring to the table that no one else can bring inside your organization? Does your history create space for you to bring a different toolbox to the job than anyone else? Your unique YOU will help you approach the job and projects different, and thus gives you a lens no one else can have. When you feel this happening you know you are on to something that
• Put a tag on it. Name your strengths and identify your weaknesses. When you do this you know what should be delegated and where you can excel. Further, as you develop you will start naming strengths in other, strengths that can help them be their best and curate the best possible team. Avoid using cliché words. Be creative and unique in how you frame yourself, your team, and your work.
• Be scared & brave. When you are scared…you are probably doing the right thing. When you are forced to be brave you figure out that this fear and courage is forcing you to engage in something bigger than you…big enough to challenge you and make you better. When we do work that does not scare us or force us to be brave we are not being challenged enough to get into our sweet spot.

So, are you living in your sweet spot? What are you going to do about it? What other questions do you ask yourself to make sure you are finding your sweet spot?