Fostering Your Creativity

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     So, for my first post I will be talking about an article I read on 99u about creativity and ways we can help ourselves be more creative. I find this important to share with you because, as an artist, getting in the creative mindset can sometimes be difficult. This article was also great for all you educators out there because it touches on having an environment that can really help to foster creativity. I personally loved one thing Tina Seelig said in the article:

"If there are rules in place where you get punished if things don't work out that's really unfortunate because you're obviously not going to try anything new."

     That quote really hit home for me, because I find I sometimes hold myself back because of my personal fear of failure, and I feel a lot of other people share that with me. One thing Seelig says is that leaders should "fail publicly" and instead of focusing o the failure, focus on the things you learned. I think this would definitely help people to not be afraid. Society today is so focused on scrutinizing those who fail that its turned into a taboo thing. There is nothing wrong with failing, its how humans are hard wired to learn. Think of a baby trying to stand, nobody is going to yell at it when it falls over. Only after falling a bunch of times will it learn how to balance just right. Unfortunately the world isn't run that way, you are too many times measured by your failures instead of successes. This is something that needs to change.
     Getting back to the article...After reading this, I think we as a society really need to rethink how we set up our places of work, it could help companies work better and employees to want to work harder and churn out better ideas. Maybe thats why some companies are having financial trouble these days.
     Whether you are an artist, teacher, or anyone interested in bringing more creativity into your life I highly suggest this article for you. Pass it on.

Seelig really does a good job explaining the ways you can help yourself, students, and peers become more creative in a TEDx video posted below.

(fyi its the same one posted in the 99u article)