Leadership: Creating Wisdom

On July 27, 2009, I began my 53rd journal.

Now I'm within a few weeks of finishing this book.

Filling 53 journals represents a lot of writing. Here are the lessons that I collected about creativity.

1) Some writing must occur to move you into the flow of good writing. This is one of the best ways to push through being stuck (or "writer's block"). Just write. Anything. Eventually, you'll relax and let the writing go. Then new ideas appear.

The Point: You must begin in order to continue. Even nonsense can be useful because it leads to better ideas.

2) Consistency leads to success. I write almost every day. And so writing has become a natural activity. My mind expects that I will write. So it's ready to cooperate.

The Point: Discipline sets the foundation for serendipity.

3) Detach from all expectations. This includes all judgment, evaluation, intentions, memory, criticism -- everything. Recognize that you must write bad copy as part of the process of writing good copy.

The Point: You must forget what you did in order to find something new.

4) There is always more. There is always another idea, another view, another way -- another something. So it's important to keep searching.  Because the next great idea is waiting to be found.

The Point: Creativity is an ongoing process with an infinite horizon.

5) Good tools make writing enjoyable. In this case, I use fountain pens and different colored inks. The smooth nibs and beautiful ink colors add an extra dimension to the joy of writing.

The Point: As you become skilled in a craft, the quality of your tools begins to matter.

Much success,

Steve Kaye

714-528-1300

Author, Speaker, IAF Certified Professional Facilitator

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