One of the wonderful things that has happened with my opportunity at the Metropolitan Opera has been meeting some wonderful people.  One of my new friends is Susan Blackwell who has issued a 30 Day Creativity Challenge.  It’s actually longer than 30 days by a few days but that gives me those extra days to mess up if I need to  Anyway, despite the fact that my profession screams creativity, most days I don’t feel very creative  In fact, most days feel pretty routine.  Especially as I observe my much younger colleagues who seem to have so much energy and who just seem to ooze creativity. So when Susan announced this, I felt challenged to do something more than the usual.  The problem is, how exactly do I make life more creative?

How do I define creativity?  The definition being used for this challenge comes from Ken Robinson who says that creativity is the process of original ideas that have value.  Value to whom?  To me?  That could actually be pretty shallow.  Value to others?  That’s all in how others perceive my original ideas.  But perhaps I overanalyze a bit.

The obvious result of creativity could be some artistic creative endeavor, perhaps something way out of my comfort zone.  Like creating a piece of visual art.  As long as I allow others to assume it was done by a five year old, I think this could be okay.  As I find fear interfering with a possible physical product of creative thought, I think about my students and how I attempt to encourage them to just try something and that there is no right or wrong.  Whatever they create is theirs and it’s okay.  It’s difficult to apply to myself, but hypocritical to encourage them without having attempted it at least.

So perhaps I use this challenge to look at the everyday things of life in a different, more creative way.  Maybe it’s not some great grandiose idea but small details that bring joy, pleasure or satisfaction of some kind.  Maybe it’s a tiny addition to something I already do.  Maybe it’s a change in the why, when, where, or what I do and/or who I do it with.  I don’t have time to overthink this as life is packed out enough as it is.  For this to have value, I think it has to improve life somehow.

So, for the next 30 days, I’m going to use my blog space to chronicle this journey into creativity and see where it takes me. If you’re also looking to bring more creativity into your life, use #susanblackwellcreativitychallenge on Twitter to follow along and we’ll all try to bring more creativity into our lives together. Enjoy!