The Creative Spark Plug: Process, Action, and Making Your Work… Into Your Art

I think you’re starting to get my point.

There is no difference between you and “that really creative person” except that he’s been exercising his creative muscles, and you haven’t.

And it should be clear to you now that if you’re not exercising those creative muscles, your business is suffering from anemia of inspiration — your work is just work, instead of art.

I had a conversation with the lovely Naomi Dunford this morning about the difference, and we got onto the subject of Starbucks. (It’s not hard to get Naomi onto the subject of Starbucks, and after you listen, you’ll understand why.) It’s thirty minutes of awesome, and it makes it very clear why you need to find that mote of creativity — buried as it might currently be — and use it.

Grab some coffee (might as well, right?) and have a listen:

Creative Spark Plug Discussion: Naomi Dunford and Starbucks (mp3)

Making art is very different from just doing your work — just running another business. It’s the difference between being that faceless coffee shop down the street and being the coffee shop that your customers evangelize because you’ve moved them in some way, you’ve made a difference in their lives, you’ve touched them, you’ve helped them up when they were down (even if you didn’t know it). The ability to have this sort of impact is not found in any business manual. It’s in the part of your brain that finds creative solutions to every-day problems. It’s in the part of your brain that considers itself an artist — a coffee artist, maybe. A mathematical artist. A pie-making artist. A code monkey whose code is her art. When you use this creative toolset, you can’t lose.

It’s your creative spark plug. It ignites your imagination and the success of your business and your love for what you do, and everyone who comes into contact with it.

But it has to start there. So remember that project I was talking about the last few days? It’s launching today. We’re going to help you do this thing. And we’re going to do it by talking to successful creative professionals — real artists, all of them — who have used that creative mindset to do what they love for a living. They’re going to take us through their journeys, their process and their best advice on accessing and using that mindset in order to apply it directly to whatever work you do, left-brained or otherwise.

If that sounds like exactly what you need right now… take a look at the Creative Spark Plug Lecture Series. We promise you won’t be disappointed.

Megan Elizabeth Morris (aka MEM, Megan the M.) is a bonafide professional catalyst and adventurer. She's the Ideaschema instigator, orchestrator and autodidact, and you can find out more about her by clicking here.