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The Logical Way to Rediscover Your Creativity

Written on June 24, 2009 by George Krueger & Mary-Lynn Foster in Personal Growth

music-lessons In today’s Music Lesson, we want to look at Supertramp’s The Logical Song. It’s about a young adult looking back on his life. He’s lost and he’s trying to understand why. What led him here?

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Learning too much

His education taught him to be “intellectual, cynical”.

And he learned. So well, in fact, that he lost himself. “Please tell me who I am,” he says.

In the process, he became cynical. A certain amount of skepticism is healthy. When it crosses that fine line and turns into cynicism, it’s unhealthy.

Learning the wrong lesson

He says, “Watch what you say or they’ll be calling you a radical, liberal, fanatical, criminal. Won’t you sign up your name? We’d like to feel you’re acceptable, respectable, presentable, a vegetable.”

We wonder … does that mean he’s a couch potato?

Bigg success is life on your own terms. However, the young man in this song has learned that the world doesn’t want you to live your life on your own terms.

Go along to get along.

That’s what we’re taught to do. We’re supposed to fall in line. We’re not supposed to think for ourselves. We shouldn’t be too “out there”. Don’t get “too creative.”

The logical end of creativity

We saw a great article on creativity from Scientific American Mind. In the article, the question was asked, “Why do so few people express creativity?”

Check out the answer by one of the experts:

He said that we “all express creativity when we’re young. But by the end of the first grade, very few of us do so.”

That’s what made us think of The Logical Song in the first place. Can you hear it …

“But then they sent me away to teach me how to be sensible, logical, responsible, practical.”

The expert in the article said the reason we lose our creativity is because of socialization. We learn to “stay on task.” We’re told to “stop daydreaming.” “Stop asking silly questions.” The result:

“… the expression of new ideas is largely shut down.”

2 keys to rediscover your creativity and reconnect with yourself

Reconnect with your youth

“When I was young, it seemed that life was so wonderful, a miracle, oh it was beautiful, magical.”

Reconnect to your youth to rediscover your creativity. Think about another song – Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World”.

See the wonder in the world. See the miracles around you. See the beauty that is ever present. See the magic as it happens.

View the world like a kid again and marvel.

Reconnect to nature

“And all the birds in the trees, well they’d be singing so happily, joyfully, playfully, watching me.”

The first thing that jumped out at us was the very first word – “And”.

This second way to reconnect with yourself and your creativity is an extension of the first way. We must first get in touch with our child-like nature; then we can reconnect with nature.

Connect with nature personally. The young man in the song doesn’t just marvel at the birds singing. He hears them singing to him!

Of course, he turned into a radical!

Experts say creativity will be an increasingly valuable skill in the years ahead. There are a lot of opportunities to create the life you dream of living. Rediscover your creativity for bigg success!

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Thanks so much for reading our post today. Please join us next time when we ask … what if Elvis were an entrepreneur. Until then, here’s to your bigg success!

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(Image in today's post by hisks)

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Learn to Play to Learn

Written on April 21, 2009 by George Krueger & Mary-Lynn Foster in Money, Time Management

We recently did a show on the tradeoff between work and play. We said that it was important to make time for both productive play and pure play – things you do just for fun. We said it really is true – we do seem to get more done when we’re busy.

Ryan left a great comment on that topic. He’s one of our regulars and he often leaves comments. We love the feedback!

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Hear George & Mary-Lynn discuss today's topic on The Bigg Success Show! To listen & read, click the purple player: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Pre-paying for play plans improves productivity

He said that he’s learned that it’s good to keep busy with his downtime. So he goes to a sporting event or a concert just about every week. Because he’s paid for the ticket in advance, he feels compelled to go. That’s his secret – it forces him to work more efficiently to get his work done.

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george I had never thought of that little trick! We schedule fun activities of course. But I had never thought about purposefully and routinely scheduling an activity that I paid for in advance as a way to ramp up my time at work.

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marylynn It’s a great suggestion. It’s easy to get so busy working that I fail to recharge myself by doing something that gets my mind off of work. By committing my money, I’m more likely to commit my time!

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george I’m one of those people who can go and go and go. But at some point, my body and my mind start saying, “Enough already! What are you doing to us? We need a break!” Ryan’s suggestion helps make sure that doesn’t happen.

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marylynn Fortunately, and maybe unfortunately, George and I are very similar in that respect. I’m a bit of a workaholic myself. So we work very well together. But I agree – it would be helpful to schedule more time for fun knowing that I’ll be more productive at work.

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It’s about living with purpose on purpose. After all, we’re only human. We should live on human time! Plan something fun and pay for it in advance. You’ll be more likely to do it!

Ramp up your downtime

Ryan also said that when he was in college, he got better grades when he took eighteen credit hours than when he only had twelve in a semester. His personal observation sparked a thought for us …

… we should always be a student!

It pays bigg dividends to be curious about everything with which you come in contact, not just your area of expertise.

Since Ryan brought up sporting events, you can learn from studying the players – when they’re warming up, idle, in the middle of a play, or when the game’s on the line.

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george This is something I do. It’s interesting to see the differences among players when the game’s on the line. I’ve learned a lot about operating under pressure by watching sports.

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marylynn At concerts, there are a lot of details. The artist’s stage presence, the lighting, the way musicians play together, and even their hair! If it’s a symphony, study the conductor and how he or she leads. They’re masters of their craft and we can learn lessons that we can apply to our crafts.

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george One of my favorite things to do is to be a student when I’m talking to people in social settings. I can read a book or an article, but there’s nothing like learning about someone’s occupation and interests first-hand. You get to ask questions and go deeper into a subject with a real person who is living it.

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marylynn We have a friend who made a great suggestion that has forever changed how I watch movies. He said to think of yourself as a director. When the movie is over, ask yourself what you would have done differently. It gets my creative juices flowing and makes for great conversation afterwards.

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Always be a student. It helps keep your mind young. It expands your imagination. It will help you reach bigg success even faster!