7 Ways to Improve Creativity

Last week I got to go to Seeds Conference at Church on the Move and learn from one of the best Creative Teams on the planet. So I wanted to share some of my notes and thoughts from one of the breakout sessions that Whit George did on improving your creativity now. It was practical and really good. So here ya go…

1 / Thinking about what your going to say more than how your going to say it.

That is huge. Our primary role is communication, so we’ve got to know what it is we are communicating before we figure out how to communicate it.

2 / Be habitual about creativity.

If you don’t make time to be creative on purpose you will never be on accident.

Whit talked about one of my all time favorite books, The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp, which is a must read for all creative professionals… I highly recommend it.

3 / Learn to serve your audience.

How can you and your team best serve them?

4 / Focus on the details.

God is in the details. Learn to focus on the tiny stuff that typically gets overlooked.

5 / Steal Things.

Ed Young Jr. said something similar in the first session by saying “you got eyes, so plagiarize.” I love the quote by Jean-Luc Godard that Whit used even better: ”It’s not where you take things from,  it’s where you take them to.”

Dissect the things that move you, figure out why they move you and use them in the church. Take things you see and put your spin on them and make them fit you.

6 / Creativity is a muscle. Work it out.

Working out once a week or month is not going to get your fit. Work it out daily. Always be creating even if it sucks.

7 / Read books on creativity.

Here are some of his suggestions:

• ‘Outliers’, ‘Tipping Point’ & ‘Blink’ by Malcolm Gladwell
• ‘The Creative Habit’ & ‘The Collaborative Habit’ by Twyla Tharp
• ‘MTIV: Process, Inspiration and Practice for the New Media Designer’ by Hillman Curtis

Here’s another that I’ll add in:

• ‘Addicted to Mediocrity’ by Franky Schaeffer

You can read more of Whit’s thoughts on creativity and that of his team here.