Degrees of Creativity

Challenges-RG7¹ are there for you to rise to, and courage is there for the evoking. Both are ultimately matters of willingness. Neither can be imposed.

Although circumstances may conspire to force a positive response, you can mostly avoid or actively reject challenges should you so choose.

The scale of the challenge (in your own eyes) determines the degree of courage you require. It is possible and reasonable for you to work with limited reasonable challenges or to opt for the bigger riskier challenges. If the search for challenges, small or large, preoccupies you—like the perfect slope preoccupies a skier or the perfect wave a surfer—then creativity becomes a major shaper of your life.

If you look back and see that you have felt an urge or compulsion to take on challenges again and again, then creation is the meaning of your life and probably the source of your happiness. It is your «purpose in living», called in THEE: a Primal Quest

The observations made in that section suggest a continuum of challenge + courage. At one extreme, creative «working in flow» involves a level of challenge that is well-matched in difficulty to a person's current skill level and therefore does not demand much courage. At the other extreme, supreme courage is required because the challenge is so substantial that most cannot conceive of its successful handling.

Note: Creativity within Organizations

This analysis of creativity has emphasized the use of autonomy. In start-ups, the entrepreneurial leader operates with substantial autonomy. But once organizations have matured, and especially if they are large, there are various factors that inhibit creativity. Fortunately, there are various ways of lessening the effects of these factors.

• Read more on Creativity in Organizations.

Originally posted: 17-Feb-2012