Where are my crayons? Do you remember kindergarten? Didn’t you receive a box of crayons? Was there anyone you knew in kindergarten that was denied a box of crayons? No, we were ALL told to be artists, to dream and create whatever came to our mind. We could even draw outside the lines and in return receive smiles and kudos. It didn’t matter if it was perfect; we were creating and experimenting. Then we hit puberty– they took away our crayons and replaced them with uninspiring textbooks, and more often than not, boring teachers. We became part of the system, the matrix, and were told to stay in line, play by the rules, minimize our failures, and then the ultimate — get a real job!
The result, unfortunately, was you quit dreaming, experimenting, and avoiding failure because you were conditioned to play it safe and be comfortable. You comforted yourself by saying that you were doing what is best for yourself or your family. The reality is you lost the “fire in your belly.”
Did you fear your crayons in kindergarten? Why fear them now? Experiment, grow, go after your dream and make something really special. Good business is good art. If your business is not art, then your choice of what you do should be seriously questioned. Get a new business, and make it good art.
Start creating by thinking through how to create experiences which have color. Think about the steps your customers take when they do business with you. That goes for your boss, your vendors and your co-workers. Don’t just go through the motions, but create an art form. After a client meeting, what is the communications? Does it point to anything? Don’t get your client to work. You work and create clicks and use your crayons to wow them with living color. The goal is to connect and to impact the emotions and the vision of your client.
Your crayons have changed. They are the tools around you that can be used and combined to deliver art. The question is whether you can think big or settle for the mundane and the results that accompany. Pick up your crayons and get to work creating.
There was a telling comment made a few years ago by famed NBA basketball star, Allen Iverson. He revealed his perspective about practice, “We’re talking about practice man, we’re not even talking about the game, when it actually matters, we’re talking about practice.”
You may feel this way about things that are easy for you—it’s no big deal; anyone could do it. Be careful of the wrong thinking. The things that you find are “not a big deal” are things you earned because of: