When was the last time you asked WHY repeatedly (other than maybe to piss of your friends)?
I’m serious.
When was the last time you kept asking why again and again – not happy with just leaving it as is, not happy with just one answer – beyond being an annoying git? When was the last time you tried to see how far you could take things? How long you could keep going, before all the answers ran out?
When was the last time you questioned the world around you, used it to inspire you, used it as a creative tool?
No really, when?
“Curiosity about life in all of its aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative people” – Leo Burnett
BE CURIOUS
Hey curiosity may (or may not) have killed the cat but don’t let that stop you from playing detective. I mean can you imagine all the stories he’d have, all those close encounters, like those you may experience in a public toilet?
Can you imagine what he would have seen, experienced, discovered?
Everyday you go out, take a moment to question the world you are in, the places and people you meet.
Question the motives of the people in the cafe you sit in. Wonder about their lives, what they’re doing and have done that day. Who are they, who they were, where are they going to go and where they have been.
Question people to hear their stories. Interrogate (with tact). Find out who they are.
Question who is that guy staring at you from across the room. Or why you thought it was a good idea to down that bottle of vodka and text your ex. Question what may go through the mind of the guy who wears short stubbies and a bleach blonde mullet.
Question everything, even the small things. The mundane things. Just to see how things are. Just to open your mind up to the world.
Task 1 – Grab out that journal (I know you have one and if not why not? tsk tsk)
Make the time to go out to some public place. Pretend you’re a detective (grab a pipe and monocle if you need) and begin to question exactly what is happening around you. Write it all down.
When you begin to question, all the stories of the world start showing up at your door. All the answers begin to drop around like old mates, all the ideas just mulling through life start to straighten themselves out.
When you begin to question things, your imagination wakes up and gives creativity a much needed caffeine type hit, with or without the coffee.
The thing is everyday you go out you want to be ‘scoping the scene,’ and I don’t mean like some paranoid stoner always watching his back. I mean you want to arm yourself with the How, What, When, Where and Why’s.
What would happen if you just gave it a shot? When are you going to take that risk? How are you going to push those boundaries? Where are you going? And Why are you doing what you’re doing?
WHO
Task 2 – So start asking and writing down in your journal (that you rushed off and got if you didn’t have one already right?) –
Who are you? Who inspires you?
Who is your niche?
Who can you go to for answers – other than your mum. Who can or do you learn from?
Who is the leader in your field?
Who could you work with?
Who is the most creative person you know? What can you learn from them?
HOW
How could you look at this differently?
How could this project be approached in a new way?
How can this problem be solved?
How can you take a new perspective?
How did the mudcake disappear in one sitting?
Ask how something was done in the past and question how you might change that going forward in the future.
How can you be more creative?
WHERE
Where could you use that idea?
Where are you going with your life and business?
Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 10 years?
Where do you find your ideas?
Where would you be if you had no fear, if there was nothing to hold you back?
Where in the world is Carmen San Diego?
Where could you infuse creativity into your business?
WHEN
When is it the best time to post on Facebook?
When did you know you wanted to do what you’re doing?
When was the last time you heard a story that inspired you?
When was the last time a story of your own inspired others?
When was the last time you did something that completely took you out of your comfort zone?
When do you make time to be creative?
WHAT
What drives you, fulfills you?
What can you do differently than anyone else?
What are your skills?
What is my unique POV?
What did you do when you were drunk last night?
What is your purpose?
What can you do to be more creative?
WHAT IF
There may be no greater question in your (creative) life than what if.
Always be wondering (and asking) about the what ifs. Or the ‘imagine ifs,’ as in, imagine if the world was flat, what would happen when you reached the end and jumped off? Imagine if you could fly?
Or –
Imagine if you could not fail? What if you could make all my dreams come true? What if anything was possible?
The question – what if? – is where great ideas come from, all those twists and turns in stories (and maybe even life) come from, and they can lead you on new and exciting journeys.
What if you answered the question with an answer that is not typical? That seems utterly ridiculous? What are the stars? Just little fish swimming in a dark sea? Holes punch out of a blanket?
What if the world could be as you wanted it? Could be yours?
What if you were creative, but just didn’t know it yet?
Let it lead you down the most bizarre paths. Let it take you on a journey to the far recesses of your imagination. It’s fun to believe and to imagine all the possibilities.
And maybe even more importantly, asking what if (as in – what if you took that chance, quit your job and followed your passion; or what if that one thing other people thought was impossible, could be done?) can begin to create a life that maybe you never thought possible?
Task 3 – What if you lost your job, found yourself drowning in debt, had a family to support and only two weeks to launch a business? Could you do it?
What if you could create the life you’ve always wanted? (Tip: Begin asking what it is you want and how can get that ball rolling).
JUST KEEP ASKING. MAKE IT UP AS YOU GO.
Find something to ask why it is and keep asking. You could ask your friends or a stranger (and risk a punch in the mouth) or you could do it on your own and try and answer the question.
For example – Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side. Why did he want to get to the other side? Because the fox was chasing him? Why was the fox chasing him? etc.
Maybe think of something a little more interesting, maybe a question you have in your business or life right now, or something completely random. For every statement ask why and see where it leads.
It’s like Alice asking what is down that rabbit hole and falling in head first (maybe wear a Stackhat if diving down holes is your thing!) But just follow it, follow the question wherever it may lead.What if this happened? Why is this the way it is? How could I see this from a new perspective? And so on.
When you begin to question you begin to see what it is you want to express, what it is your deeper mind wants to reveal, what your imagination is waiting to show you.
What it is you really, really (yes really!) want.
It works, trust me.
Because –
The imagination is just there waiting for you to open it up. And our imagination is, or at least should be, our most prized possession.
‘Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand. – Albert Einstein.
It wants you to Look at things from all angles. Asking the question can be simply for cognitive value, just to get parts of your mind working, the conscious and the unconscious.
And yet they can be used as practical, creative prompts.
Questioning helps in solving creative (and not so creative) problems. It helps to inspire you. It helps to seek out new ideas, from what may feel like thin air, but also from the old.
Ask questions in regards to what you are doing and creating, it can help lead to new ways of thinking and conceptualizing. By being constantly curious we may find answers that lead to new questions, that lead to new ideas, and so on and so forth.
Task 4 – Take your journal and fill with as many questions as you can. Every time you think of one, no matter how nonsensical it may seem, write it down.
And then…
At times of creative block or just to get warmed up and started, turn to a page and choose the question. Try to answer it or use it to lead you somewhere.
See what happens.
Whatever you do, don’t stop asking questions.
You never know what the answer may be!
And if all else fails just ask yourself – What would Alice do?
(Hint: She’d ask the questions, be curious, and go on an adventure into the unknown.)