Mozart wrote over seven hundred pieces of music. Agatha Christie penned sixty-nine novels. John Wayne has nearly two hundred film credits to his name. Guitarist Denis Taaffe has records one hundred and eighty seven full-length studio albums since 1999. That’s one album every month!

With staggering bodies of work such as these, it’s easy to become overwhelmed when we can’t even finish a tweet, much less and entire novel, or seventy.

What does it take to construct a body of work like this? The answer is deceptively simple. Work. Lifetime achievement is the sum of thousands of hard working days. It happens when the artist is fully committed to her craft and shows up everyday to do the work regardless of circumstances. The work isn’t an option, it’s work, and if it’s done with enough consistency she just might experience the fun of finishing it.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, but it was worked on everyday. That is what it takes to be an artist. That’s what it takes to create. 

A lot of people view God, and the Bible and Christianity as the enemy of art and creativity. The tie wearing, white haired, Bible bashing face of American Christianity stands in stark contrast and opposition to the low income, wild lifestyle, long hair, long beards, sleeping on the streets image of the modern day artist. Strangely enough, I think Jesus might have looked a bit more like the latter than the former. And I think if we actually dig into the scriptures, we’ll find that God has a bit of a different attitude towards creativity than we originally thought.

There is no other book that I have found that stands as such strong proof that human beings were created with the ability and calling to create. I’ve talked on this blog about God being the ultimate and original creator, and therefore we, being made in this God’s image, are also innately creative. But not only does God give us creative gifts, He also calls us to be creative. The first task real task that we see God giving to Adam is that of naming all the animals of the earth. He basically sits down one afternoon and creates biology, down to every genus and species. This takes incredible creative ability and stamina.

Fast forward a few generations and God is calling Noah to build or create an ark. Fast forward another couple generations, God calls Abraham to build a family. He calls the Israelites to craft the Ark of the Covenant, Nehemiah to build a wall, Solomon to build a temple, David and Asaph to write a book of over one hundred and fifty songs praising His name. Paul was stuck in prison, yet God used the written word through him to build up and encourage churches all over the ancient world.

For anyone who thinks that God is in any way against creativity or art, all you need to do is open a Bible. You’ll soon discover that one of God’s chief desires all throughout the scriptures is to invite His sons and daughters into the process of creation. He calls us to build, to create that which has not yet been, and to do it by His will, instruction, and leading. 

In early schooling, students spend the majority of their time in one of two places. Students can either be found in the classroom, or on the playground. In the classroom we were taught how to add, subtract, read, write, and do Latis Method multiplication (which to this day I still don’t understand). On the playground, we have recess, where we’re free to play and create whatever world or games we like.

As we grow older though, something tragic happens. The playground slowly disappears. We don’t really play on jungle gyms anymore in junior high, and there is no recess in high school, only study hall. By the time we get to college, the most creative thing we can think of to do outside of class is get drunk or play Frisbee. As we advance through the school, the playground disappears and the classroom takes complete control.

This is dangerous because once we’re out of school, it’s time to get a job. Ever wonder why the majority of office spaces in America look more like classrooms than playgrounds? Ever wonder why most employees act more like students than imaginative creators? Perhaps because the playground, the garden of imagination, is taken away from us at such a young age.

If we want to get creative, we have to stop viewing our office or workspace like a classroom and start viewing it as a playground.

If you’re a manager, or anyone in a role of leadership, it is your responsibility to create this atmosphere. We do this by rewarding things like risk taking and out of the box ideas, even when they don’t work. It’s not about working, it’s about trying. It’s not about being right, it’s about being new and unique. There is no right answer on the playground, there is only, “who has a new game for us to try?”

Creatives take the knowledge they learn in the classroom and use it on the playground. It’s time for some recess. 

This may sound strange, but it seems to me that thinking is a rare phenomenon in our culture today. As strange as it sounds, it shouldn’t surprise us. It’s how we’re raised. Growing up in school, we aren’t taught to think. We’re taught to obey. Obeying is simply following a set of instructions. This is not necessarily a bad thing in some instances. But be warned, if we only follow instructions, the result will always be the same.

If we want to become truly creative people, we have to make the giant step from obeying to thinking. We have to begin looking at our job descriptions and homework assignments not as a list of rules we must follow, but as a call to think and create by expending what Seth Godin calls emotional labor.

What is creating? What is emotional labor? What do I mean when I say “thinking”? They’re all essentially one and the same: (or at least they lead to the same result) the process of using our emotional resources to form ideas. Then mobilizing our physical resources to turn these ideas into change.

I always laugh when people describe creativity as some flighty, spiritual experience reserved for those how can’t handle the harsh realities of the real world. Because when done most effectively, creativity is nothing short of hard freakin’ work. It’s hard to put forth the emotion labor day after day. It’s hard on both the mind and the body. This is why so many people are sliding by in their jobs by simply obeying. It’s easier. It’s more comfortable. The problem is, it gives you zero chance of bringing about change.

Once again we arrive at the conclusion that being creative requires you to make a choice. Will you put forth the effort, the labor, the work? Stop obeying to keep your job and start thinking for a living.