Creative Calendaring - Schedule Time To Think!

Certainly creativity extends well beyond thinking into the execution of ideas but I would say even execution phases must be interspersed with regular thinking and reflection times in order to maximize the creative process.

B.C. Forbes, the famous business magazine publisher went so far as to suggest that thinking time was so important that it ought to be scheduled on the calendar. And Forbes wasn’t talking about Saturday or days off. He considered it such an integral part of business that he considered it worthy of schedule during a business day if not every business day.

In Forbes article, “In Budgeting Your Days, Allow Time For Thinking” he talks about railroad mogul E.H. Harriman. Apparently Harriman liked to make unannounced visits on his executives. He reportedly liked nothing more than to find the managers with their feet propped up on their desk, apparently doing nothing. Harriman assumed the employee was taking time to think.

Forbes continues…”Do we always keep in mind the simple basic fact that all success springs from thinking? Not only success but everything else first comes into being as a thought in some man’s mind….If we can only get it firmly into our heads, and will eternally keep it at the forefront of our mind, that thinking is the material of which success is made, will it not influence us so to plan our days and our weeks that we shall set aside more time for calm, sustained thinking?”

IBM founder Thomas Watson Jr. famously kept a giant “THINK” sign in his office. Eventually it became the company motto and appeared in offices and factories all over the country.

I believe this is actually the genius behind the personal coaching movement that has swept the country in the last few years. If a coach can just get their clients to spend time thinking creatively every week about their goals and challenges it can make a huge difference in their level of achievement. The coach may come up with a good idea now and then but the real break through comes when they create an environment that gets their clients thinking productively themselves.

My image of Donald Trump is that of a doer, an activist, a mover and shaker, and with out a doubt he is that. But Trump starts out each of his days thinking. In his book “Think Like A Champion” he writes:

“Every morning I read a variety of newspapers, from local to international. This group includes the Financial Times of the U.K., the New York Times, the New York Post, the Wall Street Journal, and more. Then I tune into the morning news programs on television. By the time I get to the office, I have a good overview of everything that’s happening in the world. Considering what has been happening lately, this kind of attention is absolutely necessary. It’s also necessary for us to begin to think creatively.”

Trump tells another story later in the book about a copywriter who spent most of his time looking like he wasn’t doing anything. The guy would sit for hours gazing out the window. This drove his co-workers crazy, so much so that they finally complained to the boss. The boss became very interested in the report asking how long this behavior had been going on. He then told the co-workers to see if they could get him coffee or lunch…anything to make sure his day wasn’t interrupted. This actually infuriated the colleagues more! Then the boss explained, “The last time he acted like this, and the time before, and the time before that, he came up with ideas worth millions of dollars. So whatever you do, don’t disturb him!”

And Trump later writes, “Sometimes we get so distracted that it’s hard to tune out enough to be able to tune in at all. We are bombarded by outside information all day. The challenge here is to find the quiet time to be able to assimilate our own inside information in the midst of all the cacophony. You have to unplug before you can plug yourself back in. I’m a busy guy, but I set aside quiet time every morning and every evening to keep my equilibrium as it should be-which is always centered on my own path.”

Created To Be Creative

The first thing we find out about God in the Jewish and Christian Bible is that He is creative. This we find not only first verse from the book of Genesis but it is repeated in the first verses of the book written by Jesus closest follower and friend, a guy named John.

As National Community Church Lead Pastor Mark Batterson suggests, maybe we should be using a little left brain logic to make a point about right brain creativity…

“If God is infinitely creative and we are not just created in His Image but called to be conformed to His Image, then creativity isn’t optional. Creativity is a dimension of spiritual maturity. To become more like the creator is to become more creative.”

Batterson continues, “What parent hasn’t hung a piece of kindergarten art on a refrigerator? Just as we celebrate creativity in our kids, so God celebrates creativity in us. He loves it. And it’s one way we love Him.

Theologian Francis A. Schaeffer who virtually created the pro-life movement in America has written and taught extensively about our call to creativity. In deed Schaeffer suggests that the Bible is full of creativity from beginning to end.

In the most recent part of the Bible often referred to by Christ Followers as the New Testament, we are called God’s Workmanship… literally Poeima or Poem in the original greek language it was written in. Much of the Bible is actually written in Hebrew poetic form. It is full of admonitions to sing a new song. David who many only know as the giant killer was also a designer of music instruments. The prophet named Ezekiel actually staged dramas. The original mobile church called the Tabernacle was an exquisite work of art including fine tapestry and gold overlay. The Temple designed by David and built by Solomon was more incredible yet.

And Schaeffer contends that the Biblical call to creativity extends well past the sacred context into the secular. He lists the description of Solomon’s throne as one example. I would argue that the whole sacred vs. secular dichotomy isn’t God’s invention but and idea straight out of the pit of hell itself. I would suggest that from the Bible’s viewpoint everything we do should reflect the creativity of God in or out of a church or synagogue.

Another example is in the life of Jesus himself. It’s not a stretch to say He spent most of His life on earth working as a “secular” artist. In Mathew’s writings about the life of Jesus, He is referred to as a “carpenter”. But a closer look at the original language gives us a much fuller picture of the word. The word often translated carpenter is the greek word tekton. A tekton was someone who understood something completely and transformed that knowledge into creations of wonder and excellence. They were able to take a piece of material, often wood and put it through a process of miraculous conversion. Tekton pictures someone who with a minimum of technical equipment and a maximum of craftmanship, who could make something of great beauty out of very little.

Along these same lines, Schaeffer argued that making something of beauty was a good reason in and of itself. Making something beautiful qualifies as a valid and even holy purpose for art.

I think a good case could be made that a call to faith… a call to step toward a relationship with God is also a call to creativity in some domain. It’s more than interesting that two of the most creative writers from the 20th Century were deep in a discussion about matters of faith. J.R.R. Tolkien who wrote the Lord of the Rings Trilogy as well as The Hobbit was trying to convince C.S. Lewis who would later write the Chronicles of Narnia and The Space Trilogy that a decision to follow Jesus Christ was a smart decision. Lewis was full of objections. Tolkien finally told Lewis the night before his conversion, “Your inability to understand stems from a failure of imagination on your part.”

I think this is a huge insight from a creative genius. It’s not that faith is illogical at all. It’s just that faith has even more to do with imagination and creativity. Many times we just need to ramp up our creativity to imagine a creative God who loves us and wants us to live a life above and beyond anything we could think of or imagine.

I have to tell you that the churches that I’m attracted to are the most creative places on the planet. Many run children’s programs and services that can compete with Disneyland. And so it should be with people who claim relationship with a Creative God!

Creative Context: A Place To Think

One day, mother of future Microsoft mogul Bill Gates walked in on her young son to find him sitting there doing nothing. She asked Bill what he was doing. “I’m thinking Mom, I’m thinking.”

I recently purchased a Microsoft yearbook in a used bookstore not far from the Microsoft headquarters up in Seattle. I primarily got it for the image displayed here. I believe all great achievers carve out time to think and Bill Gates is certainly a great example of this.

Advertising Creative, William Bernbach said, “For the flower to blossom, you need the right soil as well as the right seed. The same is true to cultivate good thinking.” In this section I’m focusing on the soil, the place, or what I call the creative context.

Issac Newton (Scientist) reportedly gazed at the heavens for hours often entering a dream state.

Beethoven (Composer) took long walks.

Percy Shelly (Romantic Poet) sat by a lake.

Leonardo da Vinci stared at cracked floors.

William Wordsworth (Writer) gazed at the fireplace.

George Washington Carver who came up with over 300 uses for the peanut and saved the economy of the Southern United States routinely got up at 4 a.m., walked through the woods, and asked God to reveal the mysteries of nature. He interpreted Job 12: 7-8 literally.

Henry David Thoreau skipped stones on Walden Pond.

Alexander Graham Bell had a dreaming place.

Thomas Edison sat in his thinking chair with a metal ball bearing in each palm.

In Leadership expert John Maxwell’s book, Thinking for a Change he suggests finding a place to think your thoughts. He shares:

I once heard a story about Charles Kettering, the great inventor and founder of Delco, who once held more than 140 patents and received honorary doctorates from 30 universities. He talked about creating a place for thinking. He likened it to hanging a bird cage in one’s mind. It seems an odd way of saying it, but the idea becomes clearer when you hear about a $100 bet he once made. Kettering told a friend that he could make the man buy a pet bird in the coming year. The friend figured that no one could make him do such a thing, so he took the bet.

Soon afterward, Kettering gave the man an expensive handmade Swiss birdcage. The man took it home, and because it was so beautiful, he hung it in his dining room. But he found that every time he had guests over, someone would ask him, “When did your bird die?”

“I never had a bird,” he’d tell them. Then he would have to explain the whole thing. After doing this repeatedly, he finally went out and bought a parakeet – and paid Kettering the $100 he owed him. Kettering later said, “If you hang birdcages in your mind, you will eventually get something to put in them.”

As Kettering’s birdcage attracted a bird, so too will a designated place to think attract good thoughts. If you go to a thinking place to generate good thoughts, then eventually you will come up with some.

Maxwell himself says he gets some of his best ideas in his car, on planes, in his spa, and that he keeps a lighted writing pad by his bed. He also talks about finding a place not only to think your thoughts, but also a place to shape your thoughts, a place to stretch your thoughts, a place to land your thoughts, and a place to fly your thoughts.

World Class designer Bruce Mau writes in his Unfinished Manifesto about the importance of having a studio which he says by definition is a place of study.

Maybe you’re at a place in your life where you need a place to enlarge your thinking but your current home or office isn’t that conducive to it. Joel Osteen, in his book Your Best Life Now tells a story about some friends of his named Bill and Cindy. He shares:

They had just moved to a new city and at the time Bill had to work two jobs to make ends meet while Cindy stayed at home with their young children. It was a very difficult time for them as they were barely making enough for rent and food. Joel explains that they did something very unusual during this time.

Many nights after Bill came home from work, rather than sitting in their small apartment feeling sorry for themselves, they got all dressed up, got in their car, and drove down town to a very nice fancy hotel. They didn’t have enough money to pay for parking so they parked down the street and walked back to the hotel. They went inside this magnificent facility, just sat in the elegant lobby and would dream. Bill explained that he wanted to expose himself to an atmosphere of success. He wanted to be in a place where he could keep his hopes up. He wanted to be in an environment where he could dream of victories.

In his book called Primal, Mark Batterson talks about “places of perspective”. He builds on a thought from a small book in the Jewish and Christian Scriptures by the name of Habakkuk written 500 years before Jesus walked the planet. Habakkuk wrote:

I will climb up to my watchtower
And stand at my guardpost.
There I will wait to see what the Lord says.

Batterson has found his own watchtowers in his hometown of Washington D.C. He goes up to the observation gallery at the National Cathedral where he gets a full 360 degree panoramic view of the nations capitol. Another place he goes is the roof top of Ebenezer’s, the café he helps oversee.

And speaking of Jesus… the Bible says that He often withdrew from the crowds to pray. Perhaps prayer is the highest form of creative thinking. I know most of us think about it like bringing our long list of request before God. It’s that too, but maybe a higher form of prayer is listening to what God has to say to us. I’m thinking He might drop a good idea or two in our brain if we invite Him.

Like John Maxwell and the others I have my own favorite thinking places. I currently have a wonderful home with some great thinking places including my office, my thinking chair recliner… I think the reclined position gets the blood to my brain! My car is a place I do some of my best thinking. The repetitive environment of freeway driving is especially conducive to creativity. I believe Starbucks is one of the most accessible creative environments in the world. I love bookstores of all stripes, new, used, all of them. Borders and Barnes and Noble offer some of the greatest thinking places in the world with the advantage of offering exposure to the greatest thinkers in the world… essentially for free… just grab a stack of books and find a chair. I haven’t gone to the library often for years but I do keep the cards to my local library and a seminary library.

I think Disneyland is a great place to think. They advertise it as the Happiest Place On Earth. Maybe so, but I think it’s perhaps the Creativiest Place On Earth as well. (I made that word up… just thinking about Disneyland makes me more creative) One year I got a pass and went several times just to relax and think about how they conducted their business trying to apply it to my own situation and circumstances. I love to walk the grounds of the Crystal Cathedral. In fact, for the last 20 years I have found many churches to be great places to think and get ideas.

In you are around the country check out a service at one of the following:

Houston, Texas - Lakewood Church and Ecclesia
North Point in Alpharetta, Georgia
Sea Coast in South Carolina
Fellowship Church in Irving, Texas,
Mars Hill in Seattle
Mosaic in Los Angeles
Willow Creek in Chicago
Adventure in Sacramento
Central Christian in Las Vegas
Mars Hill in Grand Rapids, Michigan
Saddleback in Lake Forrest, California

These churches are like creative Mecca’s for me. Even if you don’t consider yourself religious in anyway I think you would benefit from attending a couple of times for the creative environment alone.

A trip to any art museum is worth the time. I love to stroll the streets of Carmel, California ducking into the art galleries there. The Museum of Innovation in San Jose, California is a favorite of mine as is the Charles Schultz Museum in Santa Rosa. I still read Peanuts from time to time in compilation books I own and the classics that still run in some of the newspapers. To look at Schultz’s sketches, his office, and a sense of how he worked is inspirational.

This last year my wife and I took one of our very creative son’s and very creative our daughter-in-law to see a Ray Harryhausen exhibit in the Santa Monica area. Ray was the creative genius behind much of the earlier science fiction and adventure films like Sinbad, Earth vs. Flying Saucers, and The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. To see the tools he used to make early circa Claymation monsters was fascinating.

This year we are planning a trip to the University of Arizona’s Creative Photography Center and the Poetry Center. I love great photography and some poetry but mostly I’m going to immerse myself in the creative process in yet another way. I planning on visiting the Disney Museum in San Francisco and my brain is already working on a creative idea to visit Pixar and Skywalker Ranch. As you can see I love creative people and creative process!

I find exercise a great inducer of creative thought. I good walk around the neighborhood clears my mind and seems to attract good ideas. The gym is the same. Repetitive action seems to work the best. It seems to create a meditative state that attracts ideas.

Add Creativity To Anything-Toilet Paper

Is there anything left to improve on a roll of toilet paper? After all it already comes squeezable, quilted, in colors, and scented. But late last year the good people at Kimberly-Clark found yet another way to improve it. And like many arts their idea was subtractive rather than additive.

They figured out how to remove the core, the card board part from the middle. People just throw it away to the tune of about 17 billion tubes a year, a number that would stretch more than a million miles end to end. This idea is a welcome removal from landfills and a boost to the environment.

It's another reminder that absolutely anything can be improved upon. It's also a reminder to think not only about what you can add to your product or service but also what can you remove.