Did you ever do dot-to-dot pictures as a child? The boring ones were the ones where you could easily see the picture before you even started. Where was the challenge in that? What was more fun was when the picture emerged in a totally unexpected way, but once it was complete, there was that – ah yes, of course – moment.
That makes sense…
Why didn’t I see that?
Or even – why didn’t I see that before?
Another name for this?
Vision
The ability to see things with imagination or wisdom.
Being able to see things that others perhaps might have missed.
Looking at various disparate and seemingly unconnected pieces and seeing a much bigger whole.
One of the habits of highly creative people as listed in The Huffington Post is this ability to see possibilities where others don’t. To connect the dots that it may not have occurred to others could even be connected.
Listen to this, in the words of Steve Jobs:
“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things.”
There are several aspects to this that I find challenging and inspiring.
It removes the fear of believing that I am creative.
Removing the constraints and seeing creativity as simply joining the dots is very freeing:
Lets look at all these pieces as a whole, and see what emerges. What if we try this? Or this? Oh look, that doesn’t work. Let’s try something different –
There are no right or wrong answers, just lots of different ways to look for a bigger picture.
It restores hope.
Sometimes, when we have been through a really tough time, it can feel that none of it makes any sense. Questions as to why abound. All the pieces lie around us, pulling us apart and making our lives feel even more fractured. But take courage and look at all the pieces from a height – a bit of time, a level of objectivity impossible when in the thick of it. And often, gradually, a picture emerges and some of it at least starts to make sense. We can see that who we are now, and what we have learned does have a purpose, and we can take that picture and reframe it and something new emerges that we hadn’t seen before.
It opens up a future.
Perhaps you are stuck, unsure of direction or purpose in life. You look back at your various jobs and experiences and it all seems fragmented and unconnected. What on earth has it all been for? And where do I go now, you wonder. But again, step back and join up the dots. What are the common threads? What characteristics and strengths did you demonstrate or learn in each of the experiences? What do they all have in common? What picture emerges when you look at the separate pieces as all being part of a bigger whole?
This is part of the route to vision – to see what has gone before as all being preparatory pieces of the bigger picture of what is to come. Of who is to come – the you that you are growing in to.
Because we never stop growing and learning. Or at least, we shouldn’t.
Trying and failing, making mistakes, putting things back together differently and with greater wisdom and humility.
Stopping and joining up the dots to see the bigger vision of who we are, and what we can do.
Creativity in action.