Turn a Creative Spark into a Bonfire: Part 2

If you read part one of this series last weekend, your own creative muse has probably given you some fresh new ideas this week. You’ve captured them, given yourself permission to put them down if you lose interest, and you know exactly which friends to share them with. Using the bonfire building analogy, you have a few creative flames that you are shielding from the harsh winds of disapproval and expectation. Now, how do you take those flames and build them into a fire that’s big enough to withstand not only those harsh winds but is also able to covert a big wet log or two into fuel for the fire?

We’ll get there. This week, let’s work on three ways to grow that creative flame into a nice medium sized fire.

1) Keep your “but” small

In part one we talked about identifying your “kindling” friends – those friends who welcome your fresh ideas and inspire you to think of more. When you talk to them, what do you do when they start to suggest alternatives? Is your first reaction to say, “But if I do that, I’ll never …” or “But that wasn’t what I meant!”?

Don’t have a big “but”. In fact, do your best to strike that word from your vocabulary. This is your friend who supports you, who inspires you, who joins you in the creative dance of developing ideas. The last thing in the world you want to do is cut off their feedback with a knee-jerk response.

Instead, try “Great! What else would you suggest?” or “Thanks! Tell me more!” Then sit back and listen, because encouraging them will likely bring up one or two more additional suggestions.

2) Add more fuel

You’ve received feedback from a few friends. Now take that feedback and see if you can make your fire bigger.

What suggestions did you like? If you incorporate them, how does your idea take shape?

What feedback did you not like? You are coming at this from your own perspective, and your friend is giving you feedback based on theirs. How can you use that? Others you share this idea with later will probably approach and react to situations the same way your friend does. Will incorporating your friend’s ideas help you appeal to a wider audience? Think about those points again – really think – and see if there is anything in there that you can use after all. What happens if you give those suggestions a try?

3) Play the “What if?” game

Once your fire gets going, it needs a small challenge or two in order to grow. Before you expose your fire to your more challenging friends, play “What if?” in your mind and predict the objections or critiques your friends are likely to bring up.

Do you have an action-oriented friend (perhaps with a red temperament) who has a hard time seeing the intangible? What examples of this idea in action can you give them to help them envision it? What do you think will happen as a result of your idea?

Is one of your steady, persistant friends (perhaps with a gold temperament) likely to ask how you know this idea will work this time when your other 42 ideas haven’t? What past experiences of yours will tie into this idea to increase the likelihood it will work? How can you express to this friend that it might not work, but you want to try it anyway because if you try nothing you know it will result in nothing?

Will your objective, rational friend (perhaps a blue temperament) challenge you to come up with a logical application of your idea? What problem do you think your idea will solve? Are there competing products or ideas that solve the same problem? What makes yours different than the competition?

What can you say to your sensitive, people-oriented friend (perhaps a green temperament) who asks how this will make the world better or how it will benefit people? Why do you feel so strongly about this idea? What personal story can you tell that illustrates the problem or explains the benefit?

Today’s Strength Building Challenge

If you liked the ideas on turning your flame of an idea into a nice sized fire, here are some actions you can take to engage your strengths:

• Create a new phrase to replace your “But …” response. It must be simple enough to use whenever you encounter an objection or critique, even when you are feeling vulnerable. Something like, “Great!” or “Thanks! What else?” works for me.
• Explore new ideas, even if they are different from yours. When someone gives you their own ideas, see if you can connect them to yours even if it doesn’t sound like it will at first. Can their idea make yours better or expand it in some way?
• Incorporate other perspectives. Read through the descriptions of the four temperaments and see how you can develop your idea to stand up to the questions that people with different perspectives will ask. What actions, past examples, logic and stories will make it even better?

The next post in this series will you take your energetic, healthy fire of an idea and grow it into an unstoppable raging bonfire.