24
2011
Leadership Reading List: The Accidental Creative Part 3
An article by 
All this week I have been sharing an interview with Todd Henry, author of The Accidental Creative: How to Be Brilliant at a Moment’s Notice
Today I have asked Todd to elaborate a little more on how our energy level plays into our creative abilities and how to be selective about what we say yes and no to work-wise. Realizing that what we put into our mind directly affects what comes out, Todd will talk a little bit about creating a stimuli diet, and finish up with some final thoughts for our community.
I think that you make important points in the book about stewarding our energy levels. Can you speak a little bit about why this is so critical to our ability to consistently be able to deliver (whether it is a sermon, a small group lesson, a counseling session, or in a mentoring session), and how we might be able to build some energy giving practices in our lives?
Todd Henry: I think it’s very important that we not just our monitor time, but that we monitor our energy. Any machine requires energy to function. You’re not a machine, you’re something more than the machine, but your creative process requires energy to function and you cannot function without energy. So you need to be monitoring not just your time, asking do I have time to do the things that I need to do, but you need to be monitoring energy, asking am I over extending myself, am I overcommitting myself to not just work issues or work projects, but personal projects.
Sometimes we segment our life and divide it into categories: work life, personal life, family life, service projects, or whatever it is. We don’t realize that, every time we make a commitment, each of those areas have require something of us and we need to be diligent about blocking off time and energy in our life for things that matter. [We need to avoid] making commitments in every area independently, instead seeing our life holistically as one big pie. There is only so much energy to go around because you’re right in the middle of everything you commit to. So one practice that is very effective in that way is the practice of pruning.
Regularly go and look through your life and say, ”which of all the things I’ve committed to, do I need to back off from?” Or, “which of all the things I might commit to, do I need to think ‘okay, well, maybe not now, maybe a little later, maybe this needs to go on the back burner right now and I’ll do this later’”. [Do this] so that you have the energy and the focus to dedicate to the things that are most important right now. Sometimes very good things need to be put on hold so that you can do the things that are critical and manage your energy.
Tell me a little bit about what this pruning practice looks like in your own life.
TH: I have a practice on a regular basis of looking at everything going on in my world and trying to determine when am I going to tackle specific things, I want to do everything all the time and I can’t do it. So, I sit down, I look at all my projects, and I say “okay, yes, yes, yes. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.” I say no about 3 times as much as I say yes to projects. Now, no doesn’t mean never, it means not now. So, my next step is to allocate those projects I say no to, to future months. I say “okay, I am saying no to this right now but could I do this next month, it looks like I might be able to do this next month”, so I put it on my calendar for consideration next month.
Again, it’s about choosing to say no, choicefully saying no to things now, so you can be more effective at what you’re doing [now], but also be more effective with that thing [later], because if you try to do everything at once, you’re going to fail at everything. In order to do the things you need to do well, you have to say no to the things that you might like to do but aren’t appropriate at the time.
In the book you spend a good bit of time talking about developing a stimuli diet: controlling what goes in your mind so that it will help you be more creative. Help my readers understand a little more about how to develop a stimuli diet.
TH: The first place to look for stimuli is to ask yourself, what am I curious about right now? Many of us stop listening to that voice in our head, the voice that says “hey what about that? Hey you should check out that!” We stopped listening to that some time after a grade school because it’s just not practical to us.
So sit down and make a list of your curiosities, ask yourself “what are the topics that I would really like to know more about?” It can be anything: auto mechanics, particle physics, anything. It doesn’t matter [what it is] but it’s something that you are curious about, something that stokes your passion. Then list four or five of those things and identify what are the resources that I could build into my life that would help me explore those topics? They could be books, podcasts, videos, movies, whatever they are. Block off time on a regular basis to explore those resources, that’s really all there is too it with this study plan thing and stimulus. But it takes a little bit time, a little bit of intentionality, and a little bit of focus to do this, but doing it will increase your energy level across the board and you’ll find you’re making connections that you’d never have made had you not built this practice into your life. Start with your curiosities, list your curiosities, identify resources, and block off time, those are really the four steps to get in better stimuli in your world.
Lastly, I would love to hear anything you have to say directly to the church leadership community, whether it relates to creativity, your book, or whatever.
TH: Here’s the thing, I believe that everyone has a creative mandate on their life, there’s something unique that you have to bring to the world: that unique combination of passions, skills, and experiences. The intersection of that place is something unique that you have to bring to the world. Many of us operate according to a pull mindset versus a push mindset, meaning you’re being pulled in every different direction rather than bringing yourself to whatever you do. When you do that, you’re robbing me, you’re robbing your friends, you’re robbing your co-workers, you’re robbing your church community of the unique thing that you have to bring to the world.
It is your responsibility and it is a mandate upon you to figure out what that is and to dedicate time, energy and focus to getting that out into the world. If you don’t do it, you’re going to take your best work to the grave and that is thoroughly unacceptable by any standard. So it is upon you, your growth is your responsibility, you own your growth. If you’re not growing you’re dying, and it’s critical that you build the practices into your life, as I’ve described in the book, that give you the platform to begin exploring the thing that you’re uniquely wired to do and fulfill that creative mandate that is upon you. Don’t go to your grave with your best work inside of you. Build the practices, so you can get it out of you, and you can die empty.
That is a lot to process… if you are interested in hearing the whole interview, check out the .mp3 here.
What one practice do YOU most need to build into YOUR life? Why?
Want a copy of The Accidental Creative for yourself? I will be giving away a copy of The Accidental Creative to a random commentor on Friday, August 26, 2011 at noon eastern. All you have to do is leave a comment, and share the link to this page on facebook or twitter.
About the Author: Matt Steen
Over the last fifteen years I have been a Church Planter, Youth Pastor, Executive Pastor, and now I serve as a Church Concierge with churchsimple.net. I love Jesus, my wife, the Redskins and Capitals and am currently living on Long Island striving to properly pronounce the word G'island.
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