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Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Random Spurt of Awesomeness: Creativity is Productivity

Often times we have what I like to call "random spurts of awesomeness." It's fairly self explanatory. They're random, they're spurts, and they're awesome.

It can happen while you're cooking and you decide to go "off recipe" and it turns out to be the most delicious thing in the world.

It can happen when you're writing a paper and the coolest take comes to you out of no where, and you magically snap out of your writers block with a bajillion connecting ideas.


It can happen when you go fly fishing and without really having to try, you know exactly what they're biting and therefore catch a ton of fish.
 
Photo credit: India Ink
       
Or it can happen on a quite and cold Saturday afternoon, with almost no one around. ...in the living room listening to your personalized indie Christmas playlist while thinking about life and having a random spurt of awesomeness that on this instance I'd like to call "creativity is productivity",,,which might be just what happened to me.

Random spurt of awesomeness. I painted for 8 hours straight. I finished three paintings and have one underway.

It just happened. I decided I wanted to paint, and I knew I knew that I wanted to finish one and start another but I was in the spurt of awesomeness zone. I just felt it. I wanted to paint, and paint, and paint some more!

I just thought:
I'm okay with this. I am completely and 100% okay with this. No complaints from me....well besides the fact I was hungry. I painted all through lunch. And dinner. And, lets be honest, It was break. I slept through breakfast. But I was soaking it up!

I got to work, and I finished it. 

I felt productive. Not because I did a ton of homework, I did very little to be honest. Not because I went to work every day, because work was closed. 

Nope. Because I was creative.  

President Uchtdorf gave a talk about creativity that I absolutely adored, and he illustrates so well just how important it is. He also reminds us that we all have the ability to create.
                                     

Creativity is one of the greatest tools we have as human beings. It is an amazing gift from our Heavenly Father. 

No wonder I felt productive being creative. I was fulfilling, in a sense, a part of my divine purpose. And that always feels good. 

But I realized something. Creativity is productivity. It didn't matter if I was being graded on it, I was cultivating a skill. I was fulfilling my personal potential. I was doing something worthwhile, which is 100% possible without a grade. 

Three paintings done, and one on the way...all done within eight hours on Saturday. 

Success? Yes. 
(There's still one on the easel. I'm hoping to finish it during finals week if I can)

And not because of quantity. Not even because of quality. Just because I did it. I was creative. I was productive. I did what He wanted me to do, and used the opportunity provided to me. #win

Point: Random spurts of awesomeness are ...well, awesome. CREATIVE spurts of awesomeness are also awesome, and sometimes awesom..er.

Color up your life. Be creative. 
And it never hurts to do it in style. #fingerpaintingrocks