I've just begun reading Ken Robinson's book, Out of Our Minds. From the onset, he draws the distinction between how all of us were creative as kids but seem to find being creative hard to grasp as adults. What happened?
While I've got quite a bit of reading to do until I find his official answer, my hunch is that a lot of it has to do with our understanding of fun.
Photo by afu007
As a child, our worlds revolved around that which was fun. Learning at school (initially) was done through tactile play. Our rooms became castles or forts in an instant. Cartoons were fun, cereal was fun, spending time with our parents was fun.
And then we grow up and the world becomes much different. Leo Babauta encourages us to keep having fun in this post on his blog. His big reminder? If you're having fun, the point is simply to do something, not to carry on at all costs to some arbitrary goal you've set.
I think the notion of fun is especially important for us business owners, leaders, and creatives. We need to make sure that fun is present in what we're doing. If we're not having fun, the money we're making and the success we're having are devoid of a very important context.
Do you enjoy what you're doing? If not, then it's time to do something else.
For fun's sake.
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