Creative Fire
By Peter LloydEver notice how a really great idea ignites more great ideas? How a great idea fires people up? When John F. Kennedy promised that America would put a man on the moon by the end of the decade, the idea literally took off.
When Martin Luther King Jr. painted a picture of his dream, he refocused and redirected the civil rights movement.
Both of these ideas had been around forever. But a clear promise and picture ignited the passions of millions of people. These three elements—passion, picture, and promise—combust and make creative fire just like heat, fuel, and oxygen make physical fire.
Every idea begins with a spark of inspiration. That spark is always created by the friction of a desire rubbing up against a barrier. We come equipped with a load of desires. When our desires are easily satisfied, they burn themselves out. There's no longer a need for passion.
So we move up our hierarchy of needs until we find another barrier. That's just the way we are. Pretty soon, we're headed for the moon.
We can sit for hours, fascinated with the warmth, glow, and dance of a fire. Just as we can satisfy ourselves reading biographies of great explorers, inventors, and conquerors. Or watching the exploits of passionate people on TV and in the movies. Or follow them in the news.
These pictures of great lives and harrowing adventures stoke the fires of our passions. Some of us take our passions one step further. Like the greats, we make a promise. We commit to following our passion where it leads.
Once we make our picture public, we are seldom alone. Our creative fire attracts the creative fire of other people focused on the same or a similar picture.
How can you keep your creative fire hot without getting burned? If you're too worried about that, you've probably not going to make much creative fire.
Peter Lloyd is co-creator with Stephen Grossman of Animal Crackers, the breakthrough problem-solving tool designed to crack your toughest problems.