patrick elder

As you can tell from the title, I appear to be running short in the creativity department. Creativity is not just an important aspect of my job, but a part of who I am. I even find it difficult to creatively express my thoughts (ie. this post). It’s as if I’m stopped at a red light stuck in an infinate loop. Well, I guess not all of my creativity is gone…but it’s important to extend it and build the creative cache as much as possible.

My days consist of finding creative solutions to complex problems not just in programming, but in communication as well. I spend much of my free time reading. Not books like Harry Potter or the latest and greatest from the grocery store, but books that I excuse as a learning tool or that will give me a professional edge; books like Ajax on Rails, Agile Web Development with Rails, and Ruby Programming. They assist me in the programming, but where do they leave me with communicating solutions to clients? Stuck between a hard place and a rock.

So, what’s the solution to these creativity blocks I have while communicating with clients and friends alike? I could go out and buy a book about how to better communicate your ideas. Well, I feel there is a better way to acheive this by not investing so much in professionalism; by tapping into the child within me. Let my mind explore and actually search for the imagination I once had. Read the books that have nothing to do with my future, watch less tv, spend less time on the internet (outside of work)…simply force myself to use my imagination.

I could go on for pages discussing what in today’s society constrains our imaginations, thus limiting our creativity…but won’t. What are your thoughts?