Have you ever felt creatively stifled? Could there be some external force inhibiting you from living up to your creative potential? Are you in an environment that tries to cage your creative side?

I’ve seen it happen time and time again. Not only that, I’ve experienced it as well. Far too many times have I seen and felt the tragedy of untapped, unappreciated, or undermined creative potential. In most cases it is a person in authority who has concluded that anything that doesn’t fit their mold isn’t any good. They have concluded that their ideas, regardless of where their strength lies, are superior. Therefore, anyone who has something fresh, new, or outside-the-box to offer must adhere to their standard or be dismissed as irrelevant.

Adobe recently did a study on the state of creativity in the world. It’s pretty astonishing what they came up with. Don’t take my word for it though, see for yourself:

[Click for larger image.]

Tell me that doesn’t make your heart sad.

Out of the people surveyed 80% of them believed that creativity is crucial to economic growth. Astonishingly, only 25% of people actually believe they’re living up to their creative potential! The statistic directly below shows that 75% of people believe they are under pressure at work to be productive rather than creative.

A little while back I was interviewed for a podcast for artists and my interviewer asked me why I thought Christianity went through such a creative dry spell. I told him I wasn’t sure, but I was really excited that the “dark ages” of Christian creativity was over. Now that I think about it, and have seen it with my own eyes, I think I understand how it happened.

Too many leaders with too much authority and not enough humility to admit that someone can have bigger vision than them.

All of us were created in God’s image (Genesis 1:26-27). We are the creation, created in the image of the Creator. Some of us were gifted to be more creative than others, but all of us were meant to use our creativity to glorify the one who gave it to us.

If your creativity is being stifled by someone who thinks they have the authority to do so, always remember that it’s not you they’re stifling, it’s the one who gave you the creativity whom they must answer to. Channel the frustration you feel into a more positive outlet and let your creativity soar.

Have you ever felt creatively stifled? How did you deal with it?

^{Image courtesy of Adobe via Mashable.}

I came across this quote from Albert Einstein, and it really inspired me.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.” –Albert Einstein

It made me wonder if I am letting my knowledge (or desire for knowledge) stifle my imagination, and therefore inhibit my creativity? I definitely don’t want that to happen. So as a reminder to myself I created a graphic that might make a cool poster some day:

I came across this quote while reading an article on Creativity Post about creative thinking. This really got my creative juices going. I highly recommend reading it, and bookmarking it.

It was really powerful for me, so I thought I’d share it here. I hope it inspires and provokes you to go out and create something. Forget what you know, and dream bigger.

When disaster strikes and a crisis thrusts itself upon your otherwise pleasant day, will you be ready to conquer it with creativity?

This past week was, well, interesting. Let me rephrase that– this past week was almost disastrous on a few occasions. Had it not been for my creative instinct, it would have been a complete disaster. However, by the grace of God and the creativity he’s given me, I managed to conquer the crisis’ that were thrust upon me.

A perfect example

It began Sunday afternoon. I had just published a new tutorial over at GPlusTuts and was getting ready to take the rest of the day to, uh… rest.  I posted the link to my Google+ circles and was preparing to get some good conversation within the comments as usual.

Boy was I in for a surprise.

A few commenters began informing me that when they went to click on the link, their browser was warning them that the site had been flagged as malware.

Malware? What? Surely their browsers must be mistaken. I assured them they should just go try again.

Well, sure enough, more and more comments began to come in and before I knew it, the site was blocked by Google.

In case you didn’t know, I co-founded this site with my good friend James Brooks. We have big plans for it to become the number 1 source for Google+ tips, tricks, and tutorials. So this malware attack was quite a crisis for us.

How we responded to this crisis would make or break us. I chose to respond creatively.

Instead of saying, “How can we fix this immediately?” and burying our heads in solutions, I responded with “How can we make the most of this?“

That simple switch in my thinking forced me to engage the creative side of my brain instead of the protocol/fix-it/logic side of my brain. It allowed me to take the situation by the horns and make it work for us, rather than against us.

It allowed me to come up with a great strategy in delivering more value to our subscribers, and even gain a few more! Furthermore, I came up with a great rendition of the old adage, “When life hands you lemons…“:

When life hands you lemons, squeeze them suckers into a blender with some Red Bull and ice then make something awesome out of it!

Instead of letting the fact that our site was being blocked stop our ability to deliver value, we decided to deliver the value right to our subscribers inbox with our newsletter. This crisis was going to propel our dedication to delivering value by innovating how we do it.

All in all, it was a success. People were receptive with the action that we took, and we got some great responses from it.

I’m happy to say that our site has been cleaned of all malware, and GPlusTuts.com is back in business thanks to my fellow co-founder James getting things done! While I handled the creative response strategy, he handled the behind-the-scenes cleanup.

Let your creativity conquer

The lesson I hope you take from this is that your creativity is the key to conquering any crisis that comes your way. The next time you’re faced with adversity, let your creativity take the situation by the horns and use it to your advantage.

When was the last time you were faced with a crisis? How did you go about handling it?

Have you ever had one of those ideas that really has great potential, but you just haven’t started it yet? Maybe it’s a big idea, and you just haven’t found the time to work on it. News flash– your idea is going to die!

Too many great ideas have been killed by inaction. I don’t know about you, but this rings all too true for me:  I have a great idea, and because of either bad timing or circumstances, I don’t act on it. I tell myself I’ll get to it later, but when later comes, it’s too late. The idea is gone.

Fear not! There is hope– this enemy called inaction can be defeated!

Think of It Like This

Imagine ideas like they are in cartoons. When you have an idea a little light bulb appears over your head. But unlike in cartoons, as soon as you move on from the idea, without action, the light bulb begins to fall. Unless you catch the idea, and do something with it, gravity will do what it does best and bring it crashing to the ground.

Don’t Let Inaction Kill Your Ideas

As creative people, if we are always keeping our creative tank full with plenty of incoming sources of inspiration, we should always be churning out ideas. And to make sure that these ideas don’t die an untimely death, we must take action.

First Things First – Record the Idea

The first thing you should do is write it down, type it out, record it, or by any other means save it somewhere besides your brain.

Personally, I use Evernote to capture my ideas. It allows me to record them on my phone or laptop anywhere. Then it saves the note with a geotagged location where I can add audio, video, or photos to help me remember exactly what was going on when I had the idea.

Find a way of recording your ideas that works for you. Some methods could be:

• Notebook
• Sticky note
• Note app
• Your arm
• Leave yourself a voice-mail
• Do a cave painting

Do whatever you find that works for you to record your ideas. This way, even if you can’t begin to act on the idea itself, you’ll be able to return to it later.

Next, Do Something

You’ll want to develop a habit of revisiting your ideas frequently. Even if you’ve recorded them, if nothing is done with them from there, they will eventually become irrelevant and stale. So once you have a minute to revisit the idea put some action to it.

If it’s an idea for a blog post, start on a draft. You don’t have to finish it. Just get it moving in the right direction. Don’t let your desire for perfection stop you from moving forward. It doesn’t have to be perfect.

If it’s a graphic, drawing, or painting– get something sketched out. Get some rough drafts on paper (or on screen) and see where it goes. Again, it doesn’t need to be a masterpiece right away. Just do something.

Git-R-Done

Random fact: Larry the Cable Guy (who made the saying above famous) actually shares my birthday– February 17th. Another guy who shares this same birthday– Michael Jordan. Can you say, “Chyeayuh!“?

Okay, back to the point.

Finish what you’ve started, even if it’s not completed.

Wait, what? Are you speaking some sort of pseudo-riddle nonsense?

Yes, I am. But hear me out before you write me off as a looney!

Sometimes I have the tendency to take way too long to complete a project (like this blog post for example). Its the plague of perfection again, and it can totally undermine the raw and organic nature of creativity.

Don’t be afraid to put something out there that is unfinished. You can always go back and refine, revamp, and tweak. Don’t let delayed execution become another way for inaction to creep in.

Action is the key. Inaction is the enemy.

Recommended reading

There is a great book that I highly recommend called “Making Ideas Happen”  [affiliate link] by Scott Belsky. The title really does say it all. If you find yourself struggling with taking ideas and turning them into reality, this book is a must have!

Have your ideas ever fallen victim to inaction? How do you fight it off?

Photo credits: Adriaan Fenwick and Kyle May via Flickr.

For us creative types, we have our awesome days, and our off days. On the off days when it’s hard to stay creative, sometimes we just need a little inspiration. So, what I’ve done is put together this list of 13 sites that are great sources of creative inspiration of all types.

I really want to thank my circles over on Google+ as a lot of these sites were recommended by them. I’ve combed through them one-by-one to find only the best of the best. I’ve broken them down into four categories: Photography, Artsy/Crafty, Web Design, and Graphic Design.

The first two categories are not my area of strength, but I’m sure some of you out there will love them! The final two categories are pretty much where I spend 80% of my online work/play. Here we go!

Photography

I’m not much of a photographer, hence I don’t have too many resources in this area. The two that I have found are pretty great though, and I highly recommend them. If you have any other recommendations you tweet at me.

StuckInCustoms.com is run by Trey Ratcliff. He is a fantastic photographer who not only posts really amazing photos, he’s also got some great tutorials and reviews as well. Like I said, I’m no photographer. But thanks to Trey, I think I’ll be getting better in no time! If you’re a photography buff, his site is definitely worth bookmarking.

Flickr.com has a great little option called “Explore“. You can find some real gems there.

Artsy/crafty

Another area in which I would definitely not call myself an expert, but relevant nonetheless. If you are the artsy type who loves crafts and such, these sites are for you.

Etsy.com is a place where artsy people go to buy and sell artsy stuff. It’s pretty cool (and I’m not afraid to say it)! My wife has been checking it out more and more, and she’s even thinking about selling some of her artsy/crafty stuff!

Pinterest.com is starting to gain quite a following. Basically it is a place where you can curate your favorite things around the web, and see what other people have curated as well. This is another area of my wife’s expertise. It’s not necessarily dedicated to the artsy/crafty sort of things, but as I’ve spent a bit of time exploring, that seems to be a lot of what I’ve found.

Web design

Now we’re talking my area of expertise! If there’s one thing that really inspires me, it’s some good web design! With so many poorly built websites out there, and everything else just copying the good stuff, I love finding websites that take their design to the next level. The following sites make it very easy to get inspired by great web design.

TheBestDesigns.com is a fantastic website that finds some of the most creative and innovative sites out there, and puts them in one place. On top of that, their design is pretty awesome.

Awwwards.com is something that I found thanks to my friends over on Google+ (thanks!). You’ll notice it’s spelled with “www” which is quite clever since it’s a site dedicated to, “recognize and promote the best web designers in the world.” I’ve definitely bookmarked it! You should too!

CSS-Tricks.com has helped me on many occasions when I was looking for some inspiration. Not only that, but I’ve learned a ton from reading their tutorials. Even if you don’t know anything about the code side of things, this site is a gold mine of information!

SmashingMagazine.com is the go-to resource for web-designers and graphic designers. They are (in my humble opinion) the greatest place to find out about trends in the industry, and gain valuable insight on how to grow in your craft. Bookmark it now.

Graphic design

I love being a graphic artist, and the following sites make me love it even more!

Kuler.adobe.com is a brilliant concept of a website, where artists can share color pallets with each other! A great way to find quality color schemes to incorporate for your next project.

DesignMoo.com is a community of graphic artists who love to discover and share awesome work! Here you can find tons of free PSDs and AI files from brilliant artists just giving it away! This site has helped me countless times when I was in a pinch for graphical elements that I didn’t have the time to build from scratch. I don’t go more than three days without using it.

Dribbble.com is a lot like DesignMoo, with less emphasis on resource sharing. It is more of a “show and tell” site for artists to show off things that they are working on. There is not really an emphasis on free downloadable content, but a great site nonetheless.

Envato.com is the entity behind a grip of sites that offer all sorts of creative resources. The best way for me to explain what it is exactly, is to just let them speak for themselves:

Our mission is to help people to earn and to learn, online. We operate marketplaces where hundreds of thousands of people buy and sell digital goods every day, and a network of educational blogs where millions learn creative skills.

You’ll notice in my sidebar on this site I always keep a few links to some of their marketplaces. For the professional designer (graphics, 3D, flash, audio, code, video, themes, etc.) this is a site you absolutely need to be a part of.

Abduzeedo.com was introduced to me by my friend Louie (he’s a super cool guy). This site is run by Fabio Sasso, a brilliant graphic designer who started this site back in 2006. Just take a look at this bit from their history:

Founded in December 2006 by Brazilian designer Fabio Sasso, Abduzeedo follows Sasso’s own experimentations and records his abduction by the world of design, which set the theme for the blog.

What began as a means for backup after an ugly robbery, is now one of the design world’s most sought after blog for inspiration and tutorials.

How cool is that?! This site is, by far, my favorite source of inspiration, and I’m sure you’ll understand why, once you visit it.

That’s all I’ve got! There are definitely a lot of sources of inspiration out there, but these are my most highly recommended by far. I hope you found them helpful!

Are there any sites I missed that you’d like to let me know about?