I’VE BEEN PRACTICING CREATIVITY WRONG MOST OF MY LIFE BY MAXWELL SATTELE

Kids are ruthless. Kids are not only ruthless to their parents, teachers, babysitters, or anyone of authority, but to each other. Imagine yourself back in grade school. Remember all of those kids that told you that you were weird? I do. The kids that banded together and were deemed the popular kids? I do. Remember how people tried to shape themselves to become more like those kids just so they could “be cool”? I was one of them. Kids are ruthless to each other because of the relentless name calling and stereotyping to those different from the perceived norm.

As I said, I used to be one of those kids in grade school that wanted to be “cool”. I tried to shape myself to be just like the other kids in efforts to be “cool”. Man was I stupid.

Now, all I want to be is weird. Yes, I want to be “weird”. Well, different from the norm. I want to have experiences and talents that set me apart from the norm. Qualities about myself that make me valuable and different in a good way.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’ve been practicing creativity wrong for most of my life. There are many definitions of creativity but none of them call for you to think and act in a way that people view as normal. What I’ve learned about creativity is to be yourself, be different, think differently, and challenge the norm.