MESS-MAKING AND CREATIVITY

As a creative person, I am ADD, and it mostly serves me. I learned how to harness it. Or “surf” it, when necessary. I am also a bit OCD, so I like things organized. The adage “A place for everything. And everything in its place” resonates with me. I am also a very visual person. I like to see things, color coded as well as labeled — and situate items by category and prioritize by the degree of visibility. There is a concept in the Creativity field know as “mess-making”. It means that when you are thinking things up, developing and combining ideas, things can get messy. Think a box of crayons or pencil shavings or a pile of photos or objects, or a bunch of Post-It Notes with ideas … Or more “messy” like mixing finger paints or combining different colors of Play-Doh in a Play-Doh Factory. Then you get to organizing the mess — “converging” on priorities and developing the final creative product. But first you have to let go and allow the mess. That’s the “mess-making” part. Don’t judge the mess, just have fun! Play and letting go will get you where you want to go. Creative people make messes and then they make things better.