YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE ARTISTIC TO BE CREATIVE. Whoever told you that, lied to you. Creativity is not art, skill, or luck. Creativity is a problem solving skill that can be applied to anything.

1. HOWTOBECREATIVE
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BY: JORDAN COEYMAN

2. introduction
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I have come to have a set of seven mantras that I live my life by. I put
them into steps for this very specificly broad topic.
Creativity has been the reason for my growth. It’s not about the
chemicals in your brain, or what religion you subscribe to.
I am not a religious person. I consider anything a possibility. And I’ve
come to trust my way of thinking, as it has started to reap rewards I
didn’t think were possible.
This is intended to be infectious.
This is my way of trying to inspire you

3. A: IDENTIFY goals
You goal can be anything that you want to achieve. Creativity can be
Pick the problem or goal you wish to
applied to absolutely any other topic or subject or goal.
apply creativity to
In order to be a creative person, you must understand how to use It could be something physical, emotional, or psychological thing that is
creativity from your perspective. You don’t need to come from any you want to achieve, but you still need to identify the goal that you’re
specific ranking of intelligence, religion, or special background of any attempting to apply creativity to. Creativity isn’t something that just
kind. Whoever told you that lied to you. magically appears, it must be applied to something.
We are all different. We all have problems, and we all solve them Whatever the goal is, we are going to find an
differently. Creativity can be applied to anything. internal way to solve the problem, or achieving
that goal.
This is aimed to help you identify your own creativity, and how you can It’s all about relating it to something you connect to, and that’s where cre-
apply it to your methods of problem solving. ativity shows it’s many faces.
Start by first identifying some goals that you want to apply creativity to, It’s not about thinking about the end goal, but being more critical of path
no matter the size. You might also see your goal as a problem you are you take to get there. Forcing creativity out of something that has no pas-
trying to solve. sion is impossible.
Our goals we all have are most likely the area of our mind that leads us We all have our own obstacles in our way to creative freedom, and
to get really excited about something, to feel inspired. admitting your own problems is step one.It up to you, and only you, to
determine what is honestly stopping you from achieving creative free-
It has to be something that your are passionate dom.
about, or this framework alone will fall short of helping you achieve
your creative goals. You can’t compete without a competitor, so you need Identify the problem or goal you wish to apply
to identify what it is you want to accomplish. creativity to

4. B: TURN excuses into challenges
“I don’t know how”, “I was never taught that”, “I You need to be really honest with yourself, and admit that most of the
don’t think I could do this”, “Someone told me I couldn’t”, things that are stopping you from achieving creative freedom are in fact
“Someone came up with this idea already”, “I can’t fix this just excuses you tell yourself.
problem”, “I am terrible at..”
You can’t have emotional walls up, or you won’t be able to break new
All excuses you should try to view as challenges in your way from ground in any manner. It’s one of the most important things about
obtaining your goal. These beliefs are limiting your imagination and not achieving creative goals, is allowing yourself to be wrong- putting yourself
allowing your creativity to shoot from your fingertips. out there.
Imagination is the problem solving tool we use to figure out how to beat Turn every excuse into a challenge that requires
these challenges. Replace every internal belief you have that limits your your imagination to solve.
progress with just one idea:
Your imagination is at work, even when you don’t realize it. When you face
“we have endless amounts of imagination inside of a problem, your mind is using problem solving skills. When you use those
us. that means we have an endless amount to give problem solving skills, you use some amount of creativity. The amount that
out, and we won’t lose a thing” is applied, can be adjusted- once you can recognize it for what it truly is.
Everything needs to seem like it’s just a challenge now, when you identify You’re about to be in a constant mode of “doing”. You need to put yourself
your burning passion. Everything that you face as a challenge will have a out there, and stop making excuses for everything you do, no matter how
new perspective once you’ve identified your burning passion. uncomfortable it is.
That’s how you start to plan out your strategy, challenge by challenge.
Identify the objectives in your way from completing that goal, no matter Identify your biggest internal beliefs that are
how many they are or how large they may be. limiting your creativity

5. C: thrill your role
Equally as important as identifing goals, is real- down that dream, and never ever take ‘no’ for an answer.
izing what you have immediately available to you
to help possibly get you in the right direction. Don’t let anyone tell you that your dream is stupid or unobtainable.
Creativity is not talent, nor is it luck. The most successful people in the
It could be one thing, or a combination of things from your personality that world believe that luck is created, and this framework has helped me
all work together that fill you with passion. Usually it’s the thing we want become “lucky” throughout my entire life.
to be the most.
It’s not a matter of asking who do you want to be like, it’s a matter of
People often say “they don’t know who they are”, or “they don’t know how” deciding what your convictions are, and what makes your creative energy
when it comes to something that requires their creativity, and the fact is: explode. Do what you do, and do it well.
neither of them are anything other than excuses. They need to identify
what’s they deeply want to be, and start there. Don’t just fill your role, whatever it is. Thrill it.
Whatever problems/goals you have from step 1, you need to identify what Identifying your strengths is equally as important as knowing what is
you can do to bring your passion into it. stopping you. These are your weapons when you go into battle vs your
enemy. Not everyone has the same weapons, but were all born with one,
That’s the second step to finding your creative freedom- identifying you might just have never learned how to use yours.
the route which you will take to accomplish your goals, or solve your
problem. If something makes you feel that burn- No matter what you’ve considered to be impossible, you must convince
ing passion inside, then recognize them as your yourself that you can do it- and the larger your challenge is, the more you
creativity signals alarming you. Those are the things you can accomplish, not the more you have to. Force yourself to think: I am
want to foster, and you will start to harness that raw energy. lucky to have the opportunity for this challenge.
Embrace your passions with your whole heart, and don’t take your Identify the thing you want to be known for, when
passions for granted. Embrace and understand what your role is, the one you imagine yourself accomplishing your goal or
that fills you with raw energy. Who cares where what other people say defeating your problem
your talents are, sometimes that isn’t where our creative hearts lie. Chase

6. X: make yourself uncomfortable
Go ahead, start something. Anything. Now that you have your problems Nothing will push you further to your creative limits than to test them.
identified, your challenges staked out, and your identity locked down.. You need to go out and start “doing” whatever it is that fills you with pas-
The only thing to do is face the uncomfortable sion. You need to start tackling those newly identified challenges, and
feelings that come next. make yourself feel like you’ve never felt before. It’s not about feeling
comfortable, it’s the opposite. When we are uncomfortable, we start to feel
It’s not about the goal your trying to accomplish, but instead it’s about the those negative feelings bubbling up inside, and we just keep remembering
process of thinking that it takes you to push your comfort limits. There that this is the feeling of progress.
is an incredible amount of learning that comes from breaking your own
personal boundaries. That uncomfortable feeling is your creative mind’s
way of teaching itself new things, and you need
Start by looking at your challenges, one by one. These are the things that to start to love that feeling. It’s not going to be nearly as
will most likely make you feel uncomfortable, but will cause you to have worse as you anticipated, and if it is: just be proud of yourself for doing
exponential learning. You need to know that the feelings are holding you something that challenging!
back from actually accomplishing those goals, and then you need to
start to seek out those uncomfortable things. Loving the feeling of personal growth, in any facet, is one of the most
worthwhile creative efforts you can do. It’s so rewarding to finally put
There is no shame in being bad at something. There should be shame in myself out there sometimes, where in the past I had been so scared of
not trying. You must persevere through something that is awful before you those uncomfortable feelings.
can see the benefits of it. Tackle your challenges, one by one, or all at a
time. Use your tools to get there, and keep your goal in mind to stay in- Just because we’ve tried to use creativity as a method of problem solving,
spired. doesn’t mean it’s creative. That’s where the next step comes in, so you can
start to validate your efforts.
The very first step at being kind of good at something, is to be really bad at
it first. That’s why we are trying to focus harder on those times when we Identify the things that make your stomach turn,
feel uncomfortable, because that’s the areas we should target. It’s where that bubble in your throat, when you think about
we have the most potential to learn about ourselves. doing

7. Y: trust other people
Do not let someone tell you that can’t do something. That is the trick to step No matter how many times or how painful another person in your life has
5, is being able to turn those words that used to defeat been in your past, you need to learn to trust them. That is the only way
you into what they are meant to be: feedback. you can really find those people who DO want to help you. And even if
they don’t, reverse that thinking: it’s just feedback. If you are focusing on
Has anyone ever told you that you suck at something? Or are you like most feedback alone, you will crumble.
of the population, and you tell yourself that you suck?
If you find that burning passion, have a goal in mind, determine what is
Well that’s backwards, because you should get feedback on your problems stopping you, then start putting yourself out there, the next step is to start
in order to gain perspective. The lack of feedback is the only thing that to see the human resources that are all around you, waiting for you to use
should truly scare you. them.
You need to start to hear other peoples words as what they really are- just Ask for help, and more importantly, be receptive
words. Listen to what their motivations are for telling you those words, and to help. Show those who can help you that burning desire, however
you can start to identify the really impacting people who can help you on you can. Those who have the internal burning desire can recognize it in
your journey to creative freedom. You will inspire them, if you feel inspired other people. It’s not some weird hippy-talk, what I am saying: it’s real.
yourself to accomplish your goal. Using creativity in business is how leaders excel. Using creativity in the
workplace is how you set yourself apart.
Just as important as putting yourself out there, is
trusting that you can handle whatever is going to Applying creativity to any activity you do, will ultimately product more
happen, using your imagination. Handling the outside world in- innovative results. You have endless power with your imagination, and
ternally, and being able to focus on the things that give you an equal amount of you accept that. So imagination lies within us, right? We have an infinite
focus back. supply of anything inside of us, then we can infinitely output imagination
and have absolutely no loss of energy.
You must learn to trust other people, no matter how many times you’ve
told yourself not to, or no matter how many times you’ve sworn off Identify the times in your life where you’ve had
trusting anyone else. your trust burned, and what you will do to pro-
tect yourself internally if it happened again

8. Z: love to be wrong
Learn to love finding your flaws, and learn to I love to have my assumptions reverse, and my ignorance cured. I find
test your convictions. myself awaken to new possibilities every time I find an error in my own
thinking. There is a moment of shame, of course, but the benefits of
We can’t walk around with our heads held so high that we can’t see what’s correctly addressing a recognized problem in your own mind set can change
right under our nose. We need to be constantly figuring out new ways to your life.
expand our personal growth.
Don’t have prejudices about anyone other than yourself. Make yourself
Never think you know it all- you’ll become a target for someone else to work so hard, you don’t have to ever worry about what challenges are go-
pursue their creative dreams. The key is to find your passion, and run ing to be thrown at your way. It’s just another thing you learn from, and
with it. Never stop moving, and no one will ever catch up to you. Seek the then make yourself more valuable through the process.
pleasure in being wrong, but do not confuse this idea with assuming you
are incorrect. Now, this mind set puts us in a prime situation to do one thing a lot, which
is something I often do:
You need to have deep understanding of your beliefs, but you must also
be constantly seeking ways to test your convictions. You won’t have to try to always Apologize for being wrong,
spend your time constantly spending energy seeking new material to learn and don’t get mad, just learn from your
from-- you can be living, breathing and accepting new information if you mistakes.
adapt your mind to love to be wrong.
Not only do I apologize frequently for my mistakes (because I always
Never stop seeking the truth, and never stop ques- seek to find them)- I do my best to not repeat the same mistake. That is
tioning your own beliefs. You have to be able to defend every- something that has proven a very simple but effective tactic in
thing you believe in: to the death- but you should believe in this saying: becoming a better listener, writer, designer, developer, friend, boyfriend,
son, and brother.
“I love to be wrong”- and say it with a sense of humility. You don’t
actually love being incorrect in your beliefs, but you love when something Try to remember the last time you had to
you thought to be true is in fact not true. You should consider yourself apologize for being wrong, and try to think of
lucky, because you have the opportunity for growth. how you handled it

9. ?: be impatient
It’s only true if you adopt the rest of this mind set: don’t wait for any-
one else, just start moving. Stop waiting for anyone, or anything, or even Never settle for anything less than the complete dedication to fueling that
to finish reading this in order to start. We all waste our time burning desire in your stomach. Do not let that fire go out, and do not let
waiting, watching, and wishing. anyone put it out for you. It has to be a forest fire of desire, then creativity
is just a product of that effort.
Stop waiting for someone to help you, and help yourself. If something isn’t Your creative output is measured by your internal input-- how much cre-
working out like you hoped it would, move onto something else. Never ativity flows from your fingers is controlled by how you point those fingers
settle for standing still, in a world full of opportunities. at yourself. Invest in your passion.
You can now use your imagination better than ever before, because you to learn fast, You must move fast and learn along
now realize something most people don’t: the way, creativity is not a slow process, the speed
can be adjusted by the person applying it: YOU!
Imagination is infinite.
We all have imaginations, therefore we all posses something that is by Always be recognizing your goals and problems, and how creativity can
definition never-ending that we can use at our will. Not enough people re- help. Never accept an excuse ever again, call them challenges.
spect the power of imagination, and that is just a shame.
Be constantly searching for those uncomfortable feelings- they lead to
Once you learn how to use your imagination to produce results that are growth.
external, you won’t ever be the same again.
Trust other people, forever. Love to be wrong, and you’ll never stop learn-
Impatience is a virtue. It’s the process that you ing, and most importantly:
learn to love. It’s a process of learning through
personal discovery, while you move forward on Never sit around and wait for something to
your dreams. happen, use yoru imagination to get it done now!
Without your burning passion in life, you’re probably going to be very
depressed most of the time. I know I was, for right around twenty years.

10. conclusion
I hope to have stirred some thoughts into your life.
If I have failed at my goal of helping you become a more creative person,
please contact me:
E-mail: Coeyman@gmail.com
Facebook: “Jordan Coeyman” - http://facebook.com/Coeyman
Twitter: http://twitter.com/acoyfellow
If you have any creative ideas for me, any questions: Do not hesitate to talk
to me.