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Does Happiness Kill Creativity?
The 5 Stages Of The Creative Mindset
A former mentor of mine used to quote this phrase.
I don’t want much. I just want MORE.
He used that phrase to reference his endless desire to make more sales, generate more income and acquire more stuff. The quote also resonates with my creative side — rephrased to my liking.
It doesn’t matter what I did yesterday. I want to do something better tomorrow.
We never seem to reach the pinnacle of satisfaction in our creative endeavors.
The optimist would say that the lack of satisfaction drives us to experiment, create and risk. A lack of satisfaction with our current state has propelled humanity forward and is responsible for everything from paper clips to iPhones.
Creativity ebbs and flows. Mine peaks in the throws of discontent. It suffers in times of high anxiety or contentment. My goal is to keep my state of mind in the Goldilocks zone of the creative mindset continuum. There are five major points: actualize, content, discontent, angst, disgust.
Actualize
You’ve reached the point on your creative journey where all you satisfied all your dreams…
