Stop trying to be creative, start cooking dinner

Artwork by Betsy Freeman. All rights reserved.

The phrase “let’s get creative” has a 0% success rate. If innovation showed up on demand you wouldn’t be reading this.

Cooking actively invites creativity, without scaring it off.

Understanding and harnessing creativity is “at the heart of all we do” from independent artists to giant corporations. Everyone is here to relay the secret to the creativity vending machine (with a subscription to the newsletter, or purchase of the product now on sale, etc).

Do not be fooled. Creativity will be insulted by demands. Creativity will only consider making an appearance at a lively event of interest.

Cooking is the opportunity to invite creativity to a lovely dinner.

Cooking kicks off a regular date with creativity.

No one has time for a regular date with creativity, but everyone needs to eat.

Careers, family, car trouble… no one has extra time lying around, yet we all claim we’d like more time to be creative. Harness the human need to eat to skirt past life’s excuses. Whether cooking is the end itself, or simply the kick-off of another creative pursuit, cooking is the hall pass to get started.

Because there is no chance of catching creativity unless making is in motion.

Cooking removes the restraints of linear thinking.

The linear left brain will never stop believing and then failing to force creativity into submission.

Particularly after a long day of “work-life balance”, transitioning from goals and action items to abstract exploration is no easy task. “Let’s get creative” is another to-do that escalates in frustration with further brute force. Cooking is like an alcohol-free cocktail of activities to tone down the loud noise of an over-active left brain and turn up the sensual, present, and open right brain. From smelling pungent spices to making in-the-moment decisions, cooking leaves no space for analysis paralysis, the death of creativity.

Cooking requires full body engagement that creativity cannot resist.

So stop that news years resolution willpower “to be more creative”, and just cook dinner.