Creative Minds

As we grow up, we forget to tap into our creative side. After a certain age, we stop viewing creativity as an essential part of life and we start to focus on what’s in front of us. Many of us may not realize this, but we use our creativity and imagination every single day. It can be as simple as taking a different route to go to school or doodling in your notebook. When we are young we are taught to be as creative as we can. We create a bunch of different stories, paintings, science projects, and more. The difference between young creativity and mature creativity is that when we are, for example, still in kindergarten we have to be creative within the prompt that is assigned to us by our teachers. As we grow up, it’s up to you to fully use your creativity. Steve Jobs (Apple), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), and Travis Klanick & Garrett Camp (Uber) have all used their creativity in order to create something that wasn’t there before. For our students - find something you like to do, and explore that creative outlet. Don’t choose to do something only because it will look good on your resume. Once you find your niche, your mind will expand to new horizons and possibilities.

Do you think creativity takes courage?

Yes, yes it does! When you use your brain for creative purposes you imagine all sorts of things. Some of them may not be the best ideas, but some of them may be amazing. The part that requires courage is the part where you make your thoughts become a reality. When you create something new it can be a very humbling and vulnerable experience. When everything is still inside your mind, the only person that can judge what you are thinking is yourself. But, once that product or service is out in the world, there will be many people criticizing what you did. However, there will also be a lot of people that will praise and appreciate your genius creativity and wonder, “how was I living without this product before?!”. Creating something new requires creativity as well as courage. At the end of the day, you’re creating something new. You’re trusting yourself (and your team if you have one) that your product will succeed. Sometimes it won’t, but that doesn’t mean you stop there, it means you keep going and learn from your past experiences.

You could say that Stephanie Soetendal is courageous for creating an educational method that is rarely seen in today’s education field. She had guts and stuck to her dreams and ideas in order to create something from nothing. Determination, courage, and perseverance are all strengths needed to make your creative mind become a reality.