22-08-2019 – The Imagineering Suite, Amersfoort (NL)
The six basic elements of a working product – The Basic Urge
Today we will looking at the six part system that I introduced in last weeks’ blog post. (In case you missed that, please refer to this link: http://flowdiver.com/2019/08/15/16th-of-august-2019-the-six-basic-elements-of-a-working-product-introduction/)
In this blog I want to discuss the basic urge. Last week I said that there is no pre-defined order to the six elements that make a working product, but still for most people the basic urge will be the first subject that will be looked into. And that makes sense as well, because an urge is required to create a need to create something. When looking at the concept of the basic urge, I always try to remind myself of one rule:
Every basic creative urge is equally valuable.
This might sound weird, but there is a logic to it. As I said in earlier blogs, many people feel the internal urge to create things in their life. This is part of our nature. Some people want to draw, others want to write and others want to make music or sing for example. The very foundational urge to do such things, is fundamental in the process to actually go out and do something. If your urge has a strong foundation, you will go out and do it. That’s how that works. Most of the time you are not even aware of this process. The cause and effect dynamic between the ‘urge’ and actually ‘doing’ something is often done incredibly quick in our brains and 80% of those processes take place without us actively noticing.
Still, often it seems that fulfilling these basic creative urges is not something that happens naturally.
One of the biggest problems that people encounter is that they neglect their basic creative urges and therefore never actually take the step to create something of their own. A lot of people are pragmatic and practical by nature. There is a good reason fort his. Our society and the world around us tends to praise those who have an outlook on life like this and this corresponds with the contributions we do to society.
It’s just that… sometimes the urge to make something, is not practical, useful or even relevant to society at all. And then the logical questions are sure to follow, like: Why would you make something? Is anybody even remotely interested in this? Can you make money with this? What does this add to the world? Will people look at you weird for making stuff at all? All these questions are logical to various extents, but these question also diminish the basic creative urge.
Often I meet people that tell me that they feel the need deep inside to create something, but due to practical/utilitarian thoughts like these end up demotivating themselves to do anything at all. By doing this, you are neglecting your basic creative urge and diminish it’s inherent value. The problem with that is, that you really do want to make something, but you don’t due to practical reasons… And that can lead to quite an unhappy feeling indeed. Because you are not paying your subconscious the attention it deserves.
And therefore it can sometimes be good to counter these practical questions, with counter questions such as: Does this need to have a bigger purpose? Can’t I just make something to make myself happy? Is it a bad thing that this does not serve a greater goal to society? Isn’t it maybe just my business and nobody else’s?
Funny thing is, that once you actually take this internal conflict head-on, the concluding answer is often quite simple: No, of course it’s not! If your subconscious gives you the urge to do something creative and it makes you happy, then THAT is the reason to do it. The satisfaction and happiness that you will experience when listening to your subconscious and undertaking something creative at that moment, is the highest achievable kind of happiness there is! Fulfilling your basic creative urges can therefore be a very helpful element in understanding yourself better and feeling better in the process. You can almost say, it’s one of the best forms of selfhelp.
Speaking of this whole concept of selfhelp: We live in a day and age of selfhelp guru’s that all say that ‘You should love yourself’. To be honest, I often feel like vomiting internally when I hear people say that, because it often doesn’t reach beyond platitudes without any real direction. It’s all nice and dandy to say loving yourself is important, but how do you actually do that then?! The answer tot hat question is often available for ridiculous prices in selfhelp courses, expensive books and all that jazz.
I am aware that I am offering creative coaching through this website and that this can come across as a ‘Pot meet kettle’ kind of situation. In the end I want to help people and I appreciate it if I can make some money with that. But I speak on my personal terms when I say that I have a hard time listening to those ‘alround truths’ as described above. Yes, we know we should probably love ourselves more, but at least come up with something direct that makes sense then!
My apologies for that little detour there, but the point I want to make to get closer to personal happiness is: that I believe that if you give yourself the space to creatively develop yourself, you actually show yourself the love that you need and deserve.
And at the end of the day, the reason why you start with something doesn’t matter. Perhaps you want to be rich, or maybe you want to express something that has been bothering you. Maybe you want to create something to steal a special someone’s heart or maybe you just want to do something to deal with the negative emotions inside you. It doesn’t matter what your motivation is, as long as we can return to the one statement:
Every basic creative urge is equally valuable.
And I think that if you are able to listen tot he basic creative urges that come from your subconscious, creativity will flow again and you will be more in sync with your real self. And perhaps… that can help you learn to love yourself as well.
Of course I cannot guarantee that all this will work in equal terms for everyone, as every person is in the end different. But I can speak from personal experience that my creative processes have pulled me through many negative experiences in my life and I do believe it can serve that purpose for everyone that is willing to open themselves up to it. Sometimes we just need to listen a bit better to our basic creative urges and take them seriously to achieve that.
See you next week!
Tom
