Everyone has interests, but what do you do with yours? Maybe you love sports as long as you don’t have to work up a sweat. Perhaps you watch HGTV but have never handled a hammer or picked up a paintbrush.
– Robert Fulton’s steamboat started with an artist’s brush. –
Our society encourages us to consume – whether it be food, movies, apps or just “stuff.” I get it. It’s easy to consume, and it’s hard to create. But constant consumption without creation will leave us feeling empty.
We Don’t Like Messes
Creation is a messy process. It forces us to work through the imperfect, the incomplete. Two of America’s greatest inventors learned to create in an art studio before migrating to the workshop. Whether covered in paint or grease, these guys wowed their contemporaries by embracing the creative process.
Robert Fulton covered canvases in paint before he turned to tinkering with machines. Ultimately he invented a submarine, a torpedo and a steamboat.
As an artist, Fulton did not excuse himself from creating something practical because he’s “not a technical person.” As an inventor, he did not separate himself from art because he’s “not an artistic person.” Rather than make excuses, Robert Fulton practiced creating.
Texting in 1835?
Contrary to popular opinion, Steve Jobs did not invent telecommunication. Long before texting, email or even telephone existed, lived a man named Samuel Morse.
– The Morse Code was named after an artist who dabbled in electrical engineering. –
Passion and practice made Morse a respected portrait painter. In the habit of creating art, Morse was of the right mindset to invent the telegraph – the predecessor to texting – in 1835!
Take Action!
Take action to become a creator. If you enjoy music, try singing or playing an instrument rather than just listening. If vehicles catch your eye, do a little maintenance yourself rather than taking your car to the shop for every problem. If you love food, make time to cook or to plant a garden! Creating is work, but it is very rewarding.
If you develop a habit of creativity now, there’s no telling what you may invent someday. But if you fear trying, you are guaranteed to create nothing.
Now get out your wrench, paint brush or LEGO bricks and make something. Someday that practice will pay off.
Be sure to check back this Thursday for The Brick Idea’s first VIP Guest article!
Question: What is your first memory of creating something new? Do you have a project going on now? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
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