Christmas is coming.
My son has been already excited, talking about what he will ask for Santa. He is also hoping to get some of new Lego sets from his parents, too!
He loves Lego. So do I.
As the general rule I am not encouraging kids to expect new toy one after another. I am not agreeing with the tableful of birthday gifts and Christmas gifts (and Easter gifts and Valentine Day gifts and….) every year. They don’t need it. Some gifts even go straight to the garbage. It is more than discouraging, it’s literally painful to me. Although I don’t judge other people’s choice, I tend to look for something more practical and beneficial for kids. Lego is one of the very few things I approve.
However, as he gets older, his Lego collection has been getting quite large. He has his roomful of Lego.
I understand he wants a new set one after another. It comes with everything ready in a box rather than looking for each piece all over his room. His behavior is the reasonable result of Lego company’s perfect marketing strategy.
Nevertheless, as his mother as well as his life coach, I have been directing him to reconsider his endless want for new Lego sets.
One morning, he brought the Lego magazine to show me with the hope to input me the idea of Christmas present for him. The products were actually quite impressive.
I listened to him for a while, then start talking about a creative person.
A creative person thinks what he can do with what he already has.
A non-creative person thinks what he can get next.
Do you know the difference between them? How different result will they get?
A creative person knows he already has some things. He takes a closer look at each thing he has, and then he thinks how he can use it to get more. First, he is aware he has already own so much, and second, he will come up with the more use of them. He feels rich.
A non-creative person always thinks what he doesn’t have. He sees a new thing and think ‘Wow! I want it!’ But of course he doesn’t have enough money to get everything, so he starts hoping someone else helps him. People try to help him but not always they can do it. He feels frustrated because he doesn’t get enough. He feels poor.
Which person do you think is happy?
Many successful people had a difficult time in the past. They were poor, harassed or bullied. They bankrupted. They were an addict. From necessity they thought hard how to utilize what they had to change their life. Their resources were experience, knowledge, skills, people who they knew, appearance, environment, money, etc. They used whatever useful in a creative way to break through the situation.
Whether you are aware of it or not, you already have quite a few things. Everyone has something. Understand what you have, and then you start thinking how else you can use your resources.
When you don’t recognize your resources, you become a consumer and collector. What you already have becomes just a monumental object instead of useful resource. You think the only way to increase your asset is to get more things from outside. This mentality creates more waste and inefficiency, which makes you stressed and/or exhausted.
Michael Bahr is beautifully explaining how to enhance your creativity. You need to realize your resource and limitation, what you have and what you don’t. You utilize what you have as well as make any effort possible to gain what you need.