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August 2004 Contents
I. Creating from Your Strengths
II. Energy Management: Translations from the Psych Research Lab, the Board Room, and the Shrink’s Couch
III. Friends in Print: When you feel like reading
IV. Creative Links
V. Newsletter and Info: Sharing this newsletter, subscribing, and unsubscribing

I. Creating from Your Strengths
During this summer season, you may be a bit less involved in creative work. Maybe a few blitzes of packing and unpacking. House guests or road trips. Maybe sitting in a booth at a fair. Not a bad time to take mental inventory of how your work is going and how you’re using your strengths. Here are a few thoughts to get you going:

What strengths do you have specific to your visual medium? Composition? Color? Narrative? Texture? Tonal values? (I’m sure you can identify more and, in fact, win a prize for doing so. See box below.) Scan the table of contents in your favorite art or design books. Think of recent positive comments made by people looking at your work; they may reflect responses to a strength you have been taking for granted.

Another way to identify strengths is to review your job history for skills that apply to your current medium. Even if the work was repetitive then, these overlearned skills have an ease when you apply them now. I have seen how experience in desktop publishing, looking at slides in a medical lab, and the measuring and chemistry of cooking can add to an artist’s visual vocabulary and backpack of techniques.

When you have a momentary lull in your summer events, start a list of your creative strengths. Write them down in a way that can be posted, pondered, and added to. Some of my clients add color and images to create a skill map.

Often our strengths become familiar old workhorses. You might have the urge to spend time learning new skills when the old ones feel a bit boring around the edges.  Remember, boredom can be a sign of a stuck place that precedes a breakthrough. Consider, instead, articulating your strengths more clearly and pushing on further with how you use them. A good inventory of the strengths you routinely rely on and a conscious awareness of how you’re using them are good for building confidence.

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II. Energy Management: Translations from the Psych Research Lab, the Board Room and the Shrink’s Couch

Creativity Itself as a Strength
Any good career counselor can tell you the trick to finding work you love is the fit. It’s not a question of not being good enough but of finding the spot where what you are good at is valued.

It appears that career counselors have been far ahead of research psychologists who have only recently developed the emerging field of positive psychology, a scientific study of strengths - what people are good at, as well as positive traits, emotions, and moods. A recent publication, Character, Strengths, and Values*, is a thick sourcebook where the editors have pulled together what is known from research about the positive aspects of humans rather than about our traumas and troubles.

Of the 27 strengths proposed, several are directly related to making art: Creativity, Curiosity, Open-Mindedness, Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence. Many more are useful. I often appreciate the Persistence and Bravery of my coaching clients, strengths which are pivotal to their progress.

If you’re reading this, you already have Creativity as one of your strengths. Remember, there are millions of people who look at the simplest creation, maybe even from a kit, say, “Oh, I could never do that!”, and they never do. The editors define Creativity in terms of both originality and results that make a positive contribution. Studies focus on either results, process, or the creative person. Creative results research struggles with the many difficulties in rating both quality and quantity of creativity. Research on the creative process is limited to ways it can be studied in the laboratory and underlines the importance of divergent thinking where people are open to many answers, more different types of answers, and those off-the-wall rare responses.

Research comparing creative vs. non-creative artists and scientists comes up with predictable characteristics of the creative ones: independent, nonconformist, unconventional, openness to new experiences, flexibility, risk-taking boldness. One generality is that creativity is not linked to measured IQ. Bright people are not necessarily creative; creative people, however, are above average IQ.

Now that Creativity is included in the official bible of positive psychology, we can hope that more research will come that is reflective of working artists and craftspeople.

*Peterson, Christopher and Seligman, Martin. Character, Strengths, and Virtues. 2004. Published by the American Psychological Association. This is a reference source, not recommended for reading on its own.
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III. Friends in Print: When you feel like reading
Click on amazon link for book details and to support breakTHROUGHArts.

Seligman, Martin. Authentic Happiness. www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0743222989/breakthroug00-20

Seligman presents a readable overview of positive psychology and its implications (“even for a grouch like me” says the author.) Includes an earlier catalog of strengths which does not list creativity on its own, but groups it with Ingenuity/Originality/Practical Intelligence/ Street Smarts.   

Bolles, Richard. What Color is Your Parachute – 2004 Edition. www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1580085415/breakthroug00-20
The classic guide to self-assessment so you can decide what you want to be and do with your life. A way to map your general work-related strengths and skills, if you really fill out all the forms and assessments. An associated workbook makes this more inviting. One of his distinctions important for artists is comparing your strengths in three arenas: working with things, working with people, and working with ideas.
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IV. Creative Links.
www.authentichappiness.com  On this site, you can take a quick assessment to identify your top five signature strengths according to the categories used by Seligman and his buddies.

www.jobhuntersbible.com This is the official site for Richard Bolles’ ongoing work. Even though it focuses on job hunting, the rich resources for clarifying your skills and strengths warrant some browsing time.
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V. Newsletter Info 
E-mail changes. To change your e-mail address, subscribe, or unsubscribe please e-mail connect@dianereardon.com. If you use a spam filter, please add this e-mail address to your list of approved senders. This material is included on the breakTHROUGH Creativity Coaching website (www.dianereardon.com). All material is copyrighted ©, 31 July 2004, Diane Reardon. All rights reserved. Visit the website for back issues and details on scheduling a complimentary one-hour coaching session.
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