subject: Being Creative: The Black Teletubby Of Death [print this page] Being Creative: The Black Teletubby Of Death
A couple of months ago I was getting ready to start the day. Downstairs at the laptop, doing my thing. Drinking my tea, checking my emails, writing out my intentions for the day.
Now I'm still not sure how the thought popped into my head...perhaps it's best I don't know. Maybe someone was talking about children's shows. Maybe someone was talking about doom and gloom and it registered in my subconscious.
But there it was - The Black Teletubby of Death.
If you don't have kids the right age, or if you didn't let them watch television, a little explanation is in order. Teletubbies was a very popular kids show in the 1990's, with big, friendly, colorful characters called Tinky Winky, Dipsy, La La and Po. Colorful, British, and speakers of Gibberish. And they lived in a spaceship and ate only custard.
No one would ever equate them with anything evil.
Perhaps that's where the concept of The Black Teletubby Of Death came from.
Whatever it was it set me off on a full blown tangent. I immediately started picturing this in my head. And the more I talked about it, the funnier it got. I brought up the idea to my daughters, then 14 and 11. They were all set to call an ambulance for poor old Daddy.
In psychological terms this is called Divergent Thinking. Basically taking a cognitive left turn when "normal people" usually go right. It's similar to Convergent Thinking, which is taking two thoughts that don't seem to belong and putting them together to create a new construct.
Most of the great inventions, new concepts, works of art, music etc. are the result of one or both of these two. That, and a lot of patience, resource building and self-discipline to refine and improve upon the original idea.
This particular morning I was a very Divergent Thinker. I didn't take my Black Teletubby Of Death idea very far. It's in the public domain. If you want to build upon it and get the permission of the Teletubby people, you have my blessing.
But what happens if you stumble across something that turns into the next BIG THING?
What happens if you say, "NO MORE HOLDING BACK! I'm going to let my imagination run wild, even at the risk of people laughing at me. I'm going to develop my ideas and share them with like-minded people so we co-create something really good."
Worst case scenario: you give your kids a good laugh.
Best case scenario: you step into the GREATNESS each of us already has inside us.
You make new friends and lots of money, which frees you up to do whatever you want, whenever and wherever you want.
Take your ideas out for a spin! Let people see the ridiculous, crazy, wonderful best side of you. If they laugh at or scorn you, you'll know it's about them, not you. If they appreciate them and fire back a few of their own, you've got a friend and partner in the crazy manifestation process.
