If I could describe the ETC program in one word it would be: WEIRD. And HARD.
On our first day of class, we built towers out of spaghetti. Last week, we learned how to juggle. This week, I debuted as Angela from American Beauty and learned to seduce men in improv.
Our team wrecking the competition at a spaghetti + marshmallow building contest.
I knew my program was going to be nontraditional, but I didn’t think it would be this weird.
And the weirdest thing is that the weirdness is what makes this hard. With traditional assignments, there’s usually only one right answer. But with the assignments that we receive, there’s an infinite number of possibilities. And we’re tasked with thinking of the infinite outside of the infinite, to go beyond what’s already been done. Which means that a lot of what we end up making ends up being…well, weird.
What I’ve learned from this daily exercise of thinking outside of the box is that:
Creativity is a muscle.
Being creative is not an easy task. It takes practice. I used to think that some people were just more creative than others. In reality, being creative is a muscle that you have to exercise everyday to get better and stronger. And trust me, the ETC is giving me a really good workout.
Creativity comes when you say yes.
It’s really easy to poke holes in other people’s ideas. It’s really hard to help fix them. Saying yes to other people’s ideas even when you see the flaws, can actually be surprisingly productive.
Creative potential is unlimited.
I sometimes feel like I’ve hit a wall, like I have no more good ideas left. It’s about ten ideas past that point, that I start to actually come up with the best ideas.
Although this program is a little bit painful, and a lot a bit weird, I am so excited for what I’ll come up with in the next two years. I hope it’s weirder than my wildest imaginations.
TL;DR Weird builds creativity.