The Height of Creativity

by Kristi Willis

In a recent Getting the EDGE course in Salt Lake City, a participant approached me with an “aha” observation. He told me, “I have always thought of myself as a creative person and have resisted having a system because I thought that was rigid. What I’m realizing today is that having a system is going to let me be more creative, not less.”

I exclaimed, “Exactly!”

I also think of myself as a creative person – I write, cook, create my own greeting cards and dabble in a craft or two. I had also always fought having a system because I thought it was going to take time away from my creative activities. What I didn’t realize was that having to dig through paper, e-mails and electronic documents to find what I needed was taking away significant, valuable time from my creative pursuits. I was spending a lot of energy keeping track of things and now I get to use that energy on new ideas, which is MUCH more fun.

For me, the beauty of the EDGE system is that it’s pretty simple. It took a few months for it to become second nature for me (I’m a slow change adopter), but now that I’ve got it down, I can organize my incomplete tasks quickly and easily and know that I can find them again when I need them. I no longer have to worry or stew about them or carry my work to do’s home in my head over the weekend. I can turn my attention to more creative pursuits because I have a system I can trust.

In the last two years, not only have I made great progress in my work goals, but I have compiled 2 cookbooks, made over half of my holiday gifts for family and friends, started a small company for my greeting cards, and created a personal blog about cooking (http://www.austinfarmtotable.com/). I couldn’t have done any of it if I didn’t have the EDGE! Woo Hoo!