Hour By Hour Creativity is Your Power

Hour By Hour Creativity is Your Power: The clocks now hour. On this particular occasion, it silently struck at 3 AM. Which in turn created a restless sleep. You might guess that creativity never truly rests. It can strike at any hour. Wouldn't it be a benefit to all if there was a timepiece that incrementally called out, "it's time to be creative." Our brains would just tune in and bask in that nurturing creative hour. Unfortunately, such a device does not exist. Creative thoughts and ideas have a sometimes annoying way of showing up when it may be most inconvenient. But when they do, they can be life-changing for the individual and life-changing for society as a whole.

The story: "For all intents and purposes, it was a restless night, to begin with." It was not meant to be for Tazwell, an early to mid-1900s mining engineer, in a small town in the Colorado Rockies. Taz normally got a good night's sleep because his daily work required a lot of concentration, stamina, and of course, very long hours. Early to bed, early to rise was the motto for all those that worked in the gold and silver mines of the region.

"I should be sleeping deeply," Taz thought to himself as he looked at the pocket watch lying next to his bed. There was enough moonlight coming through the small isinglass window to clearly see it was 3 AM. This was an unusual occurrence; rarely did Taz wake up that early in the morning, a full two hours before it was time for him to start the day.

Like a bolt of lightning striking out of nowhere, the wide-awake at 3 AM, Tazewell had a remarkable vision of how to improve a particular piece of mining machinery that ultimately improved efficiency and safety for the hard-working miners. In those days, people did not pay too much attention to patenting their inventions. Taz's contributions were understood and appreciated by the miners and the mine owners; they celebrated what he had contributed to mine safety and production efficiencies.

Conclusion: What does this story have to do with the title, Hour By Hour Creativity is Your Power? I'm happy to tell you two things. Tazewell Jones was my grandfather. Secondly, brilliant ideas that lead to creativity can strike anyone, anywhere, and at any time of the day or night. My grandfather shared that concept with me when I was a boy. Every time it happens to me, I nearly always think of my grandfather. You know, if you are creative, it surely happens to you. In my case, I like to think of it as a family tradition. If you ask anyone you know, you'll discover it's almost always pervasive in everyone's family.

The key to success when it comes to brilliant ideas showing up at all hours of the day. You must write them down. Consider them a gift; make that a precious gift! The most interesting thing about these ideas is they can be very fleeting. And sometimes, all too easily forgotten. Write them down, and build on them. So many times, you will discover that there is a chain of these brilliant ideas that can be tied together. Ultimately creating an idea that can change the world. And surprising creative ideas can pop into anyone’s mind at any hour of the day, that has happened throughout the time mankind walked the earth.

"For no apparent reason, my mind lit up in the middle of the night. Within a heartbeat, a troublesome problem that had been haunting me was solved in a most creative way." Rod Jones Artist-Writer