What's Your 'Imagination Quotient'?

This appeared in a recent issue of Better Homes & Gardens magazine...it's a quiz for parents to take that will assist them in helping their kids develop creative skills by determining a childs' 'Imagination Quotient'. WHOA! What a concept! It's sponsored by Crayola, the ultimate creative tool. I tried to access the quiz at the link they gave (www.bhg.com/crayola) , but it's not working. You can go to this page at Crayola and download a PDF file that is a printable book of creative ideas for kids. I should say, they intend it to be for kids. Why on Earth should we adults not get to have some of the fun, too?? Download it, print it, and open up your mind!!!

Creativity and Imagination...these are highly underrated skills once we leave the kindergarten classroom. (Remember Robert Fuhlgum's book, "All I Ever Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten"?!) But they are important and valuable throughout our lives - and in business.Without creative thinking skills, coping mechanisms, and expressive outlets, we'll go stark raving mad in a world like ours. Without the ability to imagine a new product, industry goes stagnant. Without the ability to express ideas and concepts in written words or drawings or animation, communication grinds to a halt. Without respect for the time, knowledge, ability, and effort it requires to perform creative tasks, less and less people pursue careers in the creative arts.

How do you rate YOUR 'Imagination Quotient'? Are you up there at the Disney "Imagineers' end, letting your ability to visualize and create and think innovatively serve you in many facets of your business? Or are you stuck at the bottom, in Never Never Land - never never have time to even THINK about being creative, too busy with the busy-ness of business? Or are you somewhere in the middle of the two: you know you have the ability to think creatively, to imagine new ways to do things, but you second-guess your sanity when you do something out of the box and then a shall we say 'creatively challenged' person questions your innovation? What about the people around you - your family, employees? Do you value THEIR creative ideas?

Creativity, Imagination, Wonder, Exploration are all tools in our arsenals as former children. We just need to rummage around and figure out where we left them on the road to adulthood. And when we do find them, we need to give ourselves permission to use them to enhance our lives and the lives of those around us. Especially the KIDS around us. They need examples of brave souls who value the individuality and imagination inside of everyone.
As my friend Steph says, "There's a little artist inside all of us....we just need to remember where we put her!"

Besides, a world without creativity sounds like a dismal reality show to me.
One I would watch even less than RockStar SuperNova (LUKKAS????) or Project Runway (JEFFREY?????).
Yipes.