Creativity Was Never Meant to Be This Serious

// Big started it all.

It was this last Sunday and I was laid in bed, two kids perched on the end of the bed for Fathers Day and we're all staring at Tom Hanks as he jumped up and down on the piano in that scene from Big where he's exploring the world in an adult's body as a 13 year old and he's got that naive fun streak which attracts people and means that he lands a top job at a toy company.

It's not because he's a kid, it's because he's being himself - thats what I saw when we watched the film together. My wife had never seen the film and the kids were a little bored as there was no death lasers nor explosives but it was good, wholesome family fun - the kind of films they don't make anymore.

But there's a scene towards the end of the movie where Tom Hanks character is sat at his new corporate desk and his best friend (who is still 13 and in a childs body) comes into his office to tell him that he's got the list of fun fairs back from some government department and they can finally find the Soltar machine and wish himself back into a childs body. Tom starts shouting at his friend that he's too busy, that this is important stuff and he doesn't have time for that right now.

Pow.

Love that bit. It's a stark reminder that we're all focusing on the wrong things, the friendships, our kids and having fun should be the priority but quite often, work and life get in the way.

The sparks of creativity, the fun in testing his toys and the 'being himself' which attracts not only a highly paid job but also a girl all slowly melt away because of the pressures of corporate life and towards the end of the film, you see him slowly become more upset and he hates his job, he walks out of a product demo because he just wants to go back to being a kid again and it's hard to watch (well, it was for me).

The kids got bored once he'd stopped having fun as an adult - it became just another story once he'd started to conform with his boss and the pressures of life and they slowly exited the bedroom to go and find something else to watch or do, but Tina and I watched the whole thing..

// The link.

The whole film reminded me of the huge swathe of social media content which people produce online and why they think that being the adult in the room will attract business.

The brigade who are constantly 'delighted to announce..' or 'pleased to be working on..' on Linkedin and who don't ever show a glimmer of child's play because it's a professional platform for real business people..

As it was Fathers Day this weekend, my eldest son came to visit me and we sat chatting on Saturday night about his job, what he wants to do for the next few years with his career and (because he's older and lives away fair bit away from me) it was a weird feeling because I was having adult conversations with someone who only 4-5 years ago would only talk about Star Wars, lightsabers and was exploring the world of sci-fi (he's now a fan of the Dune films..)

He's shifted from an element of joy and curiosity to a space where he's becoming more professional and I don't blame him, we all have these pressures and deadlines, rules and regulations mean that we can't find a space where joy can thrive but he's still got some of that in him.. he's been quickly promoted in a fast food restaurant over the last 2 years and is now on the cusp of becoming an assistant branch manager in a new branch opening up quite close to his house so he's had to be thrust into the world of 'being the leader' which has moulded him in some way.

He's also the 'Sustainability Champion' for his current branch which has pushed him down a route of focusing on recycling, energy efficiency and when he's talking to me about having meetings with energy consultants about the temperature of the air conditioning in his restaurant, you can hear how grown up he's become.

But then the very next day, we text and he's spent most of the day playing Minecraft - he's still battling to remain child-like and have that space where he can feel alive.

// Creative Projects

We all start those creative projects with a sense of joy and curiosity - starting out on Facebook, Instagram or getting a new phone or bit of tech all mean we once started something fresh and new - who can remember the early iPhones where the most fun thing to do was to have a 'virtual pint' where the phone screen filled up with beer (digitally) and to drink it, you tilted the phone and it appeared like the beer was being drunk from the top of the phone..

Now, if you type in 'virtual pint' into your App Store, it's been taken over by pub brands, drinks rating app's and remote control devices for your home brewing kits. The fun has gone, even in the App Store.

The early days of the App Store, the messiness of the old Facebook timeline and the flip-flopping you did at the start of your career (like my son, Will) are all reinforcements in the fact that we need to start messy because that's where creativity lies.

It’s the same with anything creative. You start with curiosity, then someone hands you a set of rules. Or worse - you start imposing them on yourself.

"This should be more professional."
"People won’t take me seriously if I say it like that."
"Maybe I should tone it down a bit."

Suddenly, the thing you wanted to make turns into a thing you feel like you have to make - its where those people on Linkedin come from (you know, the stuffy ones I mentioned at the start) and you stare at a blinking cursor and start second-guessing every post.

You start writing like the LinkedIn brigade and the fun goes missing.

That’s the tipping point Tom Hanks hits in BIG. He stops exploring and starts presenting.

Stops saying “yes” to what excites him and starts saying “no” to the things that matter - his mates, his spark, the reason he even got in the room in the first place.

The problem is, this doesn't happen all at once - my eldest son didn't suddenly start talking about air conditioning temperatures, it's crept in slowly - one training session at a time.

// The Reminder

So I’ve been thinking a lot this week about where that tipping point actually is - the moment where we shift from doing things because they feel fun and energising, into doing them because we feel like we should and it’s not always obvious.

It doesn’t come with a warning, it’s usually something that creeps in quietly, disguised as being responsible or professional or grown up.

And none of that’s bad, by the way.

I’m not suggesting we all sack off our jobs and spend the day playing with Lego (although some days, that might be preferable) - but I do think there’s something important about remembering the bit of you that used to do things just because they made you feel something - because they were interesting, or new, or because you were curious to see what would happen if you just gave it a go.

That’s what BIG reminded me of on Fathers Day. Not in a cheesy, inspirational quote kind of way - but in a very real, very human kind of way.

It’s so easy to fall into patterns that feel like progress but are actually just polished versions of what you think you’re supposed to be and the problem is, most of us don’t notice it’s happening until it’s already chipped away at the good stuff - the spark, the joy, the reason you started in the first place.

So maybe the better question to ask is this: where have you slowly started to edit yourself?

Where have you stopped doing something because it felt silly or unproductive or too ‘out there’?
Where have you become overly cautious, overly polished, overly 'in your own head' about what’s allowed?

Because when I think about the work I love - the projects that feel alive, the ideas that actually go somewhere - they all started from a place of not really knowing what I was doing.

They weren’t perfect. Most of them were messy, or a bit too ambitious, or came out of nowhere on a walk or a conversation or some random flash of energy and they only got made because I didn’t overthink them.

That’s the feeling I want more of.

Not for everything to be neat and clever and ‘on brand’ - but for it to feel real, for it to feel like it’s mine and for it to have some fun in it.

So this is just a small reminder, maybe more for me than for you, that it’s okay to start something that isn’t clear or tidy or client-ready. It’s okay to chase an idea just because it excites you. It’s okay to say yes more - to the weird stuff, to the new stuff, to the stuff that might not go anywhere but might also go everywhere.

The important stuff is the fun.

Start there. Build from there.