Tool Box, Ladder and Lightning: the 3 S’s of the
Co-Creator Series

By Diana Rivera

I'm a total believer that when an achievable idea clicks, it happens quickly and effortlessly (at least at the beginning) and then it sticks. It's as if the tick-tock of the inner clock finally strikes at the moment of some timed conception. It's as if it was pre-designed, pre-orchestrated, pre-choreographed in the waiting room of ideas.

I had that experience recently. I was considering the dynamic advancement of creativity amongst my colleagues. Some ideas stood out to me: in order to advance in one's creativity as an act of experimentation or as a profession, it might rely on the enhancement of one's skills, strategies and/or synergies. This idea struck me so intensely as if it had been pre-determined in some way so I decided to build an on-line program/podcast called the Co-Creator Series to address this.

I am wrapping my head/heart around this matrix. Here it goes:

Skills are the tool box you are working with. Many of the tools may have been passed down from mentors, developed through intensive training, on the job and/or gifted to you let's say...pre-birth. Sometimes we need new skills for our advancement, be it learning a new computer program, becoming proficient in a foreign language or taking a class in production.

Strategies are a wooden ladder reaching a sky. They are aligning steps that lead to a goal, an objective, a master plan, a big picture. When an organization garners support for a strategic plan, it directs attention to where the ladder leads. When an entrepreneur decides on their strategy, he/she ultimately builds the ladder with their tool box.

Synergies are a bolt of lightning. They are the connective, energetic threads formed in the sky that strike down at times serendipitously like when two strangers meet at a cafe and they become essential to each other's work; or two long-term collaborators who finally reconcile the ending of their script; or a moment in nature when a guiding question becomes imminent. Synergies are the elements of dialogue in the physical and metaphysical world one inhabits that finally pop.

With all that said, I had that dynamic moment where there was synergy between skills and strategies. At that moment, I crafted the goal and brainstormed the first wave of interviewees quickly and effortlessly as if the idea was pre-conceived and I finally stepped onto the ladder.

Points to Ponder:

What's your tool box looking like these days? What might be one new tool that could make a difference for you in building the ladder? Also, what synergistic partnership in your life might support that ladder? •

© 2010 Diana Rivera. All rights reserved.

About the Author | More by Diana Rivera
Diana Rivera is a Performing Artist, Producer and Facilitator of drama, arts-integration in the classroom and creative empowerment coach. She is a graduate of Theatre Arts and American Studies at the UC Santa Cruz, and has been trained with A.C.T., the San Francisco Mime Troupe, Pig Iron Theatre Company and the International University Global Theatre Experience in Riga, Latvia. She resides in Los Angeles. Visit Diana at her at her Wordpress blog and Creative Empowerment Coaching Web site. Diana is also the Creator and Host of the Co-Creator Series which is all about the 3 S's — the skills, strategies and synergies — that get creativity into productivity.

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