Principles of Creativity

  1. Diverse communities nurture creativity.
  2. Identify and build on your community assets.
  3. Celebrate good memories of your community by finding and recording those things that make a community special.
  4. Phrase “problems” as “challenges” by viewing them as opportunities for improvement.
  5. Failure is a necessary component of success.
  6. Take nothing for granted.  Dig deep and ask the right questions.
  7. Visualize your community as you want it to be.
  8. Connect the dots between what you have and what you want.
  9. Look for inspiration in what other communities are doing.
  10. Start with a theme (goal) and work backwards to plan your implementation.
  11. Defy denial.  Doing something is better than doing nothing.
  12. Make it fun and keep at it.
Created by Becky Bowen J.D. for the NC Thrive Program