Member-only story
Screw Your To-Do List — Following Directions Kills Your Inner Artist
The plan is not to make a plan.
From an early age, we are told to “follow the directions,” but is this the right thing for a creative person to do?
This week I had a lunch meeting with a group of new hires. During lunch, a couple of VPs joined and asked the new people if they had any questions. One of the people asked, “What does the company expect from us?”
The VPs looked at each other, laughed, and said “We want you to follow the directions.”
I work for a pharma company that makes intravenous drugs, so this is to be expected. There are rules and regulations to ensure the drugs we make are safe. If you don’t follow the directions then people die.
They are the guys who have every meeting on their phones. They have regimented lives. They wear what the company tells them to wear. They preach what the company pamphlet says. There’s no originality or spontaneity.
But what if you are a creative person — do you follow the directions?
Only color inside the lines?
Never journey off the beaten path?
Keep on the straight and narrow?
Hell no.
