Thinking about the way my creative brain works I stumbled upon a method that I developed way back when I was learning photography (which I eventually did exclusively for about a decade and still love). This framework has helped me develop my creative mindset and I attribute it to any morsel of creativity or success that I have ever achieved.

I call it creative deconstruction… here are the basics. Ia m recording a podcast about it that will be out soon.

The way it looks in my brain is a lot like those war-room scenes in action or sci-fi movies where the commander is writing on a glass screen that you can see through. You know the type I’m talking about?

I’ll use photography as the example, but it applies to any creative endeavor.

When I was learning photography and defining my creative choice and style, I was voracious about taking in other people’s photography. Instead of just directly trying to replicate it, I would take it apart. In my mind it was like those images of mechanical things laid out in parts and pieces on a table.

For a photograph, I would look at a slew of images that I liked and photographers I admire and I would mentally take apart their images…

Where is the light source? What is in the background? Where is the focus? What is the subject? What is the composition? Where might the photographer be in relation to the subject? What lens might they be using? What might the settings be based on a few assumptions I am making about the scene?

And perhaps the most important questions…

What is it about this image that I like? Is it the composition? The lighting? The editing? The subject? The focal point? What am I drawn to? And then… what is one thing I can do in my next photoshoot to incorporate some aspect of this? Just one thing I can do?

Honing in on an aspect that I could incorporate into my work made all the difference in finding my unique style. I wasn’t copying the image as a whole. The likelihood of me being able to do that in most cases was nil. But also, I don’t want to rip anyone off. I want to be unique.

And so, I learned to, in a moment, completely deconstruct an image and choose a skill to practice. I grew an incredible skill from this one practice.

And now, I look at the world this way. Creativity isn’t confined to colors on a canvas. It’s in the way we design our days, which makes our lives. It’s in how we create businesses that serve us. It’s in how we engage with the world.

To walk through the world as a sponge and allow anything in which we come into contact to add to our lives and inform our creativity, that requires deconstruction.

I encourage you to take everything apart. Look inside and take the pieces that serve you. You might be surprised at what you find as well as what you can make of it.