1 thing I learned while touring Mark Twain's house...👇

A few months ago, I shared my Powerfully Persuade Through Storytelling workshop with business leaders in Connecticut.

I had to stop by the house of one of the best storytellers America has ever known.

While there, I saw firsthand something that many people talk about but don’t make it part of their routine.

Mark Twain practiced being creative.

Every night, he’d get his three daughters together, and they'd have him tell them a story, but not just any story.

Each story, always a romance, had to begin with an oil painting of a cat wearing an Elizabethan ruff and end with a watercolor portrait they called “Emmeline,” which hung above Twain’s bookshelf.

Plus, 15 obscure objects were standing between these paintings.

The girls required their father to include both pictures and all the items in his story. 

He could not bring other things from the room into his tale.

This forced him to think creatively, and it had a profound impact on his writing.

In business, we often talk about innovating for our customers but rarely about internal creativity.

...and creativity is paramount to generating new ideas for our company.

1 thing I learned while touring Mark Twain's house...

....𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙥𝙪𝙩𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙖 𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙚.

What are you doing to sharpen your creativity?

Walks?   Music?  Journaling?

P.S. Today is Mark Twain's birthday!  🎉