Are Children Immature Adults or Adults Atrophied Children?

It was the first lesson in the course. 

The teacher was treating the students (adults) like a class of eight-year-olds, and the students weren’t so happy about it.

They were instructed to mix up black paint and to imagine a clown in a one-wheeled bicycle, and to paint the marks that the clown was leaving in the paper (with the wheel).

At this point, the students were a bit anxious. The teacher kept describing “The clown cycles on and off your paper and he does all sorts of tricks, so the lines he leaves on your paper are very interesting…”

All the students had a mess on the paper except one. One student was still planning how to demonstrate his “superior skills" to the teacher. After all, this was the first class and he wanted to make a great first impression.

Then the teacher asked to put colors in all the shapes the clown had made.

“What kind of colors”? The students asked… “Any colors” said the teacher. “But do we have a limit in the colors we can use?”.... “Nice colors, nasty colors, whatever you like” responded the teacher.

The students keep struggling, not knowing exactly what to do. Then, the teacher instructed to put patterns on all the colors. Again, the students asked “What sort of patterns?”... “Any patterns” responded the teacher.

The struggle continued, with the students wanting to get it “right”. They kept asking questions… thinking and planning.

At some point, the students finished the exercise and the teacher took some paintings and spread them around the floor. It was the same exercise done by other students. The colors were beautiful, the patterns were inventive. The students were thinking that this had to be the work of an “advanced class”.

Then, the noticed something very peculiar… the paintings were signed in very scrawly writing and they even had some typos. This is when they realized that this was the work of little kids. The paintings were done by eight-year-olds!

The teacher always started this way because he believes that the art and creativity were “in” the child. The job of the teacher is to bring that out.

Are You Letting Your Inner Child Play?

Kids don’t worry… they don’t want to get it right… they just do.

Finding that balance, between letting your inner kid play, while doing so with a purpose, is the key to beautiful marketing that leaves your audience in awe while also leading to an action.

That is what we do at Elisha Consulting.

Are you ready to Elevate Your Brand? Stop thinking… start doing.

Events happened in real life (from Impro, by Keith Johnstone).