Think Like a 5 Year Old: Reclaim Your Wonder & Create Great Things

by Len Wilson

According to a recent Gallup report, only 13% of people are "actively engaged" in their jobs, 63 percent merely put in their time, and the remaining 24% are actively disengaged. People are bored at work, at home, in personal habits, and in their spiritual lives. Over time a pattern of loss in vitality and a shift towards fear, comfort, and consumption is leaving them feeling unfulfilled and less creative.Think Like a 5 Year Old explores a documented phenomenon in which people almost universally exhibit genius-level creativity as young children but lose it as they become adults--and what we can do to reverse this trend.With this book, learn the story of your why you had it in the beginning, how you lost it, and how to get it back, to create great things.Wilson proposes that every person is called to a life of creativity. This means knowing how you are made, reclaiming your passions, learning the craft of creativity as an act of faith, and surrendering the creative process to God."Having been made in the Creator God's image, we are born creative, yet we tend to agree in theory but disagree in practice," notes Wilson. "Respected creative thinkers such as Sir Ken Robinson, Paul Torrance, and Seth Godin offer insights, but the problem is that while everyone has this supernatural power within them, they've lost sight of it. They've given in to forces that steal and destroy our innate joy. We don't feel creative--and consequently, we don't feel fulfilled."Wilson redefines the word "creativity" using a framework of categories such as compassion, problem solving, engineering, and artistic expression. Creativity is about being attentive to and acting in response to the combination of ideas and reactions and preferences that form one's view of the world. This perspective, this unique form of expression, is the identity given to them by God and the origin of their creativity.

Genres: Nonfiction

194 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 2, 2015

About the author

Len Wilson is an author, speaker, and advocate for creativity in faith and life. He is known for his pioneering work in visual storytelling for churches and has consulted with organizations and ministries across the country. Len is the author or co-author of ten books, has been featured in dozens of articles for major religious periodicals, and has acquired leadership books for Abingdon Press, a division of the United Methodist Publishing House. He currently serves as Creative Director at Peachtree in Atlanta, one of the largest Presbyterian congregations in the country. Follow Len at lenwilson.us or on Twitter at @Len_Wilson. His latest book, Think Like a Five Year Old, releases June, 2015.

Reviews

[Maitee Arocho · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was one of those books I kept picking up no matter where I was, no matter what I was doing, any chance I had to read I did for this book. That's what I loved about it, that it kept my mind wondering and going back to it thinking, what does he have to say? With a busy work schedule and a lot of distractions, I made time for this book. I saw it as very helpful, insightful, fun read. It was very clear and to the point, the anecdotes and way he illustrated everything made it all clear in my mind that feels like it's going a 100 miles per hour. I would definitely recommend it to everyone! Definitely one of my top five favorite personal growth/development books.

[Glen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great guide to reclaiming our childhood creativity. Art, music, poetry, imaginative play ... as bad as those products of a two- or three-year old's may appear against masterpieces, they were all of our creativity before education systems, self-deceit, or just plain "life" crushed it out of us.
Len beautifully explains the several demons that perpetuate our doubts about our creativity (even that we have none). He then gives the motivation, science, and the scriptural and spiritual support behind getting yours back. Whether that is in your current job, hobby, or the need and faith to reinvent yourself creatively ... and to keep reinventing on a regular basis.

[Brannon Hancock · Rating 5 out of 5]

I regard Len Wilson's book as a kind of Christian companion to Stephen Pressfield's indispensable book *The War of Art*; it reframes the discussion about creativity around our identity as creatures created in the image of a Creator God, who wants to do a transforming work in and through us. Len's book extends other such works as well by recounting dozens of fascinating anecdotes about creatives ranging from Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) to Julie Aigner-Clark (the creator of Baby Einstein) to teach us, through stories, various truths about the creative process. While this book may not provide the silver bullet some might be looking for to becoming an ultra productive creative (but no book does, or can - all such books conclude the same thing: you have to do the work!), it is a helpful kickstart, especially for people of faith, to a renewed commitment to fulfilling the creative life for which we were created.

[Ken Willard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! Loved the stories and how he inspired me to be more creative. Highly recommend it for everyone.