How do you resist judging a book by it's cover?

Our minds are lazy and want to take the easy way out. Impatiently demanding to classify what it sees with the least amount of effort based on its own experience. Efficiency reigns king. It takes a lot of brain power to live with uncertainty and patiently wait to understand the truth. A common emergency response statement is "the first reports are always wrong". This applies to people as well. I look at someone and the combination of a lazy brain that wants to conserve energy, with a quick classification, and my own pride, that reminds me I am always right, ensures I spend a lot of time being wrong.

I do, however, have a perfect record of identifying the physical characteristics of a podcast guest upon completion of the conversation. I have been wrong 100% of the time. It is great sport to spend a couple hours listening to an engaging conversation with a fascinating person, who has found great success in their respective field, and have no idea what they look like. By the end of the discussion, I am giddy with excitement about bumping into them on the street and conduct a Google query to learn that my imagination missed the mark, again.

Yep, my temptation is to serve the beautiful, rich and famous first, then take care of what I perceive as the normal crowd, then take care of who is left. Yes, I know that is wrong and that is where the purposeful internal battle ensues. I intentionally don't identify the race or gender of the person that cut me off in traffic so I don't develop muscle memory that classifies "all (fill in the blank) are poor drivers". I grew up in a very white neighborhood and the predominant black influence in my formative years was the Huxtable family, the guys getting caught on COPS or those I saw on the news. I have to purposely re-write my own snap judgment about the young black male driving a Mercedes. Assuming he is not the drug dealer, but rather a successful doctor, engineer or entrepreneur.

This is a complicated life and at times, I am my own worst enemy, however, the war is being waged. Keep your book cover; I am working on my own re-write and so might at least one other.

Going Further: What people groups do you judge most often? When have you been wrong about someone? What is a step you can take to re-write your default assumptions? What other questions on this topic sting?

Who are the creatives among you?

You can't miss them, right? They are those people that have a particular style, their hair has a dash of the rainbow and a mass of braids or their dark and brooding ways prove they are a poet on the verge of discovery. My first poetry slam had a mix of what I expected, but the other half did not fit the narrow picture I had imagined. This other half surprised me; the straight-laced school teacher, the mid-forty-something body builder and that extreme introvert from Norfolk Virginia. This experience had two effects on me; the first was to challenge my stereotypes of who writes poetry and the second was to give me a glimmer of hope that there was a trace of creativity coursing through these uninitiated veins.

Ramon sold me my cell phone upgrade today and during the conversation I learned that he is a creative. Believe it or not, selling cell phones was not his lifelong dream. I know, I know, I should have warned you to sit down for that news. He would prefer to be impacting the world through his writing, his guitar, and mixing music. There was a creative, right in front of me; the logo on his shirt just distracted me from who he really is. Our conversation inspired each of us to redouble our efforts to produce content. Shouldn't this be the result of our interactions with others; to leave them better than we found them? 

Writing this post has had a couple more effects; the first is to prompt you to have the courage to do a bit of naval gazing and determine how you might be creative; then take the first step towards cultivation of this dormant talent. The second effect is for you to express your gratitude to those around you who are expressing their creative genius. These souls are creating something to be put into the world and risk criticism and humiliation. Even if it doesn't strongly appeal to you, they have dared to push back against the resistance that says they are a failure and their art is not worthy. This bravery is worth encouraging.

What is the creative stereotype you default to? How do you encourage your inner creative? How does your definition of creative expand beyond just the stereotypical arts? Who are creatives you appreciate and what about them appeals to you?