from make-believe to must-achieve: how adulting killed our creativity
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part 5 (of 5):

Our Path Forward: A New Creativity and Innovation Process

But First, Here's What We Know:
Recap of Part 4 (of 5): The Creative Paradox = Idea Deserts and Idea Hoarding
  1. An ideas desert is a cultural and social environment where genuine originality has been replaced by repetitive iteration
  2. Us hoarding our ideas is literally holding back desperately needed transformational change in society
  3. Toxic productivity has led to action faking, which is ultimately keeping us from executing our ideas
man walking down graphic, black and white streetman walking down graphic, black and white street
This essay is a resounding wake-up call making people everywhere question everything – and finally take action on executing the ideas that matter.
part 5 (of 5): The new creativity and innovation process

Our Path Forward - We must reclaim our creativity and refresh our vision for our lives, then commit to executing our ideas by building the environment to actually support them.

It's time to block out the noise.

Isolate yourself and put your phone on do not disturb to silence your notifications and any other distractions (cough cough, social media). It’s time to get quiet so you can be purposeful in intently hearing and listening to what your inner self has to tell you in this last page of the essay.

This page is all about you.

It’s your permission to be selfish and finally start dreaming again, exercising creativity again, and igniting passions that may have faded over the years.
It’s time for you to examine the scope of your entire life and get honest about what’s working and what isn’t, what’s in your control or sphere of influence to change and how, and for you to paint a new picture of what you want your life and impact to look like moving forward.

You’ll find prompts at the end of each section, in a box like this, to get your creative juices flowing and give you a glimpse of what we explore inside our immersive visioning retreat, Purpose Prototype. Grab a notebook and pen!
I want to call out that you should not expect for anything we discuss on this last page to be a simple, quick, exercise.‍
Not giving ourselves enough space and time to dig deep and create (or refresh) our vision for the future is what landed us in this space of a creative recession and ideas desert.

It’s also why I created this company, The Visionry, to give us the space, roadmap, tools, and peer support to reverse it.
Mother and son looking out the windowMother and son looking out the window
DeAnna McIntosh, Idea-to-Execution Strategist, and son, in her office

The Visionry was born from me finding myself in this same place, of being in a creative rut, my former business not feeling aligned anymore, and constantly questioning all of our life systems after I gave birth to my first child. 

Things got real and became serious for me when I opened the door to my beautifully curated office, sat down at my desk, and could not stop crying off and on for the entire 8 hours I was there.

I immediately found a therapist and went on a journey to learn myself again, reignite my creativity, redefine what success meant for me, build a vision around that success, and start taking tangible steps to execute that vision.

In the process, I identified multiple life systems I’m passionate about innovating, which you’ll see on this site - but I’m only one person and can only do so much on my own.
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Instead, I created The Visionry, to be my vehicle to empower other Visionaries also passionate about making an impact, to execute their ideas - because the collective difference we can make is far greater than what I can achieve alone.

your idea partner

I designed The Visionry to be your life-long visioning and idea management resource - making sure you never lose sight of the bigger picture of what your personalized success path is - and to constantly give you the tools and support to achieve and refresh it as it evolves over time.

I want you to know that doing the work described on this site (that I have personally walked through and truly still am.  As you will see this an infinite journey) is so critical that if you take your time to fully think through each step, the roadmap you will develop as a result will be life-changing, impact driven, and will give you the answers you’ve been searching for on how to best utilize your talent, skills and passion to create work and a life that is authentically meaningful.

And it’s all fueled by executing your ideas.

Beyond The Default Success Path

Most of us have inherited someone else's definition of success - one that was handed down through generations, shaped by cultural expectations, or absorbed from the highlight reels of social media.
Yet the most powerful shift happens when we take the courage to pause and ask ourselves a seemingly simple question: "What if my version of success looks completely different?"
This isn't about rejecting ambition or achievement; it's about consciously crafting a vision of success that resonates with our deepest values and most authentic aspirations.
Maybe it's about measuring wealth in moments rather than millions, defining progress by personal growth rather than promotions, or gauging achievement by the lives we've touched rather than the titles we've earned.

Once we give ourselves permission to reimagine success on our own terms, we can begin the deep work of reshaping our lives to match this new vision - and that's when things get really interesting.

woman looking out the windowwoman looking out the window
When you start questioning what "making it" really means to you, it's eye-opening how your answers might differ from the traditional markers of success - the prestigious title, luxury living, and high 6-figure salary.

Maybe you start to realize that your version of success has more to do with personal fulfillment, meaningful relationships, and having the energy to actually enjoy your life while contributing to something larger than yourself.
Your Prompt:
Take some time to work through what your personal definition of success is and write it down.

Reigniting Your Creativity

Just a reminder - we are all born with the potential to be creative, and it shows up differently for each one of us. One of the easiest ways to discover how it naturally shows up in you is to take a creativity assessment.  A simple, but effective one that I like is the Adobe Creativity Types Quiz.

Your Prompt:
Take the free creativity types quiz and let me know if your results are spot on!  DM me your results on LinkedIn or Instagram @deannajmcintosh.
man working in neutral living roomman working in neutral living room
plantplant

Exploring Your Creativity

Another self-assessment you can take that analyzes your personality at a deeper level is 16 Personalities.  It is freakishly accurate and will actually help you connect the dots of things that have happened over your lifetime that led up to this moment.

Self-Rediscovery

Reigniting your creativity is a refreshing journey of self-rediscovery that can dramatically shift your entire sense of purpose.  Those moments of feeling stuck aren't a dead end, as discouraging as they are; think of them as an invitation to approach your potential from a fresh, exciting angle. Think of this as a personal renaissance, a chance to reconnect with your creative spirit that's been quietly simmering beneath the surface of your day-to-day life.

New Ways To Play

Start by giving yourself permission to play and explore without judgment.  Try some small, bold experiments: take a different route to work, learn a completely new skill for just one hour a week, or challenge yourself to capture three unexpected observations each day. The purpose is for these to be doorways to new perspectives. Imagine each small action as a spark that could ignite a wildfire of inspiration.

Seeking Possibility

Your brain loves novelty, and these mini-adventures signal to your creative self that you're ready to wake up and engage with the world in a more vibrant, curious way. One of the best ways I keep my creativity activated is to always ask the question “why”.  Asking why enables me to constantly stay curious and let my mind explore multiple possibilities in every situation.  The most powerful vision comes from consistent, intentional exploration.
Your Prompt:
Set up a "possibility practice" that feels exciting, not overwhelming.
Maybe it's a weekly brainstorming session where you give yourself complete freedom to dream (we have these often inside the Purpose Prototype Retreat idea space), or start an ideas journal where you capture wild ideas without censoring yourself. Celebrate every single idea, no matter how small or seemingly ridiculous.
Keep in mind that by doing these activities you're not just generating ideas; you're giving yourself permission to believe in your own potential again. The point is to “shake things up” and see what ideas you generate as a result.  Your creative vision is like a muscle—the more you exercise it, the stronger and more reliable it becomes. Trust yourself, be patient with your process, and know that you have countless unique gifts waiting to be expressed.

Reclaiming Possibility Through Visioning

Picture your life like a blank canvas, waiting for you to paint your own masterpiece of meaning and fulfillment.

Once you've freed yourself from the societal definitions of success, you can begin the transformative work of creating a clear, compelling vision for your life - one that reflects your authentic values, deepest aspirations, and the legacy you want to leave behind in the world.

This is much bigger than goal setting; it's about imagining the full entirety of your ideal life and the positive change you want to create.

Maybe that's building a business that solves a pressing community need, dedicating your skills to a cause you believe in, or weaving small acts of impact into your daily life.

Your vision becomes richer and more powerful when it extends beyond personal achievement to also incorporate the difference you want to make in others' lives.

building your dream homebuilding your dream home
Visioning is bigger than just goal setting.
We often dismiss daydreaming as unproductive, treating our imagination like a distant childhood activity. Yet the ability to vision - to dream boldly and vividly about what could be - is arguably our most powerful tool for transformation, and our ideas are how the vision becomes realized. It's in these moments of unfiltered imagination, when we give ourselves the power to release from the constraints of "reality" and "practicality," that our most brilliant ideas take root.
Making space to dream shouldn't be a luxury - it's a necessity. Whether it's through morning journaling, long walks in nature, sitting in a peaceful meditation, or joining a visioning coworking session (we have these inside the Purpose Prototype Retreat), we have to intentionally create pockets of stillness where our minds can roam and our creativity can breathe. This is where we begin to see beyond the life we've inherited, to the one we truly want to create. Our most transformative visions don't emerge from endless to-do lists or packed schedules - they come from giving ourselves space to dream again.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
Your Prompt:
Block off dedicated time on your calendar in the next week to dream and vision about what you envision for your life, based on your new definition of success you created in the first prompt.

As you begin to vision, you'll organically begin questioning, and reimagining, the systems you engage in every day - work, life, and play.

Let's explore together what this reimagining might look and feel like.

01. Reimagining Work Systems

As your new vision takes shape, you'll likely notice how your current work setup might not align with these deeper aspirations, especially if you're prioritizing things like peace of mind, creative projects, making a difference, or being present for life's important moments.

This realization opens up an exciting world of possibilities for reimagining your work life. Your path might lead you toward entrepreneurship if you're craving autonomy and want to build something that serves others, or it could lead you towards a role that lets you work remotely while supporting causes you care about. Some people find their lane running their own purpose-driven business, while others thrive with a portfolio career that lets them tap into different passions and skills while creating impact in multiple ways (multi-passionate people thrive in this career format).

man working on his laptop with a glass of water looking to his leftman working on his laptop with a glass of water looking to his left
Your new vision may reveal that your current work is misaligned with your purpose and impact.
The key is recognizing that work shouldn't be an obstacle to your vision of a successful life, but instead, a thoughtfully chosen vehicle that helps drive you toward it - and toward the positive change you want to see in the world. After all, isn't that what real success should feel like - having your work enrich your life and the lives of others instead of consuming it? This is definitely included in my personal definition of success.
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When you’re in the process of reimagining work, if you aren’t an Entrepreneur and don’t have plans to be, make sure you make a list of what you want to see and feel when working for an employer.  What is the ideal work culture and schedule?  Do you prefer a place that is more corporate and structured or flexible and independent?

Intrapreneurship

Something you can look out for is if a company promotes intrapreneurship, which is a concept that we help companies build frameworks and systems around.  Investopedia defines intrapreneurship as “a system within a company or organization that allows employees to act like entrepreneurs. Intrapreneurs are self-motivated, proactive, and action-oriented individuals who take the initiative to develop innovative products or services.”  Companies that prioritize intrapreneurship value and promote creativity as an integral part of their culture, and participating in it gives you the opportunity to flex your creative muscle often, even sometimes on project teams outside of your actual role.
Your Prompt:
Write down your current work landscape. What energizes you? What drains you?  What do you wish was different? What do you need more of?

02. Reimagining Life Systems

As you reimagine success and have started to craft a more purposeful vision for your life, you'll likely find that your entire approach to daily living needs a thoughtful redesign.

The systems and routines that served your old definition of success - likely designed around maximum productivity or climbing the corporate ladder - might feel misaligned with your new priorities of impact, presence, and personal fulfillment.
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You might find yourself questioning long-held habits around technology use, social commitments, or even sleep patterns.  Could be that your morning routine shifts from rushing to reflective, your living space transforms to nurture creativity versus efficiency, or your approach to time revolves around energy management instead of endless optimization.

family eating and cookingfamily eating and cooking
Redesign your every day to be life-first and impact-driven.
This also extends into how we approach parenting and education, questioning whether traditional schooling and parenting methods truly align with the values and capabilities we want to nurture in our kids.  Potentially it means exploring alternative education models that foster creativity and critical thinking, or reshaping family routines to prioritize connection over constant activity.
The beauty lies in building new life systems that actually support your vision instead of sabotaging it - creating environments and routines that make space for deep work, creative thinking, meaningful connections, and the impact you want to have in the world. This isn't about following someone else's "optimal" morning routine or productivity hacks; it's about thoughtfully crafting daily practices and environments that align with your unique vision of a well-lived life, both for yourself and the next generation you're helping to shape.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
Your Prompt:
Write down all the life systems you interact with on a daily basis (for example, education, personal care / medical, housing, your routines). What energizes you? What drains you?  What do you wish was different? What do you need more of?

03. Reimagining Play Systems

When you start redefining success through a more expansive lens, you may or may not be surprised to find yourself craving the lost childhood art of play and actual leisure.

It’s possible you'll realize that your "downtime" has become just as scheduled as your workday, filled with workouts, errands, and networking events rather than true exploration and joy. The exciting emergence of third spaces - community-driven environments like collaborative workspaces, maker labs, creative studios, and intentional social clubs - is living proof of adults craving more playful, unstructured interaction beyond home and work. These spaces, which blend learning, creativity, and social connection, represent the start of a collective reimagining of how we spend our time and engage with one another.

adults playing twisteradults playing twister
How big of a role does play have in your life currently?
Embracing play invites you to reconnect with what actually lights you up - maybe it's taking an art class just because it intrigues you, joining a recreational sports league for fun instead of competition, or spending your nighttime taking a calming walk instead of doom scrolling on social media.  It might mean trading some of your "productive" hobbies for ones that simply make you laugh or feel alive.

This reimagining of leisure often filters down into how we connect with others too, moving away from status-driven socializing toward genuine friendships built on shared interests and authentic conversation.
You will start to find yourself seeking out people who share your curiosity about life, forming book clubs that dive into meaningful discussions, or exploring these emerging third spaces where spontaneity and play are not just welcomed, but celebrated. It may even emerge from your visioning that you need to create these spaces or groups for yourself.

This work is all about creating space for spontaneity and surprise, remembering that some of life's most meaningful moments and connections come not from careful planning, but from following our natural curiosity and allowing ourselves to simply play.
Your Prompt:
What does play mean to you?  What are your hobbies and how often do you engage in them? What do you do for “fun” (activities for the simple happiness of them, not for productivity or monetization purposes)?  What physical places do you wish existed (but are actually waiting for you to launch them)?

Commit To Executing Your Transformational Ideas and Build The Environment To Support Them

Once you have done the visioning work to create a picture of what you envision your future project, business, or overall life to look like, it’s time to actually build out your ideas of how to realize your vision.

This is where The Idea to Asset Model truly comes to life.
It is my proprietary creativity and innovation process that helps you create your vision for the future and carry your vision from idea to execution.  Where most creativity process models focus primarily on idea generation and narrowing down the ideas to a singular concept to test and execute, our process incorporates visioning as the first step and building out a supportive environment for the ideas to thrive, and provides comprehensive tools and human support to help manage the entire ideation process and innovation execution.

Many of us have ideas, but few of us actually execute.

Having me and other Visionaries as your idea partners = heavy on the life-centered visioning and ideation, heavier on the actual execution and impact measuring.

a new creativity and innovation process

The Idea to Asset Model

The Idea to Asset Model is a 3-part, 8-step creative process people use to generate, build out and execute their ideas.
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As the name suggests, when you execute your ideas they convert to assets, in the form of impact and financial currency, so that’s the perspective the model is described in to give you an easy way to translate it to your own ideas journey.

Part 1: Visioning

Designing The Big Picture

accumulate

Accumulate different visions you have of the future.

These visions are big picture things that you have that you may or may not end up pursuing in your lifetime, but have likely thought pretty deeply about. Once your visions begin to accumulate you will put them in your idea database.

stash

Stash all your initial ideas on how to bring your visions to life.

You'll stash your ideas in your database. Your comprehensive dashboard + database of your ideas serves as your idea pipeline.

Part 2: Ideation

Generating Limitless Possibilities

invest

Determine the initial investment to bring your idea to life.

When you're ready to select an idea to explore further, disburse the idea from your idea database and decide where and how you will invest in bringing the idea to life.

diversify

Diversify and deepen your idea.

Next, take your idea and begin to diversify the range of the idea by adding elements, bringing in new perspectives, trying different brainstorming techniques (I have over 100 to share with you).

merge

Merge the elements into a singular concept.

Now, you'll take your top concepts / elements and merge them into the one concept you want to move forward with.

Part 3: Implementation

Bringing The Strongest Concept To Life

compound

Compound concept-specific ideas.

You'll take your concept and compound more ideas specifically around that concept to add depth and more value (interest) to the concept.  You'll then create the actual plan on how to execute your concept.

trade

Trade your concept for currency.

Once your concept is fully built out, you'll bring the concept to market and trade it for currency (impact and / or financial) / result, for example, if your concept is to build a container home community for the unhoused, you will trade the execution of that project for the impact of lessening the number of unhoused.  Or if your concept is around adding a new service offering to your business model, you'll trade your concept for revenue.

accrue

Watch your idea currency accrue.

Your impact or financial currency will continue to accrue over time.  You'll measure the effectiveness of your concept, make any updates, and document any learnings.  You'll deposit those learnings and any new ideas that have sparked back into your idea database, until you're ready for them to be disbursed.

select another idea from your database to pursue
the idea to asset model x your ideas

Here's How I Use this Model To Support Your Ideas

01. visioning

Purpose Prototype

During this 2-day immersive, virtual retreat, we will build your vision and map out your unique path to impact, minus the pressure of getting everything "perfect." Think of it as a living, breathing vision blueprint for your most meaningful life—where you're the architect, and iteration is your creative fuel.
02. ideation

Concept Catalyst

During this 30-day collaborative sprint, you’ll select your most promising idea from your visioning work (no more guessing which idea you should pursue), brainstorm transformational elements to deepen and strengthen your idea, and ultimately merge the most impactful elements into your final concept.
03. implementation

Vision Velocity

During your 6-month residency, you will take the execution plan for your final concept and bring it to life. You join an intimate, curated circle of changemakers who will challenge, support, and hold each other accountable to turn their visionary concepts into real-world change.
Thank you for reading the essay! I'd love to support you in executing your ideas.

First Step:
Design your Purpose Prototype.

A living, breathing, blueprint of who you aspire to be at any point in your life

The part that nobody tells you about bringing ideas to life, is that most people start backwards.

They get an idea, quickly chase after it, execute it, but then wonder why it still feels like "something is missing".

It's because an idea that isn't rooted in your deeper purpose is just another distraction.

When you get clear on your life vision first, everything changes.  Your ideas stop being random thoughts you throw on the wall to see what sticks, and become intentional expressions of your purpose and impact.

This is why the Purpose Prototype Retreat isn't just another visioning workshop – it's the foundation for every meaningful thing you'll create.

On this last page of the essay you completed some prompts to get you started on this visioning work, and inside the Purpose Prototype Retreat, we take a deeper dive into all the possibilities of YOU.

explore the retreat
Intrapreneurship Consultant DeAnna McIntosh sitting on a couchIntrapreneurship Consultant DeAnna McIntosh sitting on a couch
Essay written by DeAnna McIntosh, Idea-to-Execution Strategist
share what came up for you:

From Make-Believe to Must-Achieve: How Adulting Killed Our Creativity

I would love to hear any ideas and thoughts that popped up as you were reading the essay!
All Essay Pages:
all essay pages:
laptop on desk with paint supplies
part 1
Getting To The Heart Of What Creativity Actually Is (And Isn't)
toddler girl playing
part 2
4 Life Stages of Creativity: How It Manifests Throughout Our Lifetime
black man working, pondering
The Professional Spillover of Personal Creativity Scarcity
person in sand dune
part 4
The Creative Paradox = Ideas Desert and Idea Hoarding
man walking down graphic, black and white street
part 5
Introducing: The New Creativity and Innovation Process

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The Visionist

This audio newsletter is your weekly permission slip to dream and reconnect with the vision inside you.

Your vision isn’t as deep or impactful as it could be because you’ve been limiting it to annual vision board parties full of wine and good intentions.

Every week we’ll explore a thought-provoking new prompt, concept, technique, or tool designed to spark transformative ideas. This isn’t just about ideating, it’s about reimagining the life you want to create and the impact you want to make.

    (Don’t worry - our spaces and your inbox will always be free of mental clutter).
    A Think Tank In Your Ears and In Your Inbox
    I'm so glad
    you're here!

    You're in the right place if you have been curiously questioning the status quo and are ready to develop and execute your groundbreaking ideas that will reshape the way work works, life is lived, and how impact is realized.

    DeAnna McIntosh
    Idea-to-Execution Strategist

    On this site, we explore:

    How to convert our strongest ideas into powerful assets for change and impact
    What creativity is (and isn’t), how it evolves throughout our lifetime, and why it’s critical to our success to activate it
    A new creativity and innovation process to build out your ideas and manage your innovation projects
    Using Intrapreneurship as an employee engagement + retention tool and innovation engine inside your organization

    Start Here:

    artist dipping paint in color palette
    We're In What I'm Calling The Great Adult Creativity Recession
    Read the breakthrough essay making people everywhere question everything – and finally take action on executing their ideas that matter.
    Visioning Shouldn't Be Confined To Annual Vision Board Parties
    Instead of making vision boards (too big picture and unactionable) or 5-year plans (too rigid and inflexible), we should make purpose prototypes.
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