How creative do you feel?
Does the idea of being creative fill you with excitement at all the possibilities or does it fill you with dread?
Does creativity feel embedded deep within your personality or does it feel far from your reach? Or are you somewhere in between?
The good news is, whether you feel creative – or far from it – there’s a lot you can do to boost it and it can bring huge rewards to every aspect of your life.
We’re going to be revealing how.
The true meaning of creativity.
When I say ‘creativity’ what comes to mind?
Many will jump straight to creative pursuits like painting, writing, crafting, and so on.
At school, there are creative subjects and then there are other subjects. Creative subjects are often seen as ‘nice’ but not as important as Maths, English, Science, and other ‘serious’ subjects.
Those who are labelled as ‘the creative ones’ may take artistic subjects as an option and others can’t wait to drop them, with the impression they ‘don’t have the gift’.
This pattern has been happening for decades.
Finding hidden creativity.
A FTSE 100 company I was working with some years ago tasked me with bringing together people from a variety of departments to explore ways to enhance customer service, believing that getting people together with diverse experiences would lead to the greatest combination of ideas.
I was asked to put on a few creative workshops to get these ideas flowing.
But, I’ll never forget the first one. There I was with all my coloured pens and interactive activities, in a room with a group of engineers, technicians, administrators, and call centre operators, staring blankly at me at the suggestion that we come up with creative ideas.
Eventually, one of them admitted how she was feeling: “I’m not sure why I’ve been invited to this workshop. I’m not going to be any use, I’m not creative at all.”
I looked around the room. “Does anyone else feel this way?”
As most of the hands went up, my mind flashed back to my days at school and the hundreds of children who had been led to believe that they weren’t ‘one of the creative ones’ because of their experiences in art, music or creative writing class.
I knew everyone in the room with me would have amazing ideas but unless I could get them to abandon the false belief that they had no creative potential, not only would my workshop be a flop, I’d have added to their sense of failure.
There was no way I was going to let that happen!
So, I asked them to instead picture their first years of school: “Did you ever enjoy playing with the paint, making things, playing games, dressing up, pretending you were kings and queens?”
For the first time, faces lit up. Then came the stories of clay pots made for mum and dad, how they’d pretended to be dragons on the school field and scared half the class, the joy of painting with their hands and more.
“That,” I said, “is your creativity”.
“Yes, but I wasn’t very good.”
“Ah, but creativity is not fine art or an elaborate sculpture or elegant prose. Those are just some examples of outcomes, great though they may be. Creativity is simply the ability to come up with new ideas using your imagination. We can all do that. In fact, I expect you come up with ideas and solve problems using your creativity regularly.”
People nodded and I expect you might recognise this too?
“We don’t have to be the next Pablo Picasso to be creative, unless of course, that’s your aim. Being creative can be something you enjoy regardless of the outcome. In fact, when we want lots of ideas, the less critical we can be the better. It’s far more effective to let the imagination flow and come back to edit the ideas later.”
I loved that, at the end of all of the workshops in that series, participants said one of the best things about it was that they discovered they’d actually been creative all these years. And, they proved it. They came up with amazing ideas.
Some even said that participating and discovering the truth about their imagination had inspired them to have a go at creative activities outside of work for the first time.
So, what if you want to boost your creativity? There are three great steps you can take to make the most of your in-built potential.
Three steps to boosting your creativity.
1. Give yourself permission to be creative.
We need to let go of the perception that creativity is ‘frivolous’ or ‘less important’ – it’s actually vital for succeeding in every field.
Creativity is necessary for a huge variety of tasks including product or service invention, problem solving, leadership, project management, and more.
Your imagination can also be used to power-up your goal setting. Imagine the outcome and all the possible ways to get there. Without creativity, the number of options becomes limited. With it, the potential for a successful outcome increases dramatically.
2. Strengthen your creative muscles.
Think of a creative activity you enjoyed doing when you were young or that you’ve always fancied doing. Maybe it’s painting, dance, singing or writing. Give it a go.
You don’t have to be good and you don’t have to do it in front of other people. That’s not the point – unless you want to do it for a challenge or a profession.
The aim is to get you used to expressing your thoughts and feelings in different ways and getting in the habit of flexing your creative muscles so they’ll be strong when you need them.
Just like when exercising your physical muscles, you should exercise your creative muscles regularly to get the maximum benefits.
Variety is key. Even if you do a lot of creative activities, trying different things will bring a new dynamic and spice up your ideas.
3. Create an ocean of ideas.
Some of the most successful people in the world come up with ideas regularly and are not afraid to experiment.
Challenge yourself to come up with three new ideas a week and write them down. It doesn’t matter where they sit on the practical to wild scale.
You don’t have to implement them all and crazy ideas push our perceptions of what’s possible, encouraging us to stretch ourselves and the boundaries of practicality.
When you have an ocean of ideas, you have a greater chance of finding a pearl. This bright idea could be the gamechanger that solves a problem and gets you noticed, opens up an opportunity, or unlocks a new avenue to success for you.
So, have fun tapping into your creativity and boosting it on a regular basis. It’s the magic ingredient to unlocking more originality and greater success in every aspect of your life.
Key takeaways.
- Many people have a belief that they are creative – or are not creative – based on their experiences at school where subjects were segmented. Creativity can be falsely associated with artistic talent that was recognised or not recognised at the time and is not a reflection of what you are capable of now.
- To tap into the power of your imagination, it can help to travel back in time to when you were small and your imagination felt limitless. Know that creativity is your ability to come up with new ideas using your imagination. This ability is always with you.
- There are three ways to boost your creativity. Give yourself permission to be creative. It is not frivolous, it is essential. Strengthen your creative muscles. And, create an ocean of ideas. The pearls you discover can open up new opportunities.