definition: the use of the imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of an artistic work
Why creativity is so important to me
As someone deemed a ‘creative type’ for most of my career, it’s surprising that I’ve never given much thought as to why it’s so important to me. When our Operations Manager, Chloe Nichols, assigned me this blog topic, I made time to ponder how having a creative spirit has benefited me over the years.
I realized that creativity is a superpower I lean on every single day in my personal and professional life — and I’d be lost without it. It helps me solve problems, create compelling marketing campaigns at work and entertain my children at home. More than anything, being creative is so much fun!
As marketers, creativity comes second nature to many of us. Unfortunately, when life gets busy it can be alluring to slip into the mundane and do what we’ve always done rather than pushing ourselves toward living more creatively. If you’ve been feeling sort of blah lately, it may be time to shake things up.
Here are some of my favorite tactics for spurring creativity in everyday life.
How to get more creative in your everyday life
Ditch self-doubt
It’s a creativity assassin. Self-doubt and creativity can’t coexist happily together because one is always telling the other to shut up and sit down. Your creative brain takes over and starts making plans, only to have that inner voice pop up and tell it to be quiet. Before you know it, your self-doubt takes over and even though you long to write that song, pitch that presentation, or dance at the wedding, you’ve resigned yourself to staying in your lane. This is how we got the troupe of the tortured artist.
Ditching self-doubt isn’t about having a big ego or knowing it all. It’s about intentionally being vulnerable with your ideas regardless of how others may view them AND regardless of how your inner self views them.
Just imagine if John Lennon had decided he could only “imagine all the people” while all alone in his bedroom because his inner voice told him so. The idea of censoring yourself before anyone else has the chance to do it is a surefire way to tamp down your creative freedom. With it neatly tucked away in a tiny place inside of you, it’s not able to grow.
“If you hear a voice within you say ‘You cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.” —Vincent Van Gough
Be open to many solutions for a problem
Many of us were taught in school that there are right answers and wrong ones. In reality, most problems have far more potential answers than we can count. Try ’em all! Or at least, try to think of them all before you choose one.
Sometimes, brainstorming the most wild and wacky solutions to a problem can lead to ingenious inventions. Other times, it just leads to a lot of laughter. Either way, you’re empowering the creative mind, and you’re more likely to find something that works.
Here’s an exercise to try: At your next team meeting, encourage everyone to solve a specific problem you’ve identified in your company. It could be anything from how to more accurately label project status to something as simple as how to make sure the toilet paper rolls are replaced at the right cadence. Then, tell your team you want them to throw out every idea that pops into their head into a shared document — anonymously. Spend the next 30 minutes reading the suggestions one by one and talking through the pros and cons of each idea with the team. Address each idea, no matter how ridiculous, as though it has the same merit.
This activity not only allows people to feel free to think outside the box but also helps you get tons of solutions and maybe some great laughs. It fosters a sense of trust that you’re willing to listen to a full spectrum of creative ideas and that you value their contributors. You might be surprised at how often an idea that seems “out there” gets implemented (maybe with a few tweaks).
Have a growth mindset
I first learned about growth mindset from my kids’ elementary school teachers. They constantly brought home activities and worksheets encouraging them to think like growth-minded learners. I was intrigued. It felt like something we all should have been taught starting at age zero and should practice regularly.
In a nutshell, having a growth mindset means that you believe that your intelligence, talents and potential can change and grow over time regardless of where you start. In contrast, a fixed mindset means you believe you possess only a certain amount of intelligence and talent, and that is all you will ever have. It’s surprising how quickly intrusive thoughts like ‘I’ll never learn this’ and ‘I made an unfixable mistake’ sneak up on us if we don’t focus on practicing a growth mindset.
In the workplace we can encourage a growth mindset by offering continuous learning opportunities to our employees (or taking advantage of what’s offered). We can also create challenges and empower our peers to solve them by fostering a culture of collaboration and learning from failures. Replace a tradition-based culture with one of innovation and watch creativity blossom.
If you want to take it further, here are some growth mindset exercises that might be worth a try.
Practice, practice, practice
Be mindful about infusing creativity into your daily life and work. Practice creativity in small daily acts. Change up a traditional dinner recipe. Work from a coffee shop for an hour a week. People watch in a busy city instead of looking at your phone. Changing routines, seeking different perspectives and learning from our experiences are hallmarks of living a creative life. Creativity has the power to inspire and affect real change.
With the dawn of AI, creativity has become more important than ever. It’s something that is uniquely human. Creativity takes imagination, which robots don’t have. As marketers we have this superpower in spades, just by the nature of what we do every day. It’s up to us to flex that muscle and make it stronger. We can all be more intentional about infusing creativity into our daily lives. Try it and see where it takes you!
Need a creativity kickstart? We know some folks! Reach out to learn more about working with our team of creatives.