Unlock Your Creativity

I talk to a lot of people who don’t think they’re creative. They seem to assign mystical properties to creativity. And feeling a lack of creativity creates a lot of angst when it comes to working in teams, devising strategies, and sharing ideas.

With that in mind, it’s time to find, or rediscover, the key to your creative voice.

Simply put, creativity is the propensity to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with others, and entertaining people. Creativity is something we all possess have but have let years of churn and burnout stomp out that pilot light. Some work cultures promote creativity as the most bombastic idea with the sole goal of “taking a risk.” That is silly.

Case in point. I recently watched episodes of a short-lived series called The Pitch. In a nutshell, it follows competing ad agencies as they prep day and night for a pitch to a major client. It’s the epitome of high-stress dog-and-pony show antics that many in agency life can relate to. Teams are expected to endlessly brainstorm, forgo food and sleep and capture that magical light bulb moment that will blow the socks off a CEO. Often, the ideas have nothing to do with what the client really needs, and those ideas rarely end up being implemented in a meaningful way. Furthermore, they usually overlook the problem they are supposed to be solving. And it revealed a few key takeaways:  

• Sleeplessness is not a badge of honor.

• Not everyone is a great communicator

  • Someone might have a good idea, but they may not be the best person to present it to the client. That’s okay.

• If it’s not additive, ditch it.

  • If it doesn’t bring value, don’t bring it.

Just looking at this leaves me exhausted.

It got me to thinking. How can we simplify ways to tap into our creative voices?

Harvard Business Review cites a different approach to the all-night creative brainstorming braise. In fact, just 10-15 minutes of simple meditation can help boost your ability to solve problems. Practicing mindfulness meditation demonstrated a significant reduction in restlessness, nervousness, and irritation, as well as an increase in focus and the ability to generate ideas. All that in 15 minutes. It’s no wonder many companies are adopting this practice to help their teams solve problems more effectively.

I’ve long felt that creativity is simply problem solving. The pitfall for some is applying unnecessary pressure to come up with something flashy that simply can’t be executed or doesn’t align with the actual problem.

So, take 10-15 minutes and try something new. This is a good time to redefine how you see and employ creativity in your own personal and professional endeavors. And, as always, let us know if we can help with the latter.