Don't Let Creativity Be Your Forgotten Asset by Anna Norén
Creativity is a quality that very rarely is mentioned or talked about if you’re not working in marketing or other classic creative roles. For me, this is very strange since creativity is the seed to some of the most common qualities mentioned in job ads and success stories. Creativity is the foundation of problem solving, team building and innovation. Yet, it is a quality rarely mentioned in business rooms in my experience. As I have a side business as an artist I boost my creativity almost every day and one thing that I have learned over the last few years is that creativity is your biggest asset, regardless of what role or job you have. I’m going to tell you why!
By being creative you will always have the ability to “think outside the box” (clique, but it is true in this case!). It will be your greatest companion regardless of situation or problem. I have worked in many different areas in my career; marketing, tech, analyst and now as a product owner and my creativity have helped me in all those different roles. Because it is the seed for so many other high valued qualities. Here are a few examples how it can serve in different roles:
In project managing creativity helps you to find solutions to structures, create awesome time schedules and really work the magic on that budget.
As a developer it can help you figure out how to best adapt the code / build out the code. It supports everyday choices for long term value.
As a team lead or manager creativity will be a great asset when building your team collaboration.
In marketing it serves well both in the actual tasks but also in creating the strategy.
It will also support you in vendor negotiations (so many times I have created my own offer to myself with a bit of creativity!), recruitment (both writing that ad and creating good questions for interviews) and building team culture to mention a few.
Are you still not convinced why your creativity is one of your biggest assets? Okay, here is my final reason: If you ask me, I would say that creativity breeds innovation. Creativity is the lightning spark in the new crazy ideas. That allows us, or even praises us to think in a different way, a new untouched path. Most of the amazing innovations (especially back in the days) are figured out by creativity.
As I have my side business, Annies Acrylic Art, apart from my daytime job where I paint and sell art I ensure I have a lot of creativity in my everyday life. I do truly believe that my painting makes me better in my daytime job. If you want to boost your creativity (without setting up a business as an artist) here are my best tips that can be done a few minutes every day. I often use these exercises when I warm up at the beginning of a painting session.
Flow writing
Take a blank paper and a pen. Set the timer at 2 minutes. Start writing and don’t let the pen stop at any time. Just write what you are thinking about right now. It does not matter what you write and it does not need to be understandable. If your mind goes blank you can always write “it’s blank, it’s blank, it’s blank” or “I don’t know what to write”, because that is what you are thinking of right now.
Paint fast
This is one of my favorites! You need a paper and a pen, and something figurative to paint. Set your timer to 10, 20 or 30 seconds. That is the time you have to paint your stilleben. You are not allowed to lift the pen off your paper. And you are not allowed to look at the paper. Try this with your dominant hand first, and then your other hand. If you are in a group this is a great team exercise! Paint each other's faces and you will all have a great laugh!
Always choose tactile
By doing things tactile you boost your creativity. Instead of writing the note on your computer, write it by hand in a book or post it. Use the white board, not computer sharing etc. Always choose the tactile choice!
And my last advice if you want to boost your creativity is: Forget Perfect. Creativity is never perfect, it is a bit quirky and odd. But never perfect. And it does not have to be. The idea or solution will be altered, tailored and tweaked until it is good enough (or perfect if that is your aim). But don’t force your creativity to be perfect, it will just have the opposite effect.
Let’s bring more creativity into the business world together!
Thank you for reading my article! I would love to connect and hear your thoughts about it.
