How could I say such a thing! Lol, I know. You've probably heard the phrase "all Jacuzzis are hot tubs but not all hot tubs are Jacuzzis." It's the same thing with creativity. All art is creativity but not all creativity is art.
Creativity is what sets us apart from the status quo. In business, we'd all be doing to same things the same way in the same niche part of our industry without thinking "outside the box." That's not a good or bad thing, it just IS. How does creativity work? Where does it come from? How do I use it to grow my business? Many Meanings Being "creative" could mean something slightly different for various types of individuals. For artists, it could mean producing a piece of art. For tech it could mean coming up with new processes for transmitting data. For a parent, it could mean finding ways to entertain, feed, or teach their growing offspring.
All art is creativity but not all creativity is art.
The Dictionary.com definition of creativity is "the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination."
Everyone is creative but not everyone still expresses it. When we're young kids, we have the curiosity, freedom, and lack of responsibility to feel comfortable and safe in expressing creativity. As we age we feel more judged, and have more consequences that relate to our ideas.
Getting Started
Our subconscious mind is a massive data base of information. It saves everything but doesn't always share all of it's data with us until we look for it or are ready for it. Creativity is just gathering a group of data together that is now relevant to your conscious situation. The subconscious may record everything in concepts & images, but it only shares with the conscious mind the things you want it to, and that which ties to emotion. Emotions are one of the best ways to communicate back and forth from the front of the brain (conscious) to the back of the brain (subconscious).
Emotions are one of the best ways to communicate back and forth from the [conscious] to the [subconscious].
When we try to pull up subconscious information using emotion, it's best to get clear on what it is you're looking for and how your actually going to USE it. How do we plan to use this recalled data or idea? By expressing the emotion and concepts through forms like art & technology.
Idea To Innovation
Ideas are wonderful but you can have millions of amazing ideas and be no further ahead than you were before. This is because the other side of creativity is to implement the idea! There's a hitch.
Not all ideas are worth implementing. Most ego-focused ideas are centred solely on the self. This may work for purely personal pursuits that have no affect on things around you, but in business you are there to serve a person or cause outside of yourself.
"...the other side of creativity is to implement the idea!"
Heart-centred ideas are focused on why the idea is important, who it helps, how they'll interact with it, and how it adds value to our client & end user.
Innovation happens when you get clear on the value you want to bring, come up with ideas, and implement them in a way that leaves us all in a win-win-win scenario.
Developing Creativity
Since creativity itself has nothing to do with natural born talent, and everything to do with skill building, let's explore the ways we can enhance this skill. Who wants to be more creative?
Increase the number and frequency of opportunities to use and stretch our creativity. Need a better background for video calls? Looking for new marking ideas for your new webinar? Trying to think of how you can engage with your audience via LIVEs?
You want encouragement. Starting something new is the hardest part. Find others on the same journey as you or ask your friends and community for encouragement so you get past the friction at the beginning.
Immerse yourself in the specific skills you want to develop. You want to take an art class? Coding workshop? Weekend relationship retreat? Go for it! Train yourself to do these things better.
Gain motivation by seeing how you've grown. Maybe you started by not even knowing how to hold a paint brush or read a line of code. Look at you now! You can do things you never could before. Celebrate your wins. Let it soak in how good it feels.
Consistently practice. All skills, including building creativity require consistent effort to make habit. If it's too seldom or too easy your brain won't create new systems around it to make it easier in the future.
Practice, practice, practice. Our added value comes from making things habitual. What we think it's basic or easy, but it's well beyond another person's undeveloped or lower level skill. Never underestimate the basics.
Our added value comes from making things habitual.
Business Success Being more creative can really help you in your business when you remember it's a yin and yang relationship with order and routine. Creativity helps you innovate & create change. It breeds friendly competition and even collaboration efforts. The best part is it open doors to new opportunities you may not have seen or taken advantage of before. Entrepreneurship thrives on innovation and change. I can't remember how many times I've said it. This is our job. We push the status quo to do things better, think differently, and change how we see relationships. Isn't that right on par with creativity?!
"Constructive Creativity...when you take the best known action...towards a creative pursuit."
There's a new phrase I want to use called "constructive creativity." It's when you take the best known action, which I explain in THIS blog post (5 Ways To make Decisions and Move Forward NOW), towards a creative pursuit. This also means we're focusing on the outcomes of our idea, and as a business & not a charity...the financial implications of pursuing this idea. Get it? Got it? Good. We can serve more fully when all our needs are met.
Creative Conflab
This time, I'll leave the final words up to a good friend of mine whom I absolutely adore. Her superpower is really understanding your vision on a deeper level so her professional designs come out as a holistic expression of your brand. It's amazing to watch her work her magic.
Recently Tara started a podcast to help everyone come back to who they are and heal themselves with creativity as we move forward through these uncertain times. It's all about conversations (or conflabs) around ALL forms of creativity. Check out her podcast Creative Conflab Podcast!
"When we think about creativity our brains automatically go to art, but being creative is more than just artistic expression. Software Engineers are creative, mathemeticians are creative and architects are creative. There is creativity in all of us and recognizing it and tapping into it unlocks so many new ideas to pursue." - Tara Joy Andrews www.tarajoy.ca
When you want to express your creativity, what kinds of activities do you turn to?
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Learn, Love, and keep your Momentum,
Laura Lake <3