Make your Creativity a Real Asset
Last week you found a system to manage time better. This week you can’t help but make tweaks to something that worked just fine. Last week you were clear on the team’s priorities. This week you upend the apple cart by introducing a whole new set of initiatives frustrating your team and, again, extending the finish date of the project.
Impulsivity? Boredom? Novelty Seeking? Maybe. If you are looking at these culprits you may want to give your own creativity a 360 Review.
Creativity is always at work.
We often take one of our greatest assets for granted. We see the many benefits of a creative mind but often don't see the downside of relentless creativity. If your creativity is not working for you it is likely working against you.
If your creativity were an employee would you give it a raise?
Like an ignorant employee haplessly going along without direction and guidance, mis-guided creativity can actually derail every good initiative in sight. If creativity is not guided and directed in positive ways it will find another position with your organization. Most likely a position as a tenacious opposing force to all the good you are doing. Global Creatives have all the challenges and fears of anyone else but the pictures we paint in our imagination are in technicolor, 3D and Dolby Digital Surround-Sound. Guess who a likely culprit is? Your ADHD-infused creativity.
"Relentless Creativity"
The Global Creative brain is always constructing new mental pictures - always. This can be good and it can also be not so good. The good is often the inspiring new solution where others scratch their heads in amazement asking "How did she do that?" The 'good' is seeing more of the vision or more of the opportunity than anyone else. The 'not so good' is that once we develop a great picture our creativity wants to tweak the picture so the picture changes - the vision changes to the detriment of the related and agreed upon outcomes. The 'not so good' also includes visions of doubt that tend to creep in when we are not feeling our strongest (or we have lost touch with key positive structures like our work principles and the winning vision that has already been tried and tested.
Want your creativity to be a net contributor? Notice the creative leaks that are happening around you.
Are you brainstorming new ideas when you should be listening and supporting current projects?
Are you getting caught up in workspace drama?
Are you prone to relentless disaster-scenario-projecting?
All of these can be fueled by out-of-control creativity.
Am I suggesting jettisoning your creativity? Absolutely not!
Like a star soccer player's dazzling play on the pitch, creativity thrives in an environment where the rules and objectives are simple and clear. Heavy handed oppressive tactics like "I just wont be creative anymore!" will prove disastrous. Creative is who you are. Creative is how your brain works. If you truly want to place you creativity in the strength category then give it its own pitch to play on. Create a space in your work time where creativity gets regular exercise. Creativity loves a friend. Enroll partners to practice creativity with, with clear understanding of the objective. Like a game of soccer introduce an element of play. Researchers are finding a powerful connection between creativity and play. Finally, the more you know about how your creativity shows up on a daily basis, the more your can steer it in a positive direction.