The World Needs You To Be Creative
Posted on October 06, 2010 by Victoria Dzenis, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.
The more we as entrepreneurs become exemplars of what it really means to be Creative, the more we invite others to do so as well.
Before I rediscovered my creativity, my life looked great – from the outside. I had a career in HR and was making a decent living; I was in a long-term committed relationship and had started a business venture with my romantic partner. I was surrounded by friends and went out on the town regularly. Everything was what I thought it should be. So why was I so miserable? Why, when I ought to be happy, was I breaking down in tears and throwing “temper tantrums”? Why did I feel as though my life was happening to me, rather than through me? It was as if my life was a pair of high-heeled, pointy-toed stilettos that I forced myself to teeter around in every day—they looked fashionable but felt wretched!
Just when I couldn’t take it anymore, everything changed for me: I rediscovered my creativity. I began writing again. I enjoyed singing with my musical friends. I even returned to dance as a form of self-expression. As I rediscovered my creativity, I began to feel deep joy once more.
The transformation was so exciting for me that I began to ask myself how I could support other people in rediscovering their own creativity. This led me to studying current research on neuroscience and the inner workings of the brain. What I’ve come to discover has forever changed what I thought it meant to be creative.
Creativity is not simply the purview of the artistic. While actors, dancers, writers and painters are creative, so are mathematicians, scientists and software developers. In a nutshell, we are all creative.
According to the latest brain research, the creative brain is the one that has the capacity to switch between dreams and logic. A creative person is one who can imagine something, envision it, and then use analysis, logic and reasoning to bring that dream to life.
Imagine what this could do for your business. Dreaming and vision combined with logic and analysis can bring your business successes to fruition.
Through my personal exploration of my own mind, I’ve been able to experience the power of this new definition of creativity: what happens when intuition and logic are integrated.
When I let go of rigid thinking about what my business MUST look like to be successful, when I embraced a bigger vision of what’s possible for my business and integrated that vision with action steps towards growth, I became more confident. When my confidence grew, I garnered a stronger reputation. As my reputation grows, I attract more of the clients I want to serve.
You can do this too.
The only reason why so many people think they are not creative is that they haven’t practiced creativity. Just like learning any skill – riding a bike, typing, or learning a new language – we can practice creativity.
As Einstein suggested, “Although I have a regular work schedule, I take time to go for long walks on the beach so that I can listen to what is going on inside my head. If my work isn’t going well, I lie down in the middle of a workday and gaze at the ceiling while I listen and visualize what goes on in my imagination.” These are ways to practice creativity. Notice how simple they are!
The world needs us to be creative. Looking around at what is happening in America right now – lost jobs, lost homes, lost industries – compels us to re-think how we have traditionally approached business. While specializing remains important, even those who consider themselves specialists can develop their creativity so that they have more resources to use in problem-solving.
American business is crying out for creativity. The more you can practice creativity in your daily life, inviting your dreams into your logical side or applying analysis to your vision for your business, the more successful you can be. The more we as entrepreneurs become exemplars of what it really means to be Creative, the more we invite others to do so as well. We might have to change the American Dream to save it – CREATIVELY.
