I have no creativity – I’m left brained

There was a time in my life where I actually said I didn’t have a creative bone in my body.  I can’t paint, draw, knit or even accessorize on a good day (do you still match your shoes to your handbag?).

 

I’ve since learned that creativity, like any other muscle, requires exercise to stay fit and to grow. And while I wasn’t exercising mine in the obvious ways, I actually learned that I’m pretty damn creative. I would have to be, to be able to conceptualize programs, trainings,  and events. And then bring them into being. I’m so creative I’m continually reinventing what I do and how I do it. This was one of those times I was just way off base in my belief set.

 

You are creative too

I have also come to understand that entrepreneurs actually tend to be more creative than most other people, whether by DNA, design or decision; we have to be in order to be successful. Essentially we are all creative – even if all we can do is appreciate the work of others. It’s still an expression of our internal creative nature.

 

4 Tips to feed your creative spirit

So if you’re looking to improve upon your creative abilities, connect with your muse and unleash your potential; here are the four ways I recommend.

 

1. Get yourself off the clock. Allow yourself to lose track of time occasionally. Get caught up in the moment, whatever that moment is. Understand that while everyone else may be living in 9-to-5 existence (up at six, out the door at eight, home by six and to bed by 10) your moments of inspiration may come at two in the morning. Go with it.

 

Procrastinate if you feel like it. You don’t have to have your month-end reports in on the third of the month like you may have had to in the corporate arena. If today you feel like taking a walk and organizing your paper clip collection, then do it. I’m not talking about letting responsibilities fall by the wayside; it’s about utilizing the energy you are working in while you have it.

 

2. Be bold. Follow your heart, even if your head tells you otherwise. Playing it safe will never get you anywhere. You will fail. But more importantly, you will learn. As long as you ascribe to the “fall down eight times, get up nine” philosophy you will ultimately succeed.

 

Challenge everything. Rules and boundaries are meant to contain people. Creativity comes in the questioning. Learn to look at the coin from both sides. Practice arguing both sides of an debate or disagreement. Learn to see opportunity in every problem.

 

3. Take it all in. Be observant, observe and absorb everything you can in your surroundings. This provides constant stimulation and the ability to create perspective. Apply this concept to your creations, understand you can fall in and out of love with what you do daily. This is part of creating new perspective.

 

4. Nurture your inner child. I believe this is the most important aspect of creative expression. Children come in with a natural curiosity, enthusiasm, and lack of limiting beliefs, but give them 20 to 30 years of formal education and career development and most times it’s a recipe for creative suppression. Become more childlike.

 

For instance, allow yourself to get bored, and it will drive you to expand your horizons. Children bore easily. They move from one thing to another seamlessly and without apology; from hobbies, likes and dislikes, to friends and favorite foods.

 

Children also daydream; they imagine all sorts of things. Logical or not, they allow inspiration to take them anywhere their imagination will go.

 

 

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Now you try – pick one and let me know what works for you. Share in the comments.