Be Creative

8 - Creativity

You have been blessed with many unique gifts and talents. If you already know what they are, put a full-court press on their utilization. If they are yet to be discovered, don’t waste time; press forward on the journey of discovery, focusing first on your interests and what first comes easily to you. As a leader, it is important to integrate creativity into your daily activities and processes actively.

The Importance of Using Your Creativity:

• For new discoveries about yourself.  Use your creativity to discover new things about yourself. Find new interests or abilities you weren’t aware of. Open your mind and your senses to new things you may not have known you enjoyed or were able to do. Try new foods or a new color or scent. You may find a new favorite or category that was previously unexplored. Listen to music you haven’t heard before or touch a texture you have never felt before. How do you feel about each of these? Do they cause new thoughts to evolve?  Each new experience will evoke a new awareness about yourself.
• For new approaches.  It is easy to get into a "rut of repetition." While consistency is quite often an admirable and desirable trait, in some cases, it can be defined as insanity…doing the same thing and expecting a different result. Take an opportunity to try things differently or do something previously unattainable. Look at things from a new vantage point or see a situation from someone else’s perspective. Different actions will trigger alternate thoughts, which could lead to other potentially innovative ideas. Step out of the insanity zone and unleash some creative energy.
• For innovative solutions.  Not only will there be an evolution of new ideas, but also the opportunity for alternate and perhaps better solutions. When your mind becomes open to the possibility of change, and you are able to accept and embrace new perspectives, endless opportunities will abound, offering a selection of potentially more favorable ways to solve a problem or reach a conclusion. The key is to be open to the possibility. Be imaginative, clever, and inventive. Listen to the ideas of others and consider how these ideas may work. Or they may provoke even more of your own thoughts to explore. As a fun challenge, consider an idea you are convinced will never work. Now use your imagination and "create" a way that it will work. This is sure to stretch and exercise your creative juices.
• For enjoyment.  When work, relationships, or life becomes complacent, they may tend to become a little…boring. Creativity promotes an instant flow of energy into any situation. It is important to enjoy people and your circumstances where possible. Be creative and enjoy the energy infusion attached to it. It will be infectious and uplifting to all affected and touched by the creativity unleashed. 
• For more productivity.  With creativity comes answers with energy. Utilize all of this for your productive advantage. With action comes more action. With new ideas, solutions, energy, and enjoyment comes a platform of high-yielding actions and results. Do not waste this dynamic opportunity, which could lead to fruitful endeavors not even on the radar.
• For helping others.  You have been given gifts to share with others. Everyone is blessed with different abilities, yet made to complement each other. You may have an advantage where someone else lacks, and vice versa. Use your natural abilities for the benefit of others. Your gifts were not meant for you alone. Use creativity to find ways to help others, or use your creativity in the process of helping them find solutions to their challenges.

Not using your given creativity is a form of underachievement. This is a category you never want to be associated with as a leader. Every day, continue to expand your mind and grow as a leader. Read, learn, and continually educate yourself to provide fresh ideas that will keep you creatively involved. Listen to the perspectives of others and view things from different vantage points. Be open to exploring.

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” Maya Angelou

“A true sign of intelligence is not knowledge, but imagination.” Albert Einstein

“Creativity doesn’t wait for that perfect moment. It fashions its own perfect moments out of ordinary ones.” Bruce Garrabrandt

“Creativity can solve almost any problem. The creative act, the defeat of habit by originality, overcomes everything.” George Lois

What are your thoughts about this quality?

Who will you share this with?