The Benefits of Creativity
In This Chapter
- How creativity can improve your work life
- Strengthening your relationships through creativity
- Gaining a better understanding of yourself by creating
Is there a value to creativity, or is it just some buzzword that gives people an excuse to play? While creativity can be playful and fun, which in and of itself is important, there are several ways in which creativity may be beneficial.
You may look at your own creative actions and think “No big deal”—that is, if you even recognize when you’re being creative. But creativity is a big deal—to you and all of the lives you touch. Exercising your creativity can make the difference between an uplifting day and a disheartening day. It’s about learning as much as you can to put it into practice and thoroughly enjoying the benefits. So what is creativity worth? Plenty.
In this chapter, I help you tap into what creativity means to you and the world at large and how you can benefit.
The Value of Creativity in Business and Beyond
Whether you are self-employed or work for a mom-and-pop shop, governmental agency, non-profit organization, or large corporation, activating your creativity can lead to an increase in business. Your ideas may result in more profits or fewer expenses, a new product with huge appeal to your customers, a more efficient way for employees to function, or improved office morale. Businesses and those who make a living in the creative arts can speak to the monetary value of creativity and how it can affect the bottom line.
Take the story of how Hallmark, which relies on creativity, began. As a teenager from Nebraska, little did J.C. Hall realize that a couple of shoeboxes filled with postcards would eventually become a $4 billion business. His dream began with greeting cards and a patented type of card display rack that became an industry norm. Add to that Hallmark’s first licensing agreement with Walt Disney, gift wrap, collectible Christmas ornaments, new brands of cards, ecards, cable television networks, recordable storybooks, and Interactive Story Buddy characters, and you can see what one person’s dream can become as others joined in this creative journey.
Hallmark is just one example of many success stories of how creativity enhances business. More than ever today, CEOs now recognize that value, but it doesn’t stop there. Those who are passionate about improving the education system, entrepreneurs competing for customers, homemakers enriching their lives with hobbies, parents striving to raise creative kids, advocates of older Americans, and individuals who want to create just for the sake of creating are all in the creativity mix.
Benefits extend well beyond dollars and cents. Creativity can result in more practicality and efficiency in your everyday life. One of the most apparent ways to illustrate this is in the field of technology. Before personal computers, people used a typewriter to compose letters, business documents, and other correspondence. Making a mistake required the use of correction tape or fluid, which was time consuming and sometimes noticeable. Then personal computers came along and you can correct a mistake literally in a second with the stroke of the backspace key.
There are additional benefits to using your creativity on the job, as follows. You may even discover that you’ll reap these same payoffs when you’re creating at home on your own, collaborating with others just for the fun of it, or volunteering to help a great cause.
INSPIRATIONAL INSIGHT
“There are no dreams too large, no innovation unimaginable and no frontiers beyond our reach.”
—John S. Herrington
Gaining Satisfaction and Recognition
When restrictions are imposed by your job and you’re not given the opportunity to examine and pursue your own ideas, you can feel discontent. Depending on the limitations, your creativity may be stopped before it can even start.
On the flip side, working within an organization that supports and encourages creativity allows you to feel free to open up and innovate. Smart companies recognize the importance of developing a creative climate and encouraging their employees to effectively use their creative skills. If you’re given the freedom to exercise your creativity at work, you are bound to feel more satisfied (see Part 4 for more on creativity in the workplace).
For some, being given opportunities to innovate and have their ideas accepted is a reward in and of itself. Sometimes, however, acknowledgment can come in the form of an industry award or a monetary reward. So being creative is a way for you to stand up and be recognized.
Feeling Motivated and Productive
When you are motivated to create on or off the job, a funny thing happens. You follow that drive and start to act on your ideas, which inspires you to create even more. In other words, motivation begets more motivation (an idea that’s fully explored in Chapter 3). Once you are “on a roll,” or consistently creating, your productivity naturally increases, making you that much more successful.
This burst of creativity can even inspire your co-workers or even friends. Oftentimes, others become interested and motivated to join in your creation and the productivity increases even more. Have you ever been part of a creative process in which the idea started slowly and then, little by little, started to capture others’ attention? That’s known as the “bandwagon” effect. Everyone enjoys being part of a winning team; sometimes winning means being part of a collaborative effort where there are no literal winners or losers. It allows you to be part of a greater whole, doing your part to contribute the overall effort.
Having a Greater Appreciation for the Process
Creativity is not simply the creation of ideas and executing them. There are steps in between, and each stage comes with its own challenges and rewards. Sometimes, your original intentions don’t play out as you had intended. Perhaps you come to the realization in the middle of the process that your idea isn’t going to work and you either begin again or scrap it altogether. Or your idea may take off in a way that exceeds your wildest expectations. Either way, your creative efforts as you go about your job should not be judged as success or failure.
Judging your efforts, especially in haste, is one of the quickest ways you can kill your own and others’ creativity. The more productive view is to appreciate the process as a learning opportunity. If you’re creating just for the sake of obtaining a certain result at work, you’re missing out on what the process is teaching you along the way that you can apply to your next creative endeavor, whether job related or personal, and overall in your life.
CREATIVITY KEY
There may be many steps in between your initial idea and the realization of it. Recognize that each stage of your creation is part of the process and leads to your desired results, which may be nothing more than allowing your light to shine.
How Creativity Benefits Your Relationships
Creativity serves as a pipeline to connect you with family members, friends, God or a higher power, and even strangers if you’re willing to share your efforts outside of your normal circle of support. For example, have you ever written a card or a letter that was so moving, you made someone’s day? That kind of connection carries a value that some would say is priceless.
When you are happily creating, your personal relationships can become stronger and more refreshing. As you’re breathing life into a new creation, it can translate into a breath of fresh air for your relationships. Whether it’s your spouse, your significant other, your children, your fellow workers, or your friends, by being creative and sharing with those people, you’re setting a good example and potentially inspiring them to walk their own creative path.
Touching others with your creativity can even extend beyond your normal circles. For example, in the last few years, Oprah Winfrey and Deepak Chopra, both prolific creators on a large scale, co-created the 21-Day Meditation Experience. It’s designed to help people all over the world tap into their inner being to find peace and other internal gifts, as well as energetically connect them with others who are participating worldwide. While it’s not necessary to create on that grand of a platform, it’s just another way creativity can help you feel connection to others.
Creative Play: Valuing Your Creative Gifts
This exercise will help you appreciate the value of creativity both in what you’ve given and what you’ve received.
Tools Needed: Paper and a writing instrument
Think of examples from your own life where you made a difference in someone else’s life due to your own creativity. Perhaps you made a gift such as a personalized card, photo book, jewelry, or clothing and gave it to a friend or loved one. Consider work examples, such as making a presentation that resulted in your company securing a new client. Write them down and appreciate your giving, creative nature.
Now think of those times when you were on the receiving end of someone else’s creativity. What were those experiences and how did they make you feel? Write them down. Sometimes going through the process of writing helps you to capture memories that might otherwise be forgotten.
What’s in It for You?
The value of creativity isn’t just about how it helps others; unlocking the door to your creativity has plenty in store for you, too! For example, as a child, I can remember sitting down in the basement with my two older sisters and drawing people. It didn’t matter how crude the drawings were; we were fully engaged in the process. It brought feelings of connection with my siblings and also a sense of accomplishment. Think back to a time when you were absorbed in a favorite creative interest. Did this creative activity produce an overall good feeling?
CREATIVITY KEY
Think of a time when you were experiencing a “creative high” and see how many of the personal benefits speak to you. Anytime you are creating from a space of desire, you will benefit in numerous ways, whether they are measurable or not.
I have coached a number of people who have been able to break through their blockages and excel with their creative expression. The differences they’ve experienced in their lives are nothing short of amazing. At the very least, they feel an inner joy and a sense of freedom when they truly let themselves go. So while creativity can have those external benefits I’ve discussed, at the core, it’s about what it can do for you.
One of the benefits you may notice when you’re actively creating is an increase in your energy level. If you’re doing something of which you’ve grown tired, your energy levels start to drop. The excitement is gone. You may even feel bored and that what you’re doing is like watching grass grow. You are no longer feeling motivated to produce, which leads to lackluster results. Most everyone has been in this position at some point in their lives when they feel drained or even burned out. This feeling is not conducive to being creative.
Now what happens when you are actively engaged in your creativity? For example, have you ever had the experience of driving down the road or taking a shower—two activities that are often done on autopilot, without much thought—and suddenly an idea pops into your head, seemingly out of nowhere? The idea may relate to a problem you have either at home or in the workplace; a piece of artwork you’ve been thinking about creating; a topic for a song, poem, or blog post; a new business; or a thought related to an activity you’ve never done before. That single idea can awaken you from a weary or humdrum state of being and give you a surge in energy.
When you’re really focused and excited about making an idea of yours a reality, your adrenaline kicks in. You can literally feel your heart beat faster, and you feel more awake and alive. The 86,400 seconds that comprise each day may not change, but when you find yourself in the midst of a creation that really matters to you, it feels as if there is no time—no time but the present, that is, and you’re soaking up each precious minute.
DEFINITION
Adrenaline is a hormone secreted by the body’s adrenal glands, especially during stressful or stimulating circumstances, that can cause increases in bodily functions, such as heart rate and blood flow. You may experience this in the excitement of creating.
Whether it’s in the initial stage of creativity when you first get an idea or later on as you come up with ways to turn that idea into a reality, your creativity gives you that special surge to drive you on. You are operating at a high energy level—and it feels great!
Embracing Your Freedom and Independence
As a creativity coach, it’s not about me telling clients what they should do or say with regard to their creative challenges. They look to me for guidance, and through a series of asking them powerful questions, they uncover the answers themselves and feel more empowered as a result.
It’s a basic human need and desire to be independent. Pursuing your creative interests brings about a feeling of greater independence, a feeling of knowing that you can count on yourself and trust your creative instincts.
Some of your restrictions may have been put upon you early in life, like when your mother, your father, a sibling, or a teacher told you that you couldn’t create what you had in mind because that would violate “the rules.” Other times, constraints don’t come from anyone but yourself. But when you give yourself the go-ahead to create in a way that speaks to you, that’s a freeing experience.
INSPIRATIONAL INSIGHT
“We need to learn to love ourselves first, in all our glory and our imperfections. If we cannot love ourselves, we cannot fully open to our ability to love others or our potential to create. Evolution and all hopes for a better world rest in the fearlessness and open-hearted vision of people who embrace life.”
—John Lennon
The importance of feeling self-empowered through creativity can’t be overstated. It’s about giving yourself the authority to pursue and produce what’s in your heart, what you know will make a difference. By trusting your natural creative instincts and harnessing your own creative clout, you become a powerful creator!
Lowering Your Stress Levels
When you’re truly involved in the magnificence of a creative project, one that you’re passionate about and engaged in simply for the sake of doing it, you will feel more relaxed and less stressed. You become swept away in the project itself. It may even be a temporary escape from a difficulty you’re facing at home or at work.
Plus, sometimes nothing reduces stress more than finishing your project and experiencing a sense of accomplishment. Just as children delight in the small wonders of learning to tie their shoelaces or ride a bicycle, you are happy when you achieve what you’ve set out to do. Sometimes, you may feel downright thrilled! Can you think of something you created in your life that led to this feeling of triumph? Think big. Think small. Think of any creative act at all!
Each creative act you engage in that you can see and appreciate will help you to build your creative spirit and keep that stress down. Anytime you complete a task, particularly a demanding one in which you doubted yourself along the way, you can and should celebrate. This gives you a sense of renewal, an affirmation of your creativity, and keeps you in the spirit of wanting to create again.
Making Your Life More Meaningful
The more you consciously create, the more aware you become, and the more tuned in you are with your inner being and outer surroundings, the more meaningful life becomes. That’s because as you create, you are accessing your mental, emotional, social, spiritual, and physical well-being—some might call it your soul’s yearning.
Regardless of what creative activity or direction you choose, as long as it’s a reflection of who you really are—your genuine self—you will begin to notice how life begins to give back to you. This means making choices that are in alignment with your values and expressing your creativity because it’s something you desire to do. By being true to yourself through creativity, you gain appreciation and gratitude for the overall beauty in the world that goes beyond your specific creation and get a better understanding about yourself through your own creative expression. Who wouldn’t want that?
Creativity is like a bountiful harvest that gives back and feeds you and adds its own beauty to the world. Its value can’t be overstated. Continue to plant your own seeds, water with love and attention, experience the growth, and reap the benefits!
Creative Play: Exploring Your Personal Benefits
It’s time to get a taste of what it feels like to derive the benefits of acting upon your next creative project.
Tools Needed: Two sheets of paper that are at least letter size; markers, colored pencils, paints or crayons; stickers; and other decorative materials of your choosing, which may require glue
Pick one of your creative goals. It could be finding a new solution to a growing problem in the workplace. Perhaps you’ve been considering a new hobby or picking up on a previous interest you left behind. If you have more than one, pick the one that you are most interested in pursuing right now.
Next, imagine how you would go about acting upon your creative idea and achieving the result you’re after by closing your eyes and visualizing it (see Chapter 4 for more on the process). Take your time! Keep going until you can see in your mind’s eye the outcome you desire.
Now take one of your papers and quickly write down how this made you feel. Use single words, phrases, or complete sentences, such as “on top of the world,” “smiling from ear to ear,” “confident,” and “successful.”
Once you’ve written down your feelings, consciously think about all of the ways you felt you benefited from allowing yourself to create in this exercise. Understand that this creative play gave you just a tiny feel for the benefits you will actually experience when you’re fully engaged in a creative project.
Finally, take your other sheet of paper and tap into your inner artist by drawing, sketching, or painting your benefits in whatever form, symbols, or images that come to you. You can even decorate your masterpiece with stickers or other materials you feel drawn to include. There is no right or wrong way to do this! If you’re feeling uncomfortable with this part of the activity, know that you are doing this for your eyes only. You also have the option of sharing your artwork with others when you’re done. Your choice!
INSPIRATIONAL INSIGHT
“Always be on the lookout for the presence of wonder.”
—E. B. White
The Least You Need to Know
- While it’s true that creativity can lead to innovations that improve the bottom line, monetary value is but one slice of the pie.
- Creating and sharing your creations with others can breathe new life into your relationships.
- By embracing the desire to create, you can gain a better understanding of yourself and the world around you.