Do you consider yourself to be highly creative? You should answer with a roaring “Yes!” All of us were born creative and exhibited high levels of creativity as young children. Unfortunately, most people lose their innate creativity while growing up. Parents, schoolteachers, our friends and peers in adolescence, and society at large all do their part during our socialization process to silence our deep curiosity and quash our inner creativity.
In recent years, however, there has been a call in the business world for more creativity to be able to react to our fast-changing business environment. So how can you rediscover your creative self and become a creative leader? Here are ten steps that you need to master on your way.
1. Confront your worries, doubts and fears — be courageous and believe!
“Courage is the first of the human qualities, because it is the one that guarantees all others,” noted Aristotle. Innovation always means a change from the status quo, and human beings don’t like to change. You can expect massive resistance to any innovation project that you might introduce to the world one day. So start your journey to reconnect to your creative self by developing courage as demanded by Aristotle. Regularly fight your doubts, worries and fears, and consider following the advice of Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Always do what you fear.” Remember that the sound of fear and the sound of courage are one and the same: your loudly beating heart. The difference is taking action despite your fear.
Belief is your biggest ally to courageously move forward. As Lord Buddha said: “He is able who thinks he is able.” The source of your belief may be a particular religion that you favor or any other form of spirituality. Or you may simply believe in yourself and that you can realize your dreams following Muhammad Ali’s example: “It’s lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believed in myself.” Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs expressed the necessity to believe in your path as follows: “Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.” So believe with your heart before you move on, because as Henry Ford commented: “If you think you can do a thing or you think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.”
2. Silence your ego, and be yourself!
Is there anyone in the world who looks, thinks, and acts exactly like you? Surely you will disagree here. So would you agree with me to say that you were created as an original? Nod your head. You are original. We all are created as original and not as a copy of another person. Hence, we’d better follow the advice of Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Insist upon yourself. Be original.”
So stop being a copycat by imitating others and playing a role that other people want you to play. Stop wearing that ridiculous mask behind which you hide your true Self. Your biggest enemy is your own Ego. Your Ego is also the highest hurdle to overcome on your way to becoming a highly creative individual. We all have to endure the inner fight between our Ego and our Self. Start taking control of your Self today by stopping taking yourself too seriously.
3. Think positive!
Please take an empty glass and fill it half with water. Now describe what you see. Some people say the glass is half empty. We call them pessimists who focus on the problem in everything. In contrast, optimists say the glass is half full. They see the opportunity that is hidden within each problem. In life, what you see is what you get, and it’s always what you get. Leonardo da Vinci knew about the importance of positive thinking and recommended: “Avoid grievous moods and keep your mind cheerful.” So follow da Vinci’s advice and watch your attitude: always stay positive and be persistent with your plans and projects. Please recall that Thomas Edison needed more than 10,000 trials before finding the right design for the light bulb.
4. Redevelop a curious beginner’s mind!
Do you know some people who constantly find something to criticize in other people or other ideas? Such judgments are often an expression of fixation, closed mindedness and intolerance for other ways or different opinions. In most cases, they are the outer expression of the insecurities of such judgmental persons, who innately suffer under the nagging voice of their strong inner critics.
In contrast, notice how open young children are toward new knowledge, different perspectives and interesting ideas. They are immensely curious, too: They constantly ask questions to satisfy their voracious curiosity. Do the same and re-adopt the curious beginner’s mind that you had as a young child. Cultivate a life-long passion for learning. Become mega-open to entertain new concepts, new knowledge, new skills, new technology and — most important — new people regardless of their background.
5. Be passionate!
Creative people usually love what they do. They are not primarily motivated by money but go to work because of the challenges and enjoyment it provides. Research studies have confirmed over and over again that intrinsic motivation breeds creativity, while extrinsic motivational factors such as financial rewards are rather counterproductive to spur truly original ideas.
Do you love what you do? If your answer is yes, congratulations. For those of you who answered no to my question, you have not yet aligned your work with your passion. What things do you find exciting? What do you want to learn more about all the time? What do you love doing? Find the answers to these questions and try to integrate things that you are passionate about into your work step-by-step. Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple and one of the most remarkable comeback stories in business, commented on the darkest hours of his career when he was fired from Apple in 1985: “I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love.”
What are the other five areas that you have to cultivate on your way to Rediscover Your Creative Self? Come back to this column in two weeks from now to find out more.
© Dr. Detlef Reis 2007. This article was published in parallel in the Bangkok Post under the same title on 27 September 2007.