We are all creative. That’s everyone. Every day we have an opportunity to be creative.
Christmas is one such time. It doesn’t have to be cash in a card or a dash to the garage and buying a toolset if we just try and think a bit harder!
At Christmas, we get some time to reflect and even wind down a bit. It’s in these moments that we have our best ideas. Get a pad and paper and make sure you don’t forget them. You can then decide to commit to them and spend 2020 executing them.
We are all creative and it’s downtime that helps us to rediscover that side of us again.
We can work on the business more effectively at a time when we are not in it. We get strange thoughts, see things differently or get into amazing conversations that inspire us.
So don’t forget to build this sort of time into your week in 2020.
Here’s how…
Give yourself time to think
It’s not necessarily about taking up a life drawing class in your spare time. It’s simpler than that. You can fuel your creativity without having to learn to paint.
You cannot be creative if you don’t allow yourself time to think.
As an agency, we made a decision to embrace the four day work week to allow our team to have fun. Allowing time to play in another space gives us ideas that would not have come by sitting in front of a blank page.
And… don’t be intimidated by the blank page!
Every new project starts with a blank page. Your job is to write things down. Devices can minimise creativity. A tablet, Mac or even a PC are tools to help us to “execute”. Don’t underestimate the power of a pen! Draw, write, scribble, doodle. You don’t have to be a graphic designer to come up with ideas. Give it a go.
Know when to hand it off to a creative
Some of us think we are designers when we aren’t. You’ll get the best results listening to a creative professional (graphic designer, website builder, marketeer) who is given room to express their ideas.
Learn to collaborate not to dictate. Honestly, you’ll get much better results!!!!
Know where your creativity flourishes
As we mentioned earlier, not everyone can draw, but some might be able to write.
Ideas can be expressed visually, but also through the written word, through numbers (data), through necessity or even lack of budget. Understanding where you are at your best helps. Allow others to lead in their best spaces. A visual person and a wordsmith can complement each other but frustrate if they choose to compete with one another.
Use past solutions to solve creative challenges
Nothing worse than forgetting. Seriously, get into a habit of writing ideas down.
When you collect ideas you might discover something new. What works in one sector might revolutionize another. Retro isn’t always the 50’s, retro can be your childhood. For me, the A-Team, Double Dragon and fluorescent socks all played a part. Fast forward 20 years, my children will be talking about Minecraft, YouTube and Lol dolls.
When ideas fail to flow, go for a walk, change your surroundings
Changing your perspective will change how you see the world.
Think differently by being somewhere different. Ideas will flow. Change things up. Go and walk in a forest or work in a coffee shop! Just do something different.
So from all of us at Cre8ion, thank you for being part of our journey and, this Christmas, make sure you take the time to invest a little bit more time into your creative side. The possibilities are infinite!