Creativity

It is my firm belief that every human being is creative; some of us have developed our creative energies to a greater extent than others. Underneath layers of thought patterns that have built up in the minds of some individuals over the years, such as “I can’t draw a straight line,” “I just don’t have an ear for music,” He is really creative – born with talent, not me,” “When it comes to dancing, I have two left feet,” there is a creative soul waiting for the chance to be free to create.

One of my greatest rewards while teaching Art 186 and Art 187 (Electronic Publishing) at Eastern Arizona College was to draw out the creativity from within those students who believed themselves to be uncreative. Many of them were taking my course to learn a technical computer page layout software program, hardly considering that without unleashing creative juices into the projects, they would end up with unsatisfactory outcomes. I thrived on the challenge of helping those students erase the old tapes in their minds that said “I never could draw,” and replace them with new tapes such as, “I’m now developing my creativity which has been ‘there’ all along.”

I provide guidance in art projects to Filipino children and have discovered many times that just with my positive encouragement, they lose their self consciousness and gain freedom to express. We discuss “positive self talk” and think of ways in which we can be supportive to one another. A young girl who once said, ”I can’t draw people,” is now becoming accomplished in portrait drawing.

How does this apply to business strategies? When we develop our creativity, it carries over into every aspect of our life. I’ve held workshops for small business owners such as “Do It Yourself Advertising,” Producing Your Own Newsletter,” “Writing Press Releases,” and others, and those business owners with developed creative outlets, were the most successful in developing effective advertising strategies for their business.

Keep in mind that you are creative; perhaps you just need a little help in developing that creativity!

I think Andy Birol has some good ideas that will help you develop your creativity as well. For even more creative ideas, read about the 100 most creative people in business.

Was this article helpful?