The Reason You're Not More Creative
Too many people underestimate their own creativity.
They feel they like A )"I don't have any" and B) "It's not needed in my role."
Neither of which are true.
Creativity is necessary anytime you need attention.
If your initiative needs eyeballs, action, or commitment - creativity can dramatically improve your results. A creative headline increases readership. A creative visual improves comprehension. A great story changes a culture, faster.
But the roadblock to creativity isn't a lack of skill, it's a craving for efficiency.
When you're in an efficiency mindset, any detour feels like a waste of time. Any exploration is just a barrier to checking off the task.
To access your creativity, you have to first decide that it's needed.
When?
If you need attention, you need creativity.
Then you have to give permission and space for it to happen. You have to invite in.
By all means, keep the tight timeline, just carve out an ideas phase. Tell yourself that no idea or iterations are off the table until ____ date when we hope to have the concept landed. But the trick is, you can’t land the idea any earlier either. You have to explore until the last second.
When you give people time to be creative and you ask them to be, people and projects come alive.
Here are some strategies anyone can adopt to see an instant boost in creativity:
5 Ways to Be More Creative on Your Next Project
Draft 3 variations of your deliverable: Strive to make three unique versions of whatever needs making. See which elements stand out in each and what’s worth exploring more.
Create an inspiration board: Surf Google and AI to find real world samples of work you find successful. If it’s an email, grab screen shots of headlines you like. If it’s a slide deck, grab images and add them to a doc. Ask yourself why you like each of the examples.
Play “Yes, and”: Hold a short ideation session where you start with a problem or challenge and ideate for a few minutes by building on the first idea. The key is that each person has to add to the idea by saying “Yes, and…” and then builds on to the previous idea.
Choose a new format to articulate your proposal: If your work culture prioritizes written documents for gaining buy-in, try to sketch your proposal in slides. If your company likes decks, write a long-form doc.
Brainstorm Bad Ideas: What would the worst idea ever be like? Have fun with it and see which bad ideas actually have something interesting hidden in them.