Creativity and Entrepreneurship
An entrepreneur, by virtue of being an entrepreneur, is creative. Having said that, of course there are business owners who have become “stuck” in a rut; have not changed their ways for years; have become complacent in their management style and no longer have the creative juices needed to continue to build an exciting enterprise. These people will not be the managers that are at the top of their field but if they recognize themselves here, they can certainly reverse the flow.
Where does creativity come from? For many of us, it comes when we are backed into a corner. A bill is due and we have no money, a project that was due was moved up a week and we have no time – we become very creative then. But creativity also comes from “thinking outside the box”. It comes from being outside our comfort zone and constantly having everything we take for granted, shaken up. Successful entrepreneurs thrive on being uncomfortable and in fact, get very worried if they are feeling too comfortable because it means they are starting to take some things for granted. That can mean missed opportunities and that is not what they want to see.
Think about what happens when you get too comfortable. As an example, if you take the same route to work every morning, what happens? Most of us work almost on auto pilot. We kind of “blank out” everything around us because we have traveled that way for years. Or we get up every morning and go through the same routine before we go to work. We could probably do it while we are still half asleep! Try taking a different route to work or try reversing the order in which you do your morning routine, or try having desert for breakfast and cereal for supper. Shake up your day and see what happens. The first thing you will notice is that you will be looking at the road signs, noticing the traffic more, noticing the billboard that you hadn't seen before – in other words – you become more aware and as you become more aware, your senses open up to the opportunities around you.
Successful entrepreneurs do this without thinking. They intuitively know that if they haven't thought of something new lately, they have to shake up their world a bit again. And that is the ultimate goal anyway – feeling comfortable with being uncomfortable. That is when you know you are “living outside the box”, not just dreaming it.
What kinds of things can you do to "give your head a shake?" Try these examples, and for interest sake, keep a journal of the reactions of those around you.
- Take a totally different way to work in the morning. Take another way home.
- When you step onto a crowded elevator, stand facing the crowd instead of turning to watch the floor numbers above the door. Take note of others' reactions.
- Go to an ethnic restaurant, pick up a non-english copy of the menu (with no pictures) and order by pointing to the numbers only.
- Watch a television show that you have never watched before (new episodes of your favourite series don't count) preferably a documentary from the Learning Channel.
- Learn a new language, or a musical instrument.
- Volunteer with some kind of youth group.
- Pick up an exotic fruit or vegetable that you have never seen before from the supermarket. Find a way to make it the main course for your evening meal.
- Organize a pot-luck supper and don't tell anyone what to bring - not even "categories" of what to bring.
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If you have a thought to share with us on your experiences with creativity, send them to our webmaster and we will post them for others to read and become inspired by.
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