The 6th most popular post from 2011 was about how our jobs impact our creativity.
Ever notice how hard it is at times to get our best ideas at work? It’s not because our job is eating our creativity, it’s because of the external forces around our jobs that keeps us from being creative. It’s important that we create time and space to actually be creative. If we do not make it a priority, who will? If we choose not to make it a priority, we will lose the battle. We don’t drift into creativity, it’s intentional and takes hard work and effort. Here are some reasons we lose the battle when we’re at work if we’re not intentional:
- Drop Ins – People stopping in, asking questions, chatting, becoming a distraction.
- To-Do Lists – These keep us busy, not creative.
- Email – The creativity killer. Email is a treadmill. For every one email we send, we get 3 back.
- Often times our organizations are afraid of creativity.
- Environment – We do not have access to the surroundings that are most constructive for creative thought and process.
- Fear – we are afraid we will be rejected, have our ideas stolen, or raise the bar too high (which should never be a valid reason)
- Meetings – Too long, rarely have action points, take too much of our time.
- Lack of respect – Not for us as employees, but for the creative process and the fact that it takes work and effort to come up with good ideas and creativity.
- Routine – it gets boring.
- Not empowered or equipped – also should never be a real excuse.
- Staffing – Most organizations, especially churches, are under staffed. More work means more need for intentional times of creativity.
- Passion – Do we love our jobs? Do we realize the opportunity we have to create momentum from any level or position?
- Lack of cooperation – Without intentionality, we do not create cooperatively.
- Trust – We do not trust our initial ideas – the ones that spark the great ideas.
For me, administration is part of my creative “flow” – which sounds weird I know 🙂 But it helps me keep my mind busy, and then ideas come as I’m working. Because I’m at the support level and not 100% of the time on the front lines of ministry so I have tons of proactive working blocks in my day and during those, ideas come. Plus I have two amazing leaders that I work for who encourage me to use my creativity… so it’s a great trifecta for nurturing creative expression both inside and outside of work 🙂 great post!
Great post bro. things that i needed to hear. I have come to understand that my own brain thinks more creatively than I originally gave it credit. But I’ve always taken the safe jobs because I needed income, yet they never encourage me to push myself creatively because of many of the fears that you listed above. Although I now sit in a cubicle and edit videos that other people have shot in a Broadcast setting, I understand that I need to use this and break away from the routine of the edit and try to create my own videos with my own ideas. I’ve had so many, that I”ve just tossed aside. Thanks for the post.