CREATIVITY IS THE FUTURE

This year, I was in Paris for Thanksgiving.

I love Thanksgiving (and Paris is great for food), but no one celebrates Thanksgiving here!?

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I decided to?feast myself on art?instead.

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I saw the works of British illustrator Posy Simmonds, drawings of Picasso, and the Mexican fashion icon Carla Fernández.?

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As I left Carla Fernández’s exhibit, the title caught my eye—The Future is Handmade.

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The Future is Handmade!

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At the dawn of the age of AI,?what makes us human?is what we create and make with our hands.?

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I observe an immense need for art and creativity in most corporations I work with.?

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When I ask leaders and their teams the last time they did anything creative, you know what I hear? Kindergarten.

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And yet, the biggest lesson I have learned from working with them, and you is that you are all extraordinarily creative. You need a creative process and to give yourself permission to be creative, just like I do.

Do you meditate, write in your gratitude journal, exercise, and socialize to take better care of yourself?

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You need to?add creativity.

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Before you object because you have other responsibilities and have no time, or you don’t see what creativity has anything to do with your line of work, consider the benefits:

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Boost your sense of purpose.?Have you done most of the things you set out to do in life? You are successful, and yet you wonder, is this it? Is this the meaning of life??

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If this is you, you need?self-made purpose.?For most of our lives, our sense of meaning comes from ready-made purpose— through school, family, and work. And yet, as we grow older, we reach a time when purpose that comes from the outside is not enough. We need self-made purpose that comes from inside of us.?

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We can create self-made purpose in multiple ways—through learning and teaching, leading and serving, and standing for what we believe in.?

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But perhaps the?most powerful tool?for self-made purpose is creativity.

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Alexandra Hyland, Senior Director of Learning & Diversity at The Kraft Heinz Company, wrote on LinkedIn about how she committed to painting more recently (in full disclosure, after our session) because it feels good, with no pressure, no expectation, but also because it is “an opportunity to reinvent.” Have a read:?Painting for Painting’s Sake.

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Lessen anxiety:?Psychological research has also confirmed that?creativity increases positive emotions?and lessens depressive symptoms, reducing stress and anxiety.

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Here’s an article from?Psychology Today?by Jeffrey Davis M.A., that further explains the positive benefits of creativity,?3 Habits for Sustaining Your Creativity in Dark Times, including why it is better to be a content maker rather than a content consumer; how to focus it on the work that brings you alive; how creativity can calm down your mental chatter.

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Increased Creativity:?Creativity primes our brains for more imaginative thinking. It helps us explore new ideas, approaches, and perspectives with more curiosity and less judgment.?

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When we?start our day with creativity,?we foster a more open-minded and exploratory mindset for the rest of the day.

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Mid-day,?being creative helps us break from routine and reboot our brains to think differently.

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End of the day,?creativity helps us wind down, relax, and refill our sense of meaning. It also helps us sleep on ideas, using our subconscious to do some work.???

You are convinced but don’t know where to start? Here are 3 simple things you can do to tap into your?Creative Future—

1. Schedule time for it in your calendar—start with a manageable amount of time even if it is 10 minutes (see my list below of creative exercises that can get you started.)?
2. Decide on your medium—painting, sculpture, theater, music, or dance. Something you might have done a long time ago and derived pleasure from, or something you always wanted to do.
3. Make a to-do list to get started: order supplies, sign up for a virtual or in-person class, join a club (like the?UFOs?or Unfinished Objects), and ask a friend or colleague to be your accountability partner or collaborator.?

So sharpen your colored pencils, take out your pipe cleaners, order your knitting supplies, tune your pianos, restring your guitars, recharge your i-pads and stylus.?

Thank you,

Ayse