The Inhibitors to Creative Work.

The assumption that most people have when the word creativity comes up is that it is an act reserved for certain people and not for some. This is a flawed assumption.

When we talk of goal setting and working on our goals, we are in essence describing a creative process.

Setting goals and actively working toward achieving them is creative work for two reasons:

1. The process of working on your goals results to you creating an improved version of yourself.

2. The result of achieving your goals is creating a visible and sometimes even a tangible product.

Understanding this is important because it sets the stage for another question:

If working on my goals is creative work, what then describes tasks that I undertake that have nothing to do with my goals?

These task can be described as reactive tasks. All activities that are in alignment with your goals are creative tasks while the rest are reactive tasks.

Every action you take in alignment with your goal is proactive. It is deliberate forward motion toward your goal.

However, the same cannot be said about tasks that are in response to people, projects and practices that do not support your goals. It is a reaction to these things, hence the carefully selected label-reactive tasks.

At any one time, you are either doing reactive work or creative work.

Reactive work does not necessarily mean useless work. It refers to everything that is thrown at you that is not directly touching on your goals.

Reactive work is addictive. This is because it keeps us busy. While at it, it feels like we are adding value.

Creative work on the other hand is disruptive. It removes us from our comfort zone.

We mentioned earlier that in the process of pursuing our goals we become improved versions of ourselves. This involves learning and sometimes unlearning what we are already familiar with.

It is uncomfortable initially and we start feeling like we are not making progress.

It is for this reason that we prefer to be in reactive mode. This is the status quo which are familiar with. This preference is called the Status Quo Bias.

While we prefer the status quo because of the discomfort that characterize leaving what we are familiar with, we also fear failing.

When you are in creative mode, it means that you are taking a risk. You may not be able to achieve the goals that you are pursuing.

For most people, in fact for all people, this presents potential loss of self-efficacy and self-worth.

As a result, most people would rather not go through this door of creative work. This is referred to as Loss Aversion.

Being in reactive mode helps us protect the status quo. Pursuing creative work sparks loss aversion in us. While this may be the case, growth can only be found through pursuing creative work.