An international study by software company Adobe revealed some interesting beliefs about creativity, notably:
While eighty percent of respondents felt we all have the potential to be creative, they also stated that they spend only a third of their time being creative and only 25% felt they were living up to their creative potential.
So what gets in the way?
A majority felt that schools and companies don't do enough to promote creative behaviour or actually impede it.
The other big factor was lack of time. People feel so pressured to produce that they feel they can't take the time to stop and think about how to do things differently. They're on the treadmill and it won't stop.
How do you feel about whether you're living up to your creative potential? Actually, I'm not a fan of that wording--I think I'm creative, but am I living up to my potential? Probably not. I'm surprised that 25% of people said they were. A more realistic question is, do you feel you are using your creativity a significant amount of the time?
If not, here are a few tips that might help--things I try to remember to do myself (not always successfully):
* Be aware of how much of the pressure you are creating yourself by agreeing to the "rules" -- for instance, that you should be reachable via phone at all times, or that you should answer all emails within a few hours. What would happen if you broke these rules?
* Give yourself short breaks, take a deep breath, and ground yourself again.
* When you find something frustrating or annoying to do, take fifteen minutes to brainstorm how you could do it differently, convince somebody else to do it, or get the desired result by doing something else. Remember that you can apply your creativity to just about anything.
(For more tips on making the most of your time, see my book, FOCUS: use the power of targeted thinking to get more done, published by Pearson and available from Amazon or you other favorite bookseller.)
