How #Creative Are You?

What skills will be required to succeed in the next decade?

The relentless drive toward increased productivity, lower production costs, electronic intelligence, and computerized business solutions are affecting every job and industry.

People can’t compete with electronic solutions in achieving productivity objectives. Offshoring and downsizing are just temporary steps on the way to massive global change, say authorities.

So what can you do? One possibility is to change your mindset, and prepare for and create jobs requiring mental and social interaction skills that can’t be easily automated. Skills for tomorrow, called “hyper-human,” “meta”, or “ultra” skills, include research, critical thinking, problem solving, intuition, leadership, and creativity. Consider the following:

Do you use your imagination to find new ways of performing something? Do you create new options to revitalize your life? Or, do you like the status quo, prefer tried and true ways of doing things?

Creativity is a quality we’re all born with but may have forgotten how to access. It involves creating something new (a product, solution, work of art) that has some value or usefulness. It includes both originality and functionality.

Test your creativity

Answer “yes” or “no:”

1. I like trying new things.

2. When in a group, I rarely offer suggestions.

3. I like participating in intense discussions.

4. If I inherited my parent’s home, I’d keep it the same.

5. I often question things most people take for granted.

8. I like a peaceful life with a dependable routine.

7. I often have ideas about how improvements could be made at work.

8. I’d terminate a relationship my family disapproved of.

9. I’d like to celebrate my next birthday by going somewhere new.

10. I prefer activities I know I will enjoy to those I have not tried.

Scoring: One for each “yes” to odd-numbered statements, and each “no” to even-numbered ones. Add your points.

8 or higher: You’re an innovator. You embrace change and use your imagination to find new ways of doing things. You’re complex, self accepting, independent, intuitive, and see many sides of a problem.

4-7: You may enjoy creating in your personal life but dislike change in your work routine. Or, the opposite could be true. To enhance creativity, try suggestions below.

3 or lower: You enjoy the status quo, dislike change. If you’re happy, don’t change. If you want to release your creative potential, read on.

Tips for strengthening creativity

— Use “Hurricane Thinking.” Suppose you had to give a talk about Cape Cod. First, write Cape Cod in the center of a paper and circle it. This is the eye of the hurricane. Then write the first thoughts that come to mind. Place these around the eye of the hurricane. Jot related ideas close to the parent thoughts. Draw lines to connect related ideas. Should a completely unrelated association come to mind, record it on the opposite corner of the page. If this related idea produces offspring, record these. Continue this process until the page is filled with major points swirling around the calm of Cape Cod.

Let your mind roam. Record all ideas. Don’t evaluate them. Then organize your thoughts and research their feasibility. Extend hurricane thinking to all life components. Attend to those “crazy” ideas that could be the spark of genius.

— Make friends with your inner child. List things parents warned you about. Examine attitudes and beliefs you developed as a result of these teachings. Do admonitions like “Never question authority,” “Boys don’t cry,” apply today? Examining long-held beliefs opens you up to new ways of seeing things.

— Draw or “Doodle.” Write a question that clearly states what you want to know. Underneath it, draw whatever flows though your hands. Use your intuitive skills to interpret the meaning and symbols in the drawing. Note the sequence of steps and your thoughts and feelings as you study the drawing.

— Play mental games like “what if….” These require a willingness to think freely, so don’t close doors on ideas. Resist thinking, “Don’t be silly!” or “That’s stupid.”

— Lose yourself in an enjoyable activity. Exercise, sew, paint, sing, dance, write, start a scrapbook or photo album. Focus on the activity.

— Devise your own ways of freeing creativity. Relax. Give the process time. Here are suggestions:

– Ask your dreams for answers to a question before going to sleep.

– Meditate, journal, relax in nature.

– Change routines, for example, write with your non-dominant hand.

– Play the devil’s advocate at a business meeting.

– Take a course on a topic you’ve always wanted to try.

– Have a backwards day, beginning by having dinner for breakfast.

– Ask a child an open-ended question, for instance, “What do you think …”

– Cook with spices you’ve never used.

– Have a costume party where each guest plays the part of a character from a book, movie, the media, or other realm.

Award winning, Questers Dare to Change Your Job and Life, offers additional suggestions for strengthening creativithy. https://www.amazon.com/Questers-Dare-Change-Your-Life/dp/1508408963

Check audible Questers: https://www.audible.com/pd/Questers-Dare-to-Change-Your-Job-and-Life-Audiobook/B07VZNKGJF?asin=B07VZNKGJF&ipRedirectOverride=true&overrideBaseCountry=true&pf_rd_p=34883c04-32e5-4474-a65d-0ba68f4635d3&pf_rd_r=TN801GRP49AWQSSYMDYC1

Author Bio: Carole Kanchier, PhD, is an internationally recognized newspaper/digital columnist, registered psychologist, coach and author of Questers Dare to Change Your Job and Life. Carole Kanchier has taught at University of California, Berkeley and Santa Cruz, University of Alberta, and other institutions of higher learning. Dr. Kanchier is known for her pioneering, interdisciplinary approach to human potential.

Carole Kanchier is available for consultations and interviews. Her team will be delighted to send a complementary PDF of Questers Dare to Change.

Contact: carole@questersdaretochange.com; www.questersdaretochange.com

Questers Dare to Change shows how to reevaluate personal and professional goals and plan for success.