Thursday, August 9, 2012

Tips To Boost Your Small Business Creativity

Adjust your mindset to accept creativity where you find it. A lot of people assume certain activities are creative and some aren't, challenge yourself to find a creative aspect to every position.

For example, typically you might think artist, writer, and musician are the main creative fields. But the guys on American Choppers are just as creative with motorcycle mechanics. Even lumber-jacks have those log chain saw carvings...

In their own way lots of careers have a creative/ artistic niche - seek them out. Don't feel pigeon holed into arts and crafts as the only options. Spend more time doing creative activities you enjoy, that leave you feeling energized and satisfied.

I really enjoy cooking, its fun for me. Gardening not so much, but other people LOVE the garden center as much as I love my Williams Sonoma store. For me it helped to realize I don't have to love the same creative pursuits that my friends and family love - especially if their hobby feels like chore to me.

Creative problem solving is useful on every job. Brainstorm on your own without editing yourself, then once you have all your ideas out on paper you have lots to pick from.

Fun exercise, set a timer for 1 minute and write down all the uses for a bucket.

Also, we often ignore the direct impact our physical health and mind/body balance have on our creativity.

The human physiology has not evolved to match the pace at which we live today and the technology available to us. Gadgets (or "Gadget" programs) for fitness are a fad, cost money and supply relatively little value. They espouse the quick and easy because that is what sells. Diet programs are the same.

The following 4 basics are suggested for starters. They can be efficiently achieved but not quickly and for many not easily. But they are monumentally worth the investment. Like many other challenges they require management and synchrony with the other elements of our life.

1. Realign a long walk with problem solving and family time to have a clear horizon and put mind and body in synchrony. Our bodies still require moderate exercise to function because we have not yet evolved out of your "Hunter/Gatherer/Fight/Flight" physiology.

2. Develop habits that permit the subliminal mind to work while the body rests as least 7 hours a day with sleep.

3. The human body needs a mix of lean meat and vegetables. The artificial junk clogs us up and wears us down.

4. Manage expectations - those others have for us and those we have for ourselves. We are sensitive and vulnerable creatures, designed in a complex and vastly varying ways. The pace of life these days requires cultivation of expectation management and everyone must evolve their own unique form of that art.