How To Be & Stay Creative for Career Success

This article was contributed by Hugh Beaulac.

Over the long haul, you have nailed a job interview, and you’re in a meritorious job that brings you joy and money. But is it enough to achieve career success?

Although you have great knowledge about your niche and experience in it, you need to stay creative to keep on climbing the career ladder.

First and foremost, let’s take a look at statistics:

• 80% of people claim that creativity is the key driver of economic growth
• 75% of people think they are not living up to their creative potential
• 60% of CEOs agree that creativity is the most important skill to have in a leadership role

Hold on…

What is creativity?

“To me, creativity is seeing and communicating ideas in ways that are unique, compelling, and unexpected.” – Lee Odden

It seems that being creative at work can help you a lot! But if you’re still hesitating whether it is important, pay attention to the list of reasons why doing it should be high on your list:

Why you need to stay creative

1. Creativity Gives You Flexibility

No matter what your job position is, you need to stay focused on the task to complete it on a high level. Even if you have a short attention span, you can work hard on your task until someone or something interrupts you. The business environment is full of distractions like noisy colleagues, meetings, conference calls, and you need to stay flexible to boost your focus.

Being creative encourages flexibility as you can switch between tasks with ease! The key point is that creativity is connected with advanced memory abilities and focus, so it’s easier to shift tasks.

2. Creativity Prevents Burnout

Having overwhelming tasks at work may lead to burnout which means reducing job performance. If you have a goal to achieve career success, burnout is your biggest enemy. However, creativity can help you a lot as you can find a unique solution to any task and, therefore, make it more interesting. After all, a routine can cause stress as your brain doesn’t work for its potential, so stay slightly groggy.

3. Creativity Improves Productivity

Being productive in a workplace means being able to complete more tasks, spending less time. All in all, it means finding a work-life balance, so many people crave for productivity at work.

When you have improved creativity skills, you know how to use different methods to finish your tasks.

4. Creativity Helps to Find Various Solutions

Creativity offers diversity.

When you think outside the box, you’re able to find solutions to the same problem and pick out the most actionable one. Going beyond the surface, creative workers can make up unusual problem-solving and, therefore, achieve success.

5. Creativity Keeps You One Step Ahead of Competitors

What makes you any different from other colleagues hoping for a job promotion? Your creativity, without a doubt! The more creative you are, the more unique ideas you have! Working in a competitive environment, you need to offer something innovative. Therefore, your skills are in a high demand for employers.

6. Creativity Increases Income

For a variety of reasons, creativity gives you opportunities to earn more. When you’re a valuable worker, your boss knows the importance of your work for the company, so you get a promotion and keep on climbing the career ladder.

Plus, being creative at work allows you to take several freelance projects as you’re able to complete them on time. In short, you’re able to manage several works to increase your income.

7. Creativity Helps to Win Friends at Work

Creative people know how to establish good relations with different people, and it plays an important role in the business environment. Although you don’t have to become close friends with your colleagues, getting along with them is crucial for your business growth.

8. Creativity Keeps You Inspired and Motivated

Creativity drives innovation, and when you see the progress of your work, it inspires.

It goes without saying that being inspired and motivated is great when it comes to achieving business success. If you know how to learn from other people who succeed and draw inspiration from them, you don’t give up.

9. Creativity Allows You to Keep a Work-Life Balance

It’s scientifically proven that creative people can find a balance between work and life as they know how to keep in touch with their dearest and nearest while working hard. When you have a creative attitude towards the life, you have various techniques to stay a profitable worker without sacrificing your personal life.

Ways to Improve Creativity at Your Workplace

All the above-mentioned reasons prove that staying creative at workplace pays off, so if you want to improve creative skills, check out the list of ways on how to do it with ease:

Form Flawless Daily Habits

Having daily routines can be a key to success as some of your habits can give you benefits in a business environment.

• get enough sleep: if you sleep for 7-9 hours, your body gets a rest which gives you extra energy for daily activities.
• drinking a cup of green tea: it consists L-theanine that boosts brain powers and, therefore, you’re more creative.
• do physical activities: going in for sports helps to improve mental skills like creative thinking.

It doesn’t take much time or effort to form these habits but it gives you an incredible result.

A well-organized workplace

Distractions are the biggest enemies for creativity. When you’re working in a messy distractions, you spend a lot of time when you need to find something in piles and you reduce creativity. Thus, creating a well-organize workplace (when everything has its place) is important.

However, pay attention to the fact that staying messy can also help some people boost creativity.

Brainstorming

Although many people prefer working alone, collaborating with your team can enhance creativity. All people are different and we have various views, so discussing a topic together can give useful insights.

Role Play

If you’re an employer who wants to encourage employees, do an experiment: change people’s duties for one day. Implementing a role play in a workplace can help to understand more about your colleagues’ duties and boost creativity.

Challenging Tasks

Have you ever heard advice to ‘find comfort in discomfort’?

When you take a slightly difficult task, you start using extra brain power, and it helps to become more creative. Plus, if you have a difficult task, you need to stay creative to find a solution to it. Thus, you think outside the box which is the next step towards personal growth.

Bonus Systems

Although most of us know that you’re lucky when you do for a living what you love, it’s important to get a financial bonus to keep on achieving success. People who have bonus systems at work are more likely to do their best whilst completing tasks.

Changing a Workplace

Changing a workplace can lead to creativity boost. The main idea is that you need to adapt and respond to change, and it makes you more creative. Moreover, if you work in an office daily, you don’t have a source of inspiration while working in a cafe can give you insights while observing other people.

The Sum Up

Being creative pays off as you can stay ahead of your competitors and get more at work.

However, some people believe that creativity is available for a limited group of people. If you believe that being creative is an inherited skill, you should try to develop it. Creativity can be taught without a doubt if you have a desire.

How do you work on your creative skills at work?

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Hugh Beaulac is an aspiring writer who shares his knowledge and tips on various topics to help people find useful insights. He is fond of arts and design, so Hugh puts creative skills high on his list. You’re welcome to connect with him on Twitter.