Singapore
When people think of being creative, they immediately think of the arts: visual arts, dance, music, Etc. So where does creativity fit into everyday issues and the work environment?
Think outside of the box? Better yet, think outside of the circle.
To me creativity is solving your everyday problems.
Personally, I have been called a “creative critter.” (Hey, I kind of like that moniker). I come up with some wacky ideas around nicknames, odd solutions to crazy things and generally doing things a bit “different.” But where is the practical side to my creativity? (I call it “practical creativity”).
Practical Creativity
When I tackle a problem, I think “how can I find a solution that is different, the goes beyond the usual. We need something unique, something that makes us stand out..or that makes our decision to do things stand out.” Everyone has run of the mill answers, solutions. But the real root to all of “practical creativity” is why do I want to do something different? To me it is often economical. It is to be better, or run things more efficiently. You may ask how is it economical? It is how I can accomplish a task or a goal and save costs doing it, yet reaching the goals that I need to reach.
As recent example of this is building up our business (yes Egyii). James Irvine and I are looking for ways to run our Performance Acceleration business in the most economical manner. We need to be virtual and to outsource, yet we need to answer to the convententional means of “how’ a business is “supposed” to be run. Expectations are that we have an office, an office address, an office phone, something “physical” (yet we are virtual)…in order to be seen as a viable business (at times, it is very old fashiioned thinking in Singapore..there seems to be a lack of trust that is prevalent). So we have come up with a creative solution. The conventential solution would have costs us between $100-$350 per month. Our solution initally costs $0 (and will eventually cost $4.75 per month). Here is practical creativity for economical solutions (as I would rather have the money in my pockets vs someone else’s, for sure).
How do you achieve practical creativity? The first step is confidence. You really need to take control of yourself and be content with who you are. Then you can cover all aspects of creativity. My partner, James Irvine writes a lot in this space on the Egyii Blog… http://egyii.wordpress.com/.
So, creativity does NOT have to be artistic. It can be practical, too.
The next topic I will post will be on creativity and personal branding….
Ciao for now.
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