Creativity is not something you’re born with but a skill that can be gained through practice. However, as a CEO, you can jolt your creativity muscle to improve your inherent potential to develop creative thoughts with the correct practice and determination.
As the author Austin Kleon discusses, creativity isn’t about innate skill or genius. Austin says that everyone can be creative. It all comes down to curiosity, focus, and hours spent honing your skill. Many businesses place high importance on creativity and innovative thinking. However, most CEOs do not have enough time to develop their creative abilities despite their importance.
As a CEO, how can you jolt creativity and be innovative without failing, appearing irrational, or suggesting what others have previously proposed? The secret to becoming a more creative CEO is not how much time you spend but how you spend it. Therefore, here are six ways you as a CEO can give that creative muscle the jolt it needs.
1. Start with mindful observations of your environment.
Observing the environment around you is the first step in your ability to be creative. Creativity is fueled by how a person, especially a CEO, interprets their surroundings and environment.
Although a CEO’s environment can be pretty hectic, you’ll be able to home into the creative muscle and detect hints and specifics you hadn’t seen before if you improve your observation skills.
Start by observing your everyday life. Likewise, pay attention to what your team has to say. Eat your lunch with mindfulness.
Try observing your co-workers. Look how they behave, interact and work in a team. As a result, you’ll be able to get a completely new approach towards them.
Observation will expand your horizons and assist you in developing a company of skills that might spark innovation.
2. Try a little daydreaming to kickstart your CEO creativity.
The greatest contradiction is that creativity isn’t always the result of a high IQ or enlightenment from motivational YouTube videos.
It’s all about consistently exercising your imagination, grooming your powers of study, and dreaming big (or modest) dreams.
It sounds easy, but in this day of information surplus and the high-speed hustle life, this critical component is frequently lacking in our daily lives.
According to one study, “spontaneous thought processes — mind-wandering, creative thinking, and daydreaming” come about when “thoughts are relatively free of conscious and instinctive limitations.”
In other words, daydreaming allows you to divert your attention away from your regular obligations and toward more creative endeavors. You can develop and spark your creativity by dreaming about different scenarios.
3. Read books you like and are relevant to your work.
Reading nurtures creativity. Make time to read every day, but don’t stress about picking a genre.
Read what you love or pick books that align with what you’re currently working on.
Read business, biographies, and even fiction books. Your goal is to have an “Aha!” moment while connecting two concepts.
Picking up a book can provide the spark you need to solve that problem.
4. Create a morning routine to instill creativity.
Morning routines have been credited to everyone, from Albert Einstein to Steve Jobs to Oprah.
Willpower is at its highest level the moment you wake up. Likewise, it’s the driving force behind morning routines. This willpower will help concentrate on the critical and complex activities.
However, as the day progresses, it begins to dwindle. You can boost its capacity by working it out every morning as part of your morning ritual.
As a CEO, you can write a to-do list, exercise, or meditate in the morning. This will not only improve your well-being but also help jolt your creativity.
Rather than waiting for ideas to appear, you develop habits that prepare your brain to function at the appropriate time.
You have to get a goodnight’s sleep to start your day right. If you don’t get this recharge, you’ll deplete your brain’s energy, be less creative, impair interpersonal connections, and make increasingly terrible decisions.
5. Always be curious.
Curiosity fosters creativity.
Our tendency to question, delve into things and seek solutions sparks our imagination and propels our creative ideas.
However, our desire for knowledge may fade over time. A person can stop asking and start accepting instead.
Asking questions might help to stimulate your creativity and imagination. Start living a life driven by curiosity. What interests you the most? Investigate, study, and explore it.
As a CEO, check where your thought process takes you. This will allow you to notice new options that others do not.
6. Engage in teamwork.
What do today’s life-changing ideas, from Microsoft to Google, have in common?
They were all created by teams who brought the idea, planned their pioneering projects, presented those ideas to investors and the general public, and collaboratively brainstormed those innovations with the team until the idea became a reality.
Even the most successful CEO must discuss and exchange fresh and innovative ideas with others.
As a result, working with your team and bouncing ideas is a vital asset to increasing creativity.
Being a team player comes naturally to some young CEOs, but not naturally to others. However, it is never too late to learn how to engage in teamwork.
