MY PERSONAL JOURNEY OF

Developing Creativity

MGMT 2275 — Unit 1 Project

Published in

Creativity in the Workplace

8 min readOct 5, 2022

Creativity. It’s a word that we hear a lot in our lives. We’re told that we’re so creative as little kids after making the worst rendition of a family photo. We’re told to be more creative in junior high English classes after finishing the story with, “and it was all a dream…” We joke as adults that we’re not creative because we can’t figure out what ingredient would make that dish just a little better. But this word, creative, it’s not a concept that many of us connect to our workplaces.

Work is where we grumble about our bosses and push through the day to bring home the bacon. It’s no place for arts and crafts or stick-man drawings, so how can it be creative?

Throughout this project, I’ve learned how creativity is at the heart of every task that we complete. From how we approach problems and ideate solutions, or how our perspectives differ and strategies form, it all revolves around our capacity to be creative. I’ve learned about my own strengths and weaknesses and have developed ways to continue nourishing this creativity. But most importantly, I’ve begun to implement these changes and have watched my creative powers grow.

Creativity in the workplace

So, what is creativity in the workplace? How does this concept apply to someone in accounting or an assembly line worker? Well, the answer is actually found in a different concept: innovation.

Innovations are how we change and adapt to improve our environment; it’s the means to overcome scarcity through new ideas, methods, or products. And these innovations are hard to find and develop without creativity. Someone has to be willing to ask, “How can we make this better?” or “What can I change?” to begin the innovative process. That willingness or drive to ask those questions requires the ability to want to see things from a different perspective. This is also known as the ability of creative thinking.

The beauty of this process is that developing innovations sparks creativity, with new experiences and risks taken to fuel one's creative thinking. As every industry and company requires innovations to stay competitive and successful, it can quickly become apparent the importance of creativity in any workplace.

Understanding the importance of creativity in the workplace is valuable because it allows a person to identify areas where they can develop their own abilities and improve their surroundings. Personally, I also value it because it can set me apart from others, as someone who can make valuable differences through innovation. This is my draw to strengthen my creative abilities to be a more innovative thinker. But this requires me to first understand my own strengths and weaknesses as a creative person.

Strengths and weaknesses

When thinking of which of my personal characteristics aid or hinder me in my creativity, I can struggle to identify my weaknesses. No one wants to admit they are lacking in certain areas — especially in areas relating to creativity as a student with a major in marketing. But it’s essential to identify where you excel and where you struggle to understand how your strengths can benefit your weaknesses, as these become opportunities in your life.

After an analysis of my creative strengths and weaknesses, this is what I discovered:

My Biggest Strengths

I love learning. Like honestly, I am excited in the summer when I am enrolling on courses for the fall. I love learning weird facts about the people around me. I just wish I could remember it all.
I am a social butterfly. I think I would go insane if I went a full day without talking to anyone. I love hearing other people's perspectives and about new topics.
I love trying new things. Do you have a weird hobby? I’m into it, let’s do it together. I love seeing what other people love and expanding my experiences and knowledge this way.

My Worst Weaknesses

I fear failure. Sure, I’ll love trying something new — but I hate failing at it. I wish I could be amazing at everything I try right away. This can cause me to only try new things that seem easier and avoid more complex problems.
I care too much about what others think. I so badly wish everyone told me their thoughts as they had them. What if I’m doing this the wrong way? This weakness can make me take the ‘safe route’ instead of the more creative one.
I can struggle to open up my imagination. I’m not a daydreamer and it can be hard for me to just switch into a creative thinking state. I think linearly; I like cause-and-effect explanations. This can hinder me though, as it can box in my thinking.

By knowing these strengths and weaknesses, I now have the ability to develop strategies to enhance my creativity further. I can find connections between these characteristics and the opportunities and threats that surround me to better myself as a creative person.

Strategies to improve

Considering both my ‘good’ and ‘bad’ creative characteristics, it’s now time to plan how I can develop my creativity further. I need to consider my core four competencies, as described by Robert Epstein, and decide which areas are the most beneficial for me to strengthen. I know that I want to work on breaking down my barriers and be better at connecting my thoughts within both my personal and professional life. So, with my creative strengths and weaknesses in mind, here are three new strategies that I plan on implementing:

Regular meditation. Because I am not a daydreamer, this approach could allow me to escape the present and get outside my own head. This encompasses both the core competencies of changing my surroundings with new a new routine and broadening myself with this new experience.
Take a design course. Within this project, I have discovered that I enjoy design work and that it sparks creative thinking for me. This makes this a valuable skill to invest in, as it also embraces the core competency of broadening myself with new knowledge.
Make mind mapping a habit. I’ve only ever mind-mapped when required and every time after I think, “wow, this was actually useful.” Integrating this method of organizing my thoughts as a habit incorporates the competency of capturing my ideas so they can add value to my life in the future.

With these strategies in hand, I can now integrate the practice of developing myself creatively into my life.

Strategy refinement

Moving on to the next stage, my goal was to now actually start doing. I took a week to see how to best fit these strategies into my life, but I quickly realized that they all needed refinement. I was dealing with the problem of a lack of rules; I was overthinking how, where, and when to do them; and I was developing fears within every strategy. The solution? I need to give myself constraints and methods to manage risks for each strategy.

Therefore, to refine each strategy I added the following:

Regular meditation.

Time constraint: Practice regular meditation every morning for a maximum of 20 minutes to avoid losing interest in the practice.
Risk of losing ideas: Keep a pencil and journal nearby for myself after meditation so that I can capture ideas to be revisited later on.

Take a design course.

Scope constraint: Limit myself to completing one design course at a time so that I am not overwhelmed with content and choices.
Risk of money lost: Choose a free course and truly apply myself to learning through practice to evaluate my learning from the course and to avoid the feeling that I wasted money on it.

Make mind mapping a habit.

Consistency constraint: Give myself a deadline for completing a personal mind map at least once weekly, until the strategy becomes a natural habit so that I have additional motivation to complete this task.
Risk of no return: Evaluate the usefulness of personal mind maps by saving and revisiting old ones to understand if and when they improve my creative thinking.

With these refinements, I can better apply these strategies to my life and understand how they benefit me creatively.

Putting them into practice

After only a few weeks, I have already begun to notice evidence of positive personal creative development from these strategies. The biggest change is that I can feel myself prioritizing myself and my goals. This has made a difference in my life because I am no longer being creative for deadlines or for a teacher’s requirements — but because it’s important to me.

This mindset shift has shown me the value that small changes as simple as spending 20 minutes every morning to meditate can make for both your creative growth and your mental health. This has truly been the most surprising benefit of integrating these strategies into my life.

Specifically considering how the strategies have benefited me creatively, they have contributed to:

An idea of a new strategy for how to better sell clothing within my side business (ideated during meditation).
A new layout for my room to save space and make my morning routine more efficient (ideated during meditation).
How I design my Canva projects — even in the images that I created for this post — with a better understanding of how to style text (learned from a free Canva design course).
A plan of action for how to be hired at a job I truly love and can work throughout my final school year (created from a mind map).
A new design for my Animal Crossing island, utilizing the island’s space better and improving the overall design (planned during a silly Animal Crossing mind map!).

All in all, I can truly say that these strategies have improved my creative thinking abilities in my personal life and in my working life. Creativity and innovations rely on the ability to set goals and strategies — it relies on the willingness to take risks and manage your fears.

If anything, I hope that you’ve learned from this how simple it can be to make strategies that fuel your imagination and spark your creativity. I hope that you see the value in developing yourself and will make the jump to become a more creative person.