Are You Getting Enough Creative Time?
Everyone knows that you need to apply creativity to your business to make it succeed. This creative effort has a clear end in mind – to develop new products or streamline your business processes to increase profits. But creativity is also an end in itself and you should be allowing time to simply let your creative juices flow.
If you follow my posts, you know I am a Certified Zentangle® Teacher and a tangling fool. Above are two recent tiles I created in the image above. What I have discovered about tangling is that when I am in the meditative creative space, I get really awesome new ideas about my business.
I also use walks on the beach or listening to audio books as inspiration for creative business ideas. In fact, I was listening to an awesome audio by Whitney Freya this morning while on my walk around the neighborhood and I had to keep stopping to take notes for creative ideas for blog posts or information I want to share with my current coaching clients.
And it’s not just me. Google has made creative time an integral part of their business model.
Google’s 20 Percent Time
Google has a famous rule for its engineers. It gives them 20 percent of their time (one day a week) to work on their own creative projects. Although some refer to it as ’employee goof-off time,’ it’s actually an essential part of the company’s product development process.
What are they doing during 20 percent time? You might imagine some fierce paper airplane flights and solitaire games, but not so in the creative corporate culture Google has fostered. This creative time is allegedly responsible for such revolutionary products as Gmail and AdSense.
The company makes creative time part of the job for its creative workers. Only by experimenting with their own ideas can engineers at the company create unique, innovative products.
Are You Getting Your 20 Percent Time?
How would your business change if you devoted 20 percent of your working time strictly to experimenting and being creative? How much of your time do you devote to playing with new ideas and not worrying about outcomes?
Remember that brainstorming and other creative activities are not always goal-directed. One of the reasons you should devote a portion of your time to creativity is to simply keep the floodgates open and play with ideas. If it works for Google, it’ll work for your small business.
I can hear you now saying, I don’t have time, I can’t dedicate a whole day to creative play, but what if you started with a few minutes here and there. Schedule some 15 to 30 minute chunks of time in your calendar for brainstorming, mindmapping or even just flipping through a favorite magazine to find images that spark your imagination!
I promise, this small amount of creative time can yield big results for your business and help you get unstuck with when you are trying to solve a problem or come up with a bright, shiny new idea!
Go forth and create!
Minette
Minette, it’s funny. I have a half-written blog article written that shows SO much more of my creative side. I usually gravitate towards the marketing articles because they are so much more comfortable and familiar to write. Thank you for reminding us to take care of our creative sides. This is the stuff that really matters if we are creative people Great article, lady!! This is my first visit, but will definitely be back, again!
Hi Christi, I would love to see your more creative, juicy writing! Step out of that comfort zone and let us see more of you 🙂 So glad you stopped by today.
Minette, you are so right! And this is such an important subject. I know, when I’m working on a painting, I’m in some special place, away from anything normal except my relationship with the Divine. It gives me a microvacation from all my usual Stuff. Creating new recipes also puts me in a zone. I come back from these activities very refreshed. Thanks for making these points!
Ohhh, love that concept of a microvacation, Kebba and love that you paint, too. Making art is a wonderful way of connecting to the divine!
Hey Minette
Can I just yell “WOOTWOOT”?! LOL I agree 100%. I believe it is supremely important – for our own sanity – to just create without a purpose. Funnily, your purpose will become clear as you create…and this creation will be one of your proudest moments! Did I make any sense? 😛 For instance, I once wrote an article penned “Just Write” at the gym in 30 minutes. I had no intention of publishing it – it was just meant to be some innocent rambling, but, to date, that article has gotten the most FB shares for me! LOL
When you channel your heart into creative pursuits, profits will follow. But, most importantly, your happiness is ensured.
Thank you so much for this reminder, sweets #HUGSSS
Kitto
PS: “Content marketing” has nearly killed ‘creative writing’. Why has writing become so robotic anyway? Everything is now SEO-optimized, format-driven and influencer-targeted. *sigh*
I will have to go search out your Just Write, post, Krithika! Interesting about content marketing killing creative writing… I wonder what Seth Godin would say.
Minette, I love this post! I only recently found out about zentangle, and I’m hooked. I actually wrote a blog post about what I learned about life from zentangling – you might enjoy it 🙂 I think this is so crucial, even for just living. Creativity shakes the dust off our souls and gives us a fresh perspective on just about everything. Thanks for the thoughtful post and I love your tangles, so lovely!!
Thanks, Sherri, I would love to see your post about Zentangle! I will go check it out and I really like how your phrase, “Creativity dusts off our souls and gives a fresh perspective…” So true!