Every act of creation is, first of all, an act of destruction

-Pablo Picasso-

Creativity requires the courage to let go of certainties. Businesses and employees often fall into the trap of sticking to what they know or what they have always done. If they don’t push boundaries, they won’t give customers a broad range of choices. They end up ensuring lacklustre standards which guarantee an easy, ‘yes.’ 

It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness.

People will misinterpret you and what you do. They might even call you names. So get comfortable with being misunderstood, disparaged, or ignored especially in a workplace.

If you are advertising or pitching to a customer it is your responsibility to be creative, push boundaries, be innovative invest in new ideas that dislodge you from your comfort zone

Here are some ideas that will enable you to continuously keep the spark of creativity in your businesses and working life.

Imagination is your tool.

Logic can only take you from A to B, but imagination takes you everywhere.

Without imagination, there is no creativity. Imagination enables you to form ideas. Without imagination, it is pretty difficult to open other people’s minds. Aim at weaving the familiar with the novel. Go through the motions. Shuffle sticky notes around. As an entrepreneur, it’s important to always come up with new ideas and concepts as time requires. Even more important is to move ahead of the times, kind of predict where your industry is moving towards and navigate to lead in that area.  

Creativity is a skill.

Creativity is a skill, you have to learn it. Birds are designed to fly, yet they’ve to learn to fly.

You’ve got to have the will to put into action the new ideas and concepts you could imagine.  I do tell people instead of wasting one’s anger on complaining or lashing out at people, try to channel it into writing, drawing, and other creative work. Desmond Tutu said so succinctly: ‘Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.’ We can find creativity at work, in employees and in life. Learn from flowers, birds, the sun and the moon.

Look in odd places.

One can get inspiration in the night and day. You can find inspiration in the world around you, in your everyday life, and also in other interests such as boxing, football, and from industries totally separate from your own. Many times one gets inspiration from something utterly unrelated or contrasting from what you’re working on. An article I read one day from a magazine so inspired me that it has become the basis of many creative works I have done in the last two years. One inspiration leads to another revelation of knowledge and understanding, and that knowledge could be applied in Finance, Psychology, Engineering and Architecture. They broaden your horizon so that you have a whole spectrum to choose from. 

Practice makes perfect.

The more you use your imagination, the more creative you become. If you can imagine it, then it’s possible. Putting into practice what you imagine, the more effective and better you become. It is said that Rome was not built in a day. When you practise new synapses in your brain new connections are being made. Without hard work, talent does not grow and therefore growth is stunted. Draw the art you want to see, start the business you want to run, play the music you want to hear, write the book you want to read, build the products you want to use – do the work you want to see done.

Think outside the box.

Everything hinges on imagination. If one does not go beyond what they are seeing, it becomes difficult to become extraordinary. When you are told to think outside the box it does not mean you must leave the box. Remember that the answer to everything is in the thing. It might mean you have to turn it the other way, twerk the idea, change it, and the answer pops up.

Keep walking, Ironically creative work often appears to be effortless. People will say, ‘Why didn’t I think of that?’ They won’t see the years of toil and sweat that went into it.