Podcast Episode 57: Ready to Expand Your Creativity?

Episode 57: Ready to Expand Your Creativity?

We all talk about creativity. America is currently obsessed with creativity and creative people.

Not that long ago, it was a word only used to label someone like an artist, someone who created something. Now though, highly creative people are discussed on an ongoing basis and gosh, don’t we all want to be more creative?

So, the question we’ll talk about in today’s conversation is how to expand your own creativity.

______________________________________________________________________________

Welcome to the Extraordinary Women Podcast where we chat about the issues that women just like you, are thinking about, dealing with, and working through in our daily lives.

For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Sharri Harmel, Editor and Chief Creative of the Extraordinary Women Magazine.

Life can sometimes get a little complicated, stressful, and even messy at times but always remember, you are truly a unique and Extraordinary Woman.

______________________________________________________________________________

Yes, today people love being labeled as a creative. In the past creatives were a little odd, a little different … people such as painters, sculptors, writers, designers and even architects.

Now though being labeled a Creative has expanded to include almost anyone who has unique ways of thinking such as creative thinkers, creative problem solvers, and even creative leaders.

And frankly, don’t we now all love being considered a Creative? I know I do!

So how can we nurture and grow our own creativity? And what habits do creative people have that we can try on for ourselves?

First – be insatiably curious.

I love the word curiosity. I am an intensely curious person. I like to hear people’s stories- the real and deep stories. That’s why I started my magazine actually. And part of my curiosity of people involves asking a LOT of questions. Sometimes I ask too many, but I’m genuinely interested in people’s journeys.

Creative people are super curious.

And to be curious about situations, events, and certainly people, requires us to be open-minded or growth-minded and not stuck in rigid thinking or beliefs about people and situations. Polarized thinking does not breed curiosity or creativity. The closed-minded way of thinking – believing something is true when it’s an opinion rather than a fact – squashes all curiosity and therefore creative thinking, so let yourself question your beliefs…

What’s that old saying that there are only two things for certain, death and taxes? Funny but it’s a reminder that sometimes what I’m SO incredibly sure is true, is not. This has happened to me more times than I can count.

Being open-minded or growth minded means being willing to look at situations, people and even structures with interest, questioning why and even why not. It can be silly questions like why not wear plaids with stripes or what if I try a podcast but do a video at the same time as audio? Or much bigger questions like what is going to change in the world of work if remote working becomes permanent?

We asked these kinds of crazy curious questions – from the silly to the big – when we were kids. Kids are naturally curious but as we age the world quickly gets tired of people who ask why do we do that? Why is it called that? And we stop being curious.

One little tip when you feel yourself stuck on a certain belief or opinion, walk to a different part of the room, and ask yourself, what if it’s not? What would that mean to your life, your career, the world? A change in actual perspective in a room can help your mind to open up and be more curious about the what if’s.

Second- try things, have different experiences.

Creative people try out all kinds of things. They like new experiences and that also means creatives become more comfortable with failure because they experience it more. Thomas Edison said, “I have not failed, I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

Don’t count the fails, instead count all your experiences.

Also, last week I talked about the importance of hobbies- and hobbies are a great way to try things out without being attached to the result.

I took a bread making class at a Paris cooking school years ago. I was sure I’d love it. The school is beautiful, and I was channeling Meryl Streep from the movie It’s Complicated. I could see my little bakery, how I would run it and decorate it. And if I had gone out and invested in a bakery or boulangerie, I would have had a LOT riding on me loving making bread AND being good at it.

Ladies, I hated the class. All that kneading and rolling drove me nuts. I was terrible at making bread. I hope you are all laughing. The important part is it didn’t matter that I hated making bread, because I hadn’t invested in a bakery or announced I was a baker before I took the class. The only result from trying out this new experience was that I won’t sign up for any more bread making cooking classes. I learned I never want to own a bakery and I know a whole lot more about what goes into making a beautiful loaf of bread.

Next on the march to expand your creativity is – Pay attention to your environment

Your environment either fuels or squashes your creativity.

But to be clear, when I say environment, I’m talking about the people you spend the most time with as well as how you spend your time – what you read or watch, and your surroundings – your home.

About the people, I was recently reminded of the saying, you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. It was a super good reminder for me, and I hope you too. Are you hanging around with people who are also creative and curious or are you around complainers and negative nellies? Do you spend time with people who can have open discussions and debates about happenings in the world? If not, some changes might be needed. The people you spend your time with is key to every aspect of your mindset not just your creativity. So, we all need to be vigilant about who we choose to spend our time with.

Next is how we spend our time. Besides work, are you on social media? Do you enjoy YouTube? What are you reading, what are you watching on television? Media and information can be super interesting but like everything there is light and dark in each. Track not only your time to analyze how much time you are spending on various activities, but also what it is you are consuming.

Some information can be expanding. Say you follow a beautiful flower arranger on Instagram. His or her videos might give your ideas that lead to more ideas.

But the negative information is just as easy to access. So, check in with yourself and ask whether it is negative or even scary or mind-expanding and positive.

Hanging out in that space of negativity or scary happenings does not enhance creativity. It actually puts the brain into flight mode which turns on survival and turns off the brain’s ability to anything close to creativity.

Remember, our brain loves habits- even bad ones- so if we want to enhance our creativity, we need to spend our time doing things and surround ourselves with people who nurture our creativity.

Last – give yourself time to daydream.

Einstein said, “Logic will get you from A to B, imagination will take you everywhere.”

Daydreaming might happen when you go for solitary walks, get a massage or even that time in the morning, just before you are fully awake but thinking through ideas and options.

When we daydream, we see connections and insights that you won’t see when you are living in your logic driven world.

I get most of my great ideas and actually imagine the ideas of most of my podcasts and magazine articles when I daydream.

So let yourself daydream … let yourself see the connections, patterns, ideas, and possibilities that will fuel your dreams.

Outro

Ladies, if you are tired of never having time for you, never making the time to connect with yourself and your dreams, then I know you’ll love the Extraordinary Women Magazine. The magazine will make you want to take some time for yourself because you’re going to want to read each issue as soon as it shows up in your inbox. This magazine is about enhancing and growing your creativity!

The EW Magazine is a dream supporting, dream inspiring read that I know you’ll love. It’s got ideas, recipes, and lifestyle suggestions meant to give you hope and encouragement, which we need more of today. Plus, in Issue three we added a section called Home Matters. I had so many people ask me about my Paris apartment and the decorating process of my Boston apartment that I decided to embrace another of my loves, the home.

And because I live part-time in Paris, there is a section I call My Parisienne Attitude, where I share all my daily musings and experiences around my life in Paris.

In addition, we are creating a small special Christmas in Paris petit- magazine, so if you love Paris and want to receive it, make sure to get the magazine now. You’ll then receive that issue as a gift.

Married or solo, kids grown or still at home. Corporate careers, entrepreneurs, a stay-at-home mother or even retired, this magazine is meant to be like your best friend who appreciates you, encourages you and inspires you to find that secret to your happiness.

CLICK HERE to join us by clicking the subscribe button. Nothing complicated. Just good stories, a little inspiration, and a big dose of hope.

Thank you and

As I say to my friends and neighbors in Paris….À Bientôt!