February
6
2012

by Elmarie Bouwer

 Yes, you are.

Even if you deny it, don’t feel it, can’t really care or maybe accept the fact but can’t be bothered with it. Even…

The boring bits…

Mountains of research indicate that everyone is creative. For example, well known creativity guru, Kobus Neethling1, quotes research done on toddlers wherein 98% tested superior in creativity. However by the time they reached 22 years of age, only 2% still tested as such. Why…? In our next post, we will get to some of the reasons people bury or submerge their creativity.

Another example is Prof. Robert Harris2 of Virtual Salt, a writer and educator with more than 25 years of teaching experience at college and university level, who says everybody is creative to some degree. And so we can quote instance after instance…

The fact however is undeniable… every single human being that is born into this world is creative.  That includes you.

So what?

 Well, consider this…creative urge is what initially generated the swarm of enjoyment avenues we so eagerly embrace; from parachuting, canoeing, rock climbing and going to the movies to country fairs, culinary fests, restaurants, the whole art, literature & music shebang etc. Without that our lives will be incalculably poor let alone boring.

 What does this have to do with any kind of business success? My success…

 Getting the point is the point

 Firstly, it is only a truly creative idea that is going to furnish you with that much needed Unique Selling Point (USP) or competitive edge that will enable you to sell your products / services successfully. We live in a crowded corner, no matter what your niche is. Everybody is copying everybody else. Only truly innovative products & services will successfully make it out there and only creativity will birth them.         

 Nobody can ever successfully copy your personality, individuality or the creative impulse in your innermost being! All of this sets you apart from everybody else and this fact is one of the winning ingredients in a USP or competitive edge.

Plainly put – the way you cook your food, play with your dog, conduct your family affairs and run your business, is totally unique to you.

It is this creative dynamic in business that will set you apart from everyone else.  Sure, generic business principles will always apply.  But creativity is still the underpinning principle in their successful implementation.  This is ultimately what will send a buyer to you and not the competition.

Creative thought is an expression of the individual. Individuality is what will ultimately sell your offerings…

The foundation that every business function rests on, is paved with just one magic element: creative thinking.

 A USP…? No way around it, period. Crank those lazy creative wheels into motion!

Don’t know how? Your creative impulse buried somewhere or forgotten? Or not quite operating at full throttle?

Don’t worry!  If you find yourself in this category, watch this spot for an upcoming post on exercises and tips that are designed to liberate the rusted cogs of your creative thinking apparatus and help your creativity-wings take flight in the form of barrier-busting ideas.

Because you are twice the debtor, maybe even more…

 Secondly, because you owe it to your Creator. He made you with a complete set of individual skills that just had to be nurtured and developed to flesh you out into the human creation He had in mind. To be any less than that, is to not only live half the life He intended for you, but to seriously short-change yourself and everybody else in the process.

Thirdly, because only you can live your life, nobody else can. You owe it to yourself and everybody else around you to be the best yóú that you can be. That includes all the parts that make up yóú, including the creative impulse that you were born with. Only you can be the best at what you are, do and aspire to do everyday. Your life counts even if you at some point thought, or still think, it doesn’t. Even if there are about 8 billion people on this planet, every single life counts.

A simple, but not necessarily easy, option

It is not optional to live creatively if you want all the mileage out of life’s ride. It is the only rational course of action left open to a human being that wants to feel fully alive. Granted, becoming and remaining creative (the subject of yet another upcoming post) is somewhat like learning to ride a horse, or parachuting, daunting but exhilarating. Those in the know will tell you there’s little else quite like it…

Funny thing about creativity…it never really goes away. It is worth reviving to its full blown glory. Life is simply not much fun without it!

© Elmarie Bouwer

 

  1. http://www.kobusneethling.co.za/
  2. http://www.virtualsalt.com/index.htm

*****

 Watch out for our next post on why people bury or submerge their creativity. See you there!


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