Creativity Benefits – Fuel for your mind and your work-life balance

The Creativity Journey

Why have creative projects on the go? Creativity has many benefits. For me creativity is a way to work out how to get the solution I want. With this end goal in mind there are many components involved along the creativity journey. These elements along the way are what makes creativity so beneficial. Achieving your solution at the end is an added bonus.

Writing about creativity and experiencing it are quite different things. Although this list may seem dry it is applying it that allows the magic to happen. There are no limits to the creative projects that you could take on that will have you increase the number of beautiful items in the world.

For me, here are some benefits of creativity that fuel my mind and my work-life balance.

• creating beautiful items
• identifying solutions
• productively focusing my mind
• solving problems
• imagining
• gaining additional skills
• accomplishing my goals

Creating Beautiful Items

Creating beautiful things is one of my main drivers for being creative. Creativity for me is seeing an image in my mind and working out how to make it happen.

Let me know whether these steps are part of your creative process.

Identifying Solutions

Creative projects can hit your radar from various places. Requests from others, finding inspiration or an underlying wish for change are just a few.

With your creative project identified you have established what it is you are going to accomplish. You know what you intend to create. Your solution is in sight. The journey has begun.

Productively Focusing Your Mind

There are various solutions to solving your creative projects. Your abilities and knowledge form the foundation of where you begin. Putting your mind to work on finding solutions is one of the greatest benefits of creative projects.

Your mind relishes having tasks to work on. Creative projects are the ultimate workout for your mind.

Solving Problems

Creative projects involve constant problem solving. After you’ve focused your mind you may need to trial alternatives or research options. Each element needs to be addressed and they need to work together.  

Some methods will work, others will not. Working through the options will have you solving more problems than you imagined.

Imagining

Actively creating something invigorates us. Tossing around options, factoring in the changes, thinking through how the elements work together and visualising the finished project are all parts of imaging what is possible. More benefits of creativity.

Letting your mind run free on developing creativity is a virtual workout.  All you have to do is give your mind freedom and space.

Gaining Additional Skills

Work-life balance is about having more in your life than just work. Accentuating the ‘life’ element through creativity brings fulfillment, a sense of accomplishment and gives you a sense of balance.

Along with this fulfillment, accomplishment and alternative activities your creative projects build on your skillset. Your abilities increase alongside your ideas and motivation. This increased skillset adds another element to your work-life balance. You benefit from creativity in many ways.

Achieving Your Goals

Completing your creative project is a fabulous achievement. The journey you’ve been on, the problems you’ve solved, the skills you’ve gained and the focus you’ve given your mind have resulted in you doing what you set out to achieve. This is wonderful. Ensure you celebrate!

Experience For You

As I’m interested in giving readers’ experiences here’s something for you to apply to your latest creative project.

1) Take a creative project you’re working on and see how many of these elements you apply as your progress.

Let me know how it goes.

Applying Creative Projects

An art student who

• carves chain from a piece of wood
• makes a wooden sword
• takes photos at the botanical garden

An author who

• enters international writing competitions
• writes stories for a podcast
• creates beautiful poetry

Where are you going to apply Creativity in your life?

Here are some links if you’d like to find out about the Creative Thinking Process or see wonderful examples of Design Repetition.