How to avoid sabotaging your imagination

     Have you ever needed to be creative for a deadline and every idea you came up with seemed like a dead end? Have you ever been in a group of truly creative people yet every idea seemed to be shot down before it had a chance to hatch, much less grow its wings and fly? These are scenarios we’ve all encountered and an example of what happens when you do not understand how your brain works through the creative process. You must first understand that their are 2 distinctly different methods of thought at play while creating. Once these two methods are understood and utilized in context, your problem solving will suddenly have an unlimited number of solutions! These two processes are known as divergent and convergent thought. Divergent thought means that you are open to a number of solutions to solve any given problem. The best example would be the process of brainstorming a specific topic to gather as many ideas as possible relating to that topic. Convergent thought however; is the process of finding the correct answer with little to no creativity required. This would be best described as the analytical and critical part of the creative process to determine an ideas validity and value based on its viability.

      “Ok Jeremy, so how does this help me become more creative?” Well the first thing (and most important) thing to know about these processes is; they are never working simultaneously! Thats right, you cannot be creative and critical at the same time! As a musician I have had the good fortune of playing with some amazing musicians and composers. However, in the creative process many musicians tend to lean towards the critical side, which not only holds them back creatively but also stifles the creativity of the group their attempting to create with. Who can work comfortably in an environment where everything you do is critiqued almost immediately? Criticizing should be non-existent until multiple options/ideas have been formulated. Once you have poured all of your ideas out (preferably written down in a business scenario) then you can switch to critiquing them for their value and overall quality.

    In summary, when it is time to create, be mindful not to jump straight into criticism regardless of how much you dislike the idea. This will ensure that the good ideas have a chance to come in a judgement free environment. I hope this post rekindles the spark of creativity that may have been snuffed out by unwelcome criticism and overthinking.

jeremy

The 9-5 Christian “How to survive the daily grind”

So what are the top 3 office temptations and how do we avoid them?

1. Gossip. It will be around forever so don’t fight it, avoid it all together. We are social animals obsessed with the idea that we are better than others and we are determined to find enough fault in others to prove it. Its an easy snare to get wrapped up in, but its also an easy one avoid. If you want to get out of the rumor mill just let the information spreading stop with you. Tell no one and find a reason to politely walk away while the story is being told to you. Its true that you cannot stop gossip from happening, but this solid defense will keep you out of a self destructive loop of unfulfilled people that rarely get promoted and are never happy or grateful for anything or anyone around them. The people that just came to your mind, yeah… don’t be like them.

2. Office romance. So your married and the new girl thinks your “not ugly.” This one has been a killer of marriages and careers for as longs as people have had to work in close proximity to one another. This gets a little tougher because outside variables have a much greater impact on the likelihood of something unfortunate happening. If your relationship outside of work is unhealthy it is a natural feeling to look for someone to understand and sympathize with you. And if their attractive that is an immediate confidence booster! And your confidence is probably low already due to feeling less than awesome for not being able to fix your issues at home. Proverbs 2:16. So here it is, if you are a believer you need to pray. WARNING: Prayer will feel uncomfortable at this point, especially if you’ve allowed your “Brain theater” to play scenarios of you and the new girl in any situation that would be embarrassing if you were caught. But remember that this temporary feeling of discomfort pales in comparison to the guilt, shame and regret of making a life altering mistake that will effect the way others see you and (what a lot of people forget) how you see yourself for the rest of your life. When I was in this situation I prayed for wisdom to fix my issues at home. God told me to be grateful everyday for my spouse and thank him every chance I get for being blessed with her. You can’t be angry and grateful for the same thing at the same time. I knew that if our issues at home were resolved I could put the new girl’s advances behind me and have the confidence to say “I’m happily married would you like to see my honeymoon pics?”

3. Joking with the guys.  I see every conversation with a small to medium group of guys as similar to a Youtube video comment thread. Let me explain. You can search for any video on youtube, I don’t care if its a basket of freaking puppies. After the first 100 comments people are throwing racial slurs, discriminating women, using homophobic expletives and basically being a bunch of sophomoric pop tarts. The first 1-2 minutes of a “guy conversation is the first 100 comments. Everything is cool, but by minute 3 the conversation has decayed into a pulpit of grandstanding sexual accomplishments (one sided opinions mostly), scenarios of fights that have never happened, and which female would be their next conquest if they weren’t overweight and married. I personally try to peace out between minutes 1-2 now that I know the formula. This generally keeps me out of trouble and avoids me saying something funny in the moment that I may regret later. Your formula may be different based on your group but the principal is the same and transferable. Now that you know when to walk away, just wait for the right moment and don’t be a chicken Mcfly!

Avoiding gossip, improper relationships and HR unfriendly conversations will only raise your stock as a potential candidate for promotion and will leave you more time to be productive and not a personal landfill for people to dump their trash in. Please leave comments and feedback below. Please share a time when you had to overcome a temptation in the workplace. Till next time be blessed,

jeremy