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Does our job/tasks kill our creativity ?
At some point, all jobs requires some creativity.Some jobs are much more about “coloring inside the lines. Some are rather about re-thinking things fundamentally.Some startup expect their employees to be creative.Others prefer clear processes that leave no room for the unexpected.But does the over-scheduling, the todo-lists for everything, performance tracking, kill this creativity?
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Tatiana Kukova, PhD
I agree with the point you are making. From my perspective, it depends on your identity (a set of meanings that represents an individual in a particular role). In other words, some people may be inhibited by the presence of to-do lists or over-scheduling or by how their superiors/bosses/middle-management/the leadership team evaluate their performance. Others, however, may thrive in such a workplace.
What leaders expect from their employees will depend on the leaders' identity standard of success. In other words, what 'success' means to them personally. That personal thought (inherent in their own identity) will guide their actions and attitudes to others around them. Therefore, some founders would expect spontaneity and initiative, while other founders would lean towards clarity to avoid ambiguity and vulnerability.
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@kukova_tatiana pretty good response. Not everyone reacts in the same way to a todo list.
I think, especially as a founder, that it is important to provide someone who has agreed to work with you with the right environment and a context that fit. Taking care of people involves listening and providing to their needs especially for comfort rather than imposing in my opinion.
My job allows me to think creatively whilst tapping into my analytical skills. I've recently started organising my *all* of my work priorities 'on paper' rather than keeping it in my head, which made me feel more comfortable with spending time brainstorming rather than feeling against the clock.
I think what really kills creativity outside of work is lack of time and low energy at the end of the day (which again, scheduling priorities can help you realise whether you can feasibly get your to-do list done, or if you're overworking yourself)
@elysha_cmt I totally agree with you, all this has to do with giving yourself time to think and with the management of priorities and time :-)
@elysha_cmt Love your response! That's exactly how I think of it. Often times feeling tired or uninspired could happen due to the piled up work and poor time management.
Creativity is part of my job. I'm in charge of all marketing content, so I have to find new ideas everyday. That being said, all jobs have a "repetitive" part that makes us feel a bit like robots, but it's part of the game! All jobs require rigor to make more space for creativity.
@cica_laure_mbappe totally true, it's part of the game. And these repetitive tasks are comforting, they are habits that take away the stress of being confronted with the unknown and let us breathe and think to others creative things. It's not so bad.
If you mean side projects or hobbies, then I don't think jobs kill creativity, but I do think having a demanding will. If you've reached the end of your work day and all you want to do is veg out in front of the tv or take a nap, then that's obviously going to kill your creativity.
If you mean coming up with something innovative in service to your job, then my answer is a hard no. Especially if you have tons those brainless tasks. The creativity should then manifest with, "how can I cut down on this process?" Or even, "how can I automate this?"
Around the 50th time of doing something I hate is when I finally ask myself, "Why am I doing this?"
@greg_ludvickson1 So automating repetitive tasks is a kind of stimulating activity that awakens your creativity but does everyone have this reaction in front of that kind of task ?Is it the intellectual challenge that makes it possible?
My job involves creativity. I always have to do some low-value tasks, but it takes a small piece of my global work time.
The coolest way to live a happy life is by finding a job that satisfies your creativity and it’s okay that sometimes we can feel stuck. This is just a small reminder from our mind that we need some rest) But scheduling is definitely the way to success
@ivanna_wendel Scheduling is necessary for success, but if you do it too much, doesn't it become a bit like poison ?
Definitely, leading, seeing around the corner and then attempting to tell someone we can navigate around that corner but they insist on hitting the corner and ya strap yourself in and go sure why not, lets hit this corner. Your creativity is kinda unphased, your ability to care goes agnostic. Every year take 3 days aside, go somewhere nice, get drunk or get high, break out the sharpies and re-mix your entire company from the ground up. Even better do it with your customers and make then the architects. Don't worry about how yer gonna make teleportation work, bask in the glo of maybe cool dude. At the end, empower someone on your team to be the new champion till the next remix, try and implement 1 thing you see, more and bonus material. Help the champion on the quest as they will be hated for change. Document the learnings, share with troops, rinse, repeat.
@floozyspeak haha a good break is always pleasant, that's for sure. Thanks for the advise. I'm going to try to do that this year
As long as you're learning that's all the matters. Even a mindless job can inspire you to automate/create more efficient tools. If the typewriter was "exciting and creative," no one would have invented a computer!
@daniel_geisinger yep, you're right. It is mostly that you don't learn a lot by executing the task. You learn by trying to figure out how to get rid of it and that's what makes us creative :-)
I guess it depends - definitely some admin work can be pretty mindless but as someone focused mainly on marketing, i still get to be creative here and there 😆
@tapsi This is perfectly true. It depends on the framework in which you work and especially on the people you work with and for.