Written by Heather Lee Dyer, Author Success Coach
Heather Lee Dyer is an Author Success Coach and the award-winning author of several young adult science fiction and urban fantasy series, two creative non-fiction books, and contributes to several anthologies and online magazines.
It takes both creativity and innovation to become a successful entrepreneur. You need creativity to dream up and have a passion for your business. To get things done, you need to take inspired, innovative action. Without both, the passion for your business will remain just a vague idea, forever niggling at the back of your mind.
Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things.” -Theodore Levitt
If you already work for yourself or have started doing the footwork to become an entrepreneur, you soon realize that it takes more than a few spreadsheets and knowledge of ACH transactions to become successful in your field.
It takes creativity.
You must name your business, develop a plan, decide if it will be digital or brick-and-mortar, determine who your clients will be, and pay taxes. In between all those steps are dozens of other details you need to decide on—decisions requiring creativity so that you stand out among a sea of similar businesses.
If you work for someone else, you still need creativity to become successful in your career. As an employee, you must stay relative and forward-thinking. You’ll need to be creative and think outside the box to create, sell, or outperform others to move up in the ranks. The success ladder doesn’t have to be full of backstabbing and nepotism. You must think more creatively than others.
Essential insight 1: Everyone is creative
We must first understand and accept this: humans are all inherently creative. We’re born curious, with unlimited imaginations and the capabilities to learn, explore, build, and create.
Our creativity is as unique and diverse as we are. Not everyone can sing, dance, play music, act, or write, the most recognized expressions of creativity. Creativity looks different for each person, and there are infinite ways to express ourselves.
Just scroll through social media for a few minutes to discover how unique human creativity can be. Some people can draw with both hands simultaneously; others can create a mural with pennies or design new products to make our lives easier.
The human mind is impressive. Our creativity often manifests in daily exploration, organization, and experimentation.
Doubters
As an author, speaker, and coach, I have received a lot of pushback on the idea that everyone is born creative. Someone always believes they don’t have a creative bone in their body. They think they aren’t creative because they aren’t full-time artists, their art isn’t necessary, or they don’t even recognize their creativity.
One of the examples I use to demonstrate unique creativity is the story about someone I met while working for state juvenile corrections. I scheduled an interview with the top homicide detective in the city to get ideas for a book I was writing. She gave me a tour of her office, the interview rooms, the security and camera tech, and the offices of supporting departments such as forensics, fingerprinting, ballistics, and various labs.
It was fascinating to see not only all the resources they have at their disposal but also that, in the end, it came down to the creative human mind that solved the crimes.
She told me that a guilty person (especially of a crime as serious as murder!) will always try to protect themselves. Despite what we see online and in the movies, most criminals don’t have a guilty conscience to give themselves up. They are excellent at lying.
She told me stories of a few “closed-door” cases she had solved. (And yes, I did use those ideas in my fiction!). They weren’t solved by forensics or fingerprints but by this detective knowing human nature and thinking outside the box. She could walk into a crime scene, even after other agencies and coworkers had processed the scene, and she would know what happened.
She wasn’t boasting; she was describing how her mind worked. I remember being very impressed by her humility and sanity in an occupation where she saw the worst of human nature every day.
Toward the end of our time together, she stopped and told me she was envious of writers like me who could express themselves creatively because she wasn’t creative at all.
I laughed and then immediately apologized. I explained that she was very creative and that I truly believe everyone is in their own way. Indeed, her creativity had several layers: the ability to visualize all the puzzle pieces of a crime scene in her mind and the creative way she didn’t let her job get to her. She didn’t take the nastiness of what she saw all day home with her or let it eat at her mind. She had a dark sense of humor, good relationships, and hobbies to help her through the days.
Her life was filled with creativity and creative coping mechanisms, yet she didn’t recognize it. This happens to many of us because we follow the world’s standards for creativity.
Essential insight 2: Expressing creativity is necessary
Our creativity keeps our minds, emotions, souls, and bodies healthy. When we chase our dreams and unleash our imaginations, our whole lives benefit from it. Consistently creating can heal, inspire, and make our lives, businesses, communities, and the world a better place.
That's a bold statement, right? Do you doubt it? I did at first, until my creativity saved my life. Ever since then, I’ve been on a mission to research how creativity can heal and how to help others find and feed their creativity.
It was around 2010 when my doctors told me that I had two years left to live. I was dying: my organs were shutting down, all my joints were swollen and hurt (Did you know that at the ends of your collar bones are joints?), my skin was on fire, and I had a moon face and a bad attitude from steroids.
My doctors had tried everything from cancer drugs to research medication. Nothing was working; my body continued to attack itself.
After hearing this dire news, I drove across the street and bought a taco and a Pepsi at Taco Bell. Then I cried all the way home.
My boys were teens, my mother only had months to live due to the same autoimmune disease, and I had just started a new job.
I had no time to die.
So, I started writing. I had always wanted to write a book but kept putting it off. I wrote early in the mornings before work, on a treadmill at a snail’s pace. I hoped the treadmill would help me walk more than ten feet at a time. Between writing and walking, I slowly got better.
It’s 2024 as I write this, and I’m off sixteen of the seventeen medications I had been taking. I’m only taking thyroid meds since my thyroid never did grow back. But I haven’t felt this good since I was a teenager. I genuinely believe that writing saved my life!
If I had ignored that sweet nudge of creativity that whispers my stories onto the page, I would’ve let my Lupus overwhelm my life.
And you don’t have to take my word for it. There’s a lot of research out there about the positive effects of creativity on our lives. Researchers have found that creativity can reduce stress, enhance brain function, boost the immune system, improve sleep, and help with physical health, such as flexibility, coordination, and overall health. Creativity can also create a more relaxed lifestyle and can be a great distraction from chronic pain.
No matter what your creative passion is, it will not only fulfill your daily life but also boost your body, mind, and soul.
Essential insight 3: Creativity needs to be exercised and shared
It does us no good to dream about being creative and not take action. Creativity craves expression. The more you practice your creativity, the richer and deeper it gets.
Our creativity never left us as children; we walked away from it. Our tiring, sometimes traumatic, often distracting act of growing up sidetracks us from our creativity. We may have forgotten that we are creative beings by the time we’re adults.
This is where innovative action comes into play. Now that you know you are creative and that it benefits your business and your body, mind, and soul, it’s time to put it into action.
Whether you create art for an income or simply because you love doing it for yourself, your art needs to be expressed regularly. Our creativity is like a muscle; the more you use it, the stronger it gets. If you are drawn to playing the piano but have no idea how, take lessons, keep practicing, and you’ll get better each session. Even if you never play on the Radio City Music Hall stage, that music will be part of you forever. It will transform you, heal you, and inspire your endeavors.
Creativity is not just for the Pablo Picasso or Walt Whitman of our world. It is inherent in everyone. We are all creative, and we all need our creativity for our physical, mental, and spiritual health. And we need to share it. Sharing our creativity inspires others to cultivate their own creativity.
If you are frustrated with your career or business, lean into your creativity. Explore your passions even if they don’t seem related to your business.
Writers often find joy and inspiration in creative pursuits that have nothing to do with writing. I’ve known authors who love to paint, race cars, garden, or raise guinea pigs. Your creative muse, career, business, as well as your body, mind, and soul, will thank you!
Heather Lee Dyer, Author Success Coach
Heather Lee Dyer is an Author Success Coach and the award-winning author of several young adult science fiction and urban fantasy series, two creative non-fiction books, and contributes to several anthologies and online magazines. She is currently living out her dreams as a digital nomad traveling the lower 48 states with her husband in a sky-blue semi-truck.
