(Photo credit @austindistel)
The sun came out this weekend, and it was glorious. I spent much of my weekend digging, mowing, and enjoying the outdoors. And now I'm back inside on a cold & dreary day. One of my biggest challenges in living alone in covid19 times is to keep my creative brain limber & cranking out new ideas. I am someone who is energized by collaborating & ideating with others, most often physically in a room together, bouncing ideas off each other. I get frustrated if I don't have creative outlets, and realize that taking time to color in a coloring book or sing with Google Mini or hike in a new place adds new neurological connections that help me in my daily work. And adjusting to these new constraints has actually been helpful.
#techtopic
Did you know that "creative" is one of the most overused buzzwords on LinkedIn? Both individuals and companies all want to be known as "creative" and so many organizations throw millions and millions of money to increase creativity and innovation with little to show for it. These are also the organizations whose struggles with pivoting and redirecting are laid bare during a global pandemic.
Some would say this is why tech companies have seemed largely immune to covid19 -- the DNA of tech companies like Google structurally encourages creativity & bottom-up idea generation, which helps them respond to crises in a different way. The constraints placed on them due to Covid19 may yet encourage their biggest creative outputs yet.
Because: paradoxically,
Boredom + constraints + frustration = supercharged creativity
Don't believe me?
How Constraints Force Your Brain to be More Creative (Fast Company)
Staying Creative as a Family During Lockdown (World Economic Forum)
How to be Creative Under Pressure (Medium)
