Awakening the Genie from Within

Unleash your creativity In order to establish yourself in your field or organization, you need to constantly engage in introspection. Creativity in your day to day work is not only going to help in establishing your career but is also going to bring a lot of job satisfaction. You will like your job better if it is a little more interesting. Here is the key. Your job will never be interesting until you make it. Use your creativity to turn around the job environment or business that you are involved in. People who are stagnant in their career and stuck in the same place for a long time are most often stuck there because they repeat what they do every day and call it experience. “Experience is not the number of years in a job. Experience is the ability to think new ideas and strategies in performing your job better since you are too familiar with it”. If you have been in a job for a considerable amount of time and it bores you now, it is only because you never took the initiative to be creative and to think of something new. I have heard about Steve Job’s habit that made him extraordinary in his field. He used to wake up and face himself in the mirror and ask the question, “What am I doing new?” He used to ask this question to himself every day and if he got “No” as the answer for a few days, he would know that he was not doing enough and would change something about himself. I think it is quite an interesting approach about performing one’s job. We all are capable of producing breakthrough ideas. However, very few engage in such a practice consciously. What could be the reason for people not engaging in creativity, process innovation and breakthrough ideas in performing their jobs better? The answer is simple. We are too busy doing our stuff and don’t have time to think. I recall a wonderful thought shared by one of the greatest minds about this predicament. “If then, I were asked for the most important advice I could give, that which I consider to be the most useful to the men of our century, I should simply say: in the name of god, stop a moment, cease your work and look around”. - Leo Tolstoy, Russian Novelist and Philosopher Leo Tolstoy was right in spotting the major concern with humanity. People are so caught up in their work, doing things they are supposed to do, managing subordinates and pleasing bosses and customers that they don’t have time to look around, observe and innovate. Our clock is always ticking very fast from morning to evening, Monday to Friday. We get in and get out without making any improvement in ourselves and without trying anything new. Going through this rut is what makes us sick about our job and business and sometimes even makes us feel like a loser. If you are serious about success, then you must take time to think about something new every day. It will change the way you are and your progress dramatically. I am quite surprised that even educated people don’t really spend time thinking and innovating. Before you go to work next time. Think about the following: 1. Think about the core objective of your job or business. 2. Think about what you are offering and to whom? 3. Think what will please them (customers are colleagues). 4. What stops you from doing it? 5. What can you do differently to get the results that you are not getting right now? Answer these five questions before you start any initiative. Answer these with honesty and sincerity and use it to guide you to the right steps with the right attitude. Make your time worthwhile