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Laura Thieme

Bizresearch President – 11 years - 2008

Fisher College of Business Lecturer on Search Marketing

OSU Russian Studies Grad – 1993

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4th August 2008

Harvesting Creativity

How do you harvest creativity?  Some of us, by personality type, or more creative than others.  Some of us, likely me, are forced into it by survival tactics in 20 years of professional life.  However, whenever I’m feeling less creative in the workspace, I look beyond that into people, places and perhaps things that might inspire me.  The more creative I feel in my personal life, the more it bleeds into my business world. 

 My latest inspiration - pregnancy, of course, for those who’ve been following that.  I remember about seven or so years ago, a guy I was dating telling me that I needed a hobby.  At the time, I couldn’t think of one thing that I wanted to take up as a hobby.  I’ve since changed course - I picked up golf as a hobby prior to pregnancy, and have played for nearly five years (four if you can’t forget this year where I’ve not played once since becoming pregnant), photography, poetry and horseback riding.  I suppose some would say travel, but to me, travel is my workplace or I make it my workplace so I can enjoy it in more ways than one. 

I’ve seen some fascinating places - but photography is a hobby that has arisen out of travel, and it’s likely one of my favorite things to do - capture photos, post them, print them, frame them and adorn the office walls with more artwork.  I’m behind on my Antarctica gallery at the office.  But hey, I got pregnant and some how have not made the time since to go in and work on that creative outlet.

So, how do I harvest creativity in the pregnancy realm?  I find that my lifestyle has already changed, in preparation for baby, so I’m choosing to stay connected to professional colleagues who are jet-setting around the world, through Facebook, emails, phone calls and more lunch and evening dates than ever before.  Because I’m at “home” more, I tend to write more.  I also have bouts of insomnia, and a few things that affect the brain’s stimulation, so I’m choosing to write my way through insomnia.  Because I’m taking more time to write through blogs, Facebook and emails, I’m finding more friends are reconnecting.  Business is resulting as well. 

In addition to Facebook, blogs, and social networking, I’m working with a close friend, whom I’ve reconnected with since I became pregnant, on creative projects for Melina Francis.  That renewed creativity at home, often spills into the workplace in a variety of ways. 

Creativity is about being resourceful in my opinion.  You need inspiration, but when you have to figure out a way to resolve an issue, you have no choice but to be resourceful.  Money is not always available to be resourceful, so you have to find a way around that too.  Resourcefulness is intelligence, if acted upon and used wisely, and earns high marks in my book.  I’m often amazed at how certain men and women in my business world are incredibly resourceful.  They tend to be creative in their solutions to a wide variety of problems in both their business and personal life. 

So I tend to want to surround myself with creative people, as they’re enjoyable to watch - their journeys in life, what they desire to achieve, and what they tend to accomplish - all quite impressive.  They are often well-cultured, not because someone else is paying the tab, but because simply put, they make things happen, and quickly.

Watch the news, watch a meaningful movie that inspires emotion and thought, read a book, read something historical, surround yourself with creative people, take a walk - a long walk, pay attention to the wildlife and flowers around you, artwork in places you travel, travel to some place you’ve read about, listen to music - and take a lot of photos - slow down to enjoy what’s around you -  and inspiration might come from that. 

What’s next?  Doing something with that creativity - applying it in a useful way.  I’ve always found that my creativity led to business which led to revenue - which led to satisfaction and contentment and pride. 

If nothing else, you’ll likely have a more interesting day than channel surfing, or playing video games, or sleeping.  Although it is 1:39 a.m. in the morning, and I probably should at least consider the latter.

‘Night.

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