3 Surprising Things You Can Do At Work To Boost Creativity

Creativity habits may surprise you at work because they are counter intuitive yet easy to implement everyday.

Creativity at work is no longer an option. It is a must. With the advent of AI, technology and the rapid speed of change going on all over the world, implementing creativity and innovation in our workplace is paramount. Yet there is good news: It turns out that creativity is not about talent, it’s about habits like the ones below that create the conditions to allow ideas to emerge.

Here are some simple, counter intuitive habits that can unlock creativity at work and will help you take on the biggest challenges with composure.

Take a Break Before You Need A Break

In our endless cycle of trying to get things done, taking a break can yield amazing results. A recent study from Romania has found that taking multiple 10 minute breaks throughout the work day can yield a boost in vigor and a reduction in fatigue. It may seem obvious that taking a break can do this, but what is not so obvious is that we need to take a break well before we need it. 

A researcher from the University of Rochester found that while she was training for a bicycle race, taking a break before she needed one was critical. It turns out that if we wait until we need a break, it may already be too late. She found that if she delayed a break and then pushed beyond the point of no return she would crash and therefore defeat the point of the training in the first place.

Your workplace is the same. Pushing past the breaking point only to answer that last email or taking that last call well after you may need to hit the pause button to rest leads to a lack of productivity, not a boost. 

Be Bored More Often

In a study from the University of Central Lancashire, researchers have found that being bored has a direct coloration on boosting creativity. But when was the last time you were bored? Really, truly bored?

We seem fill each minute of our day finding ways to distract ourselves from being bored. Most of those distractions come from digital devices with a screen. Our cell phones being probably the biggest offender. If you don’t believe me, go to a basketball game or a soccer match. You will see that instead of watching the game and immersing in the sport, most people are glued to their phones. 

We tend to tell ourselves that we will just check this one last email and then be done. Or send that one last text then put the phone away. But one text turns into two. An email turns into scrolling our social. And then we miss what is going on in front of us. And now we are no longer bored. Or creative.

So instead, schedule 15 minutes for a day this week and allow yourself to be bored. I do this often with my keynote audience, and get emails years after the keynote saying how effective this one habit can be. Put the phones away and shut the computer. Spend 15 minutes being bored and ideas will begin to emerge if we allow it. 

Reverse Your Goals

Sometimes the best creative advice comes from completely contradictory and counter intuitive tasks. Like reversing your goals. So let’s say that you are trying to boost frontline customer service. You may ask yourself what are a few ways that I can I boost frontline customer service? What do I need to do to achieve that? And that may lead to an idea or two, or it may lead to anxiety. Frustration on how to overcome the challenge and perhaps getting stuck in rumination without any new ideas generated. 

So instead reverse the goal. Look at the goal and ask what is one way to completely destroy customer service? This is fun. Perhaps you may come up with shutting down the phone number that customers can call or ghosting customers after they complain. 

But in that reversal, there are seeds of ideas that may be great. What if we were to shut down the customer service phone number and instead send live agents to the stores. What would that do? Or pershaps we should ghost customers after they complain but then give them a full refund? Again, reversing the goals gives the mind some time to look at a problem in a different light. And that light can yield amazing results. This method will expose hidden weaknesses that you can then turn into opportunities.

Creating the conditions every day at work that allow us to tie into an untapped flow of new and fresh ideas is critical with the speed of the modern workplace. These and other surprising habits you can implement at work to boost creativity is something we can all do. Not wait around for ideas to strike. It’s not about talent or finding someone or something that will spark that next big idea. Its about laying the groundwork for creativity and innovation to become a habit everyday at work.