Career Coach: Unlock Your Inner Creativity

Do you ever worry that you’re not creative enough? You are, but you may be out of touch with it. The first step is to tune into your intuition. This is not just for spiritual seekers—many executives, business owners and professionals attribute their successes to perceptive clues. Your intuition can lead you into a world of big ideas and new experiments that will spark your innovation and activate your creative inner-self.

Intuition is your internal information and guidance source. It is the mix of “gut feelings” and perceptions that are unique to you. It is a way of knowing your inner-self. Too often, we are trained to discount that knowledge and purposely ignore it. Instead, use your intuition as a tool for illumination. Can you recall a time when it prompted you to follow a different course and surprised you?

A former client, Susan, remembers a time when her intuition prodded her to take an unfamiliar exit off the expressway. As she turned off, she felt foolish and almost turned around. But she followed the dimly lit road and passed a building with a “For Sale” sign on it. She stopped in a daze—this building fit her exact image of the retreat center she wanted to start. Here was her dream in reality. Now she had to figure out how to recruit the right partners to make her idea into a business. By following her intuition, Susan came one step closer to reaching her goal. So follow your whims and see where they lead. 

The best way to tap into your inner-creativity is with an excitement list. What fascinates you right now? What kinds of books, magazines or blogs do you read? What kinds of interests/projects are you drawn to in your leisure time? If you went back to school, what would you most like to study? Do you long to write, build or invent something? Write down everything and anything that comes to mind. No idea is wrong or silly. What is your inner-voice urging you to explore? Let this exercise be the beginning of a creativity journal. You will be surprised at the wisdom and guidance stored for you in these seemingly random thoughts. These will become the keys to discovering your creative self. 

–Gail McMeekin, Career Coach