Thinking Outside the Box: The Connection Between Creativity and Success

When thinking about creativity, what comes to mind? Is it an artist painting, a musician playing, or a ballerina dancing? Creativity encompasses all of these things and so much more. Creativity is a catalyst for changing facts into insights, insights into valuable ideas, and ideas into change. Just take Apple’s “think different” campaign, for example. This campaign was the perfect platform to showcase how creativity and success play off one another.

Pallanza-Intra-Suna If we confine ourselves to thinking inside the box, we live in a world void of innovation. This is not a world I want to live in, especially as an entrepreneur. We need to learn to bring our most authentic selves into every aspect of our lives, and creativity allows us to do that. So, instead of thinking outside the box, let’s get rid of the box altogether!

The connection between success and creativity is a no brainer—in fact, it’s science! Utilizing both the right brain and the left brain allows us to achieve success. The right brain is responsible for creativity, and the left is responsible for analytical thinking. Possibility and innovation live in our right brain, and exercising the right brain actually helps us with critical thinking and problem-solving. When we leverage more of our right brain, we actually open ourselves up to a whole new world of opportunities.

In my podcast with Dr. Minette Riordan, transformational artist, writer, and award-winning entrepreneurial advocate for creativity, we discuss what art and business have in common, as well as the importance of creativity to achieving success. For Dr. Riordan, creativity is essential to the well-being of all people. She says that play is what’s missing from entrepreneurship. Giving ourselves an outlet to experiment creatively without the urgency of creating a product can actually help us greatly in the long run. When we can step away from our workaholic tendencies—for even ten minutes a day—to focus on our creative side, we are more successful in business.

In the workplace, problem-solving is crucial, but creativity tends to get left out of corporate thinking. Dr. Riordan is a firm believer that bringing art therapy tools into the innovation process is expansive. When we can get in touch with our creativity, learn how to sit in the process, and let go of the outcome, we can achieve anything! After all, if we aren’t using our creativity, we’re losing it. So, play to explore, and put color on paper. Your business will thank you for it.