Technology has enabled us to conduct business way faster and smarter than we ever could before. You’ll find no argument here that technology clearly gives us an advantage; that’s not what’s on the table here. This is about boosting creativity through making small changes in your workflow, methods, and techniques.
You may find that setting aside some of the technology you use for your work can release potential for creativity, and even productivity that you could not achieve otherwise.
It Forces the Muscle to Grow
The first principle of this philosophy is that applying shock to your brain causes it to adapt by approaching things from a different angle. A good analogy for this principle is how we use weight training for the body.
Most of us know that how you build muscle is by literally tearing the muscle tissue during a workout, and then the body adds more muscle when it rebuilds during recovery. Now, here is the point:
When you do the exact same exercises every day during a workout, your body adapts to the work you’re doing in a pretty short time, after which you will add no new muscle because your body has already adapted to what you’re doing.
To add even more muscle, you will have to change up your routine, do different exercises, use different kinds of weights, etc. Then, your body is forced to adapt by adding more muscle to accommodate this new work. You have to change the routine.
This natural process mirrors how your brain is forced to approach tasks differently, take alternate pathways, and ultimately adapt by using more of the brain muscle to accomplish what you are asking it to do.
That’s how you end up with inspired work and ideas that can enrich any aspect of your business. And quite honestly, it makes everything a lot less boring.
Efficient Doesn’t Always Mean Fun
All of the apps, the latest devices, and the fastest Internet connection make everything run quick and smooth, but eventually it can also make work a little boring. First of all, if you’re bored, you’re not in a creative state.
Secondly, boredom makes work unbearable. For operational applications, among other things, the most current technology is a necessity, but for developmental projects and other creative tasks, you need to be stimulated and challenged. This is exactly why setting aside certain technology when you set out to create anything can be massively beneficial.
What Can You Change?
Here are some examples of how you can shift the way you work to open up new channels of creativity. To dip your toes in the water when you’re not ready to abandon your devices, try writing memos, emails, letters, etc. by hand, or even use a typewriter.
You can even send out Thank You notes to customers, or memos for the office in handwritten form to break up the monotony. Something else you can do is to take it even a step further and, every once in a while, go meet someone in person instead of calling or texting them.
Given, it’s far more time-consuming, but the idea is to engage yourself in other ways than you usually would. That person will appreciate the house-call, too (hopefully).
If you’re working on some kind of visual graphics, why not try drawing it by hand and employ some physical materials? If you’re creating video for your website, maybe you can attempt filming it yourself rather than farming it out to a third-party creator. There are all kinds of alternatives you can utilize for daily projects to approach it from another angle.
The status quo exists for a reason because it works, and it never changes. When you break away from how you normally do things, however, you find inspiration and innovation. Your mind is capable of incredible feats, even if you don’t think of yourself as a particularly creative person. Switching up the parameters is the key to originality.
Stephanie
Stephanie is the Marketing Director at Talkroute and has been featured in Forbes, Inc, and Entrepreneur as a leading authority on business and telecommunications.
Stephanie is also the chief editor and contributing author for the Talkroute blog helping more than 100k entrepreneurs to start, run, and grow their businesses.