Friday is the day I usually post Just For Fun videos, pictures, and thoughts. Today is sort of a just for fun post and sort of a serious post.
This site is about personal development, professional development, and true success. We focus on success factors in work, success factors in relationships, and success factors in our own personal lives. We also focus on the attitudes, tools, passions, and skills we can use to build these success factors into our lives.
One such tool is creative thinking. Creative thinking…learning to think outside the box or learning to add creative elements into our box…is a key skill to develop if you want to experience true success in the most important roles in your life and work. The reason? Creative thinking opens us up to new ideas and insights. Creative thinking turns a problem into an opportunity looking for a solution.
What’s interesting, however, is some of the most creative thinking people ever do is used on projects that won’t likely lead to success. In fact, creative thinking is often used as a means to lead people in the exact opposite direction of success.
Here are two of the dumbest ways I’ve seen people use creative thinking:
First, why is it that the most creative thinking some people do involves coming up with reasons for not going to work? Like me, you’ve probably heard every excuse under the sun as to why some people don’t show up for work. In fact, some people are so creative, I think Einsteen would have be astounded by their reasoning abilities.
A close second and even sadder reality…as a career coach, I’ve had a few clients who demonstrated their most creative thinking NOT in trying to develop a plan for how to pursue work they love, but instead to figure out reasons why they cannot pursue work they love. This is one of the hardest parts of life and career coaching—working with someone who is more creative at making excuses than finding solutions.
Question: How have you seen creative thinking misused?
