Creativity

I have learned many things during my motherhood experience, including  the importance of reaching for constant ongoing creativity.  On a daily basis, I am faced with the pressing need to conjure up interesting, new solutions to coordinate the busy schedules for my three children.  Like yesterday, for instance, my two daughters had a dance recital and at the drop off back stage, we realized that one head band was missing from a costume. I suddenly faced a nervous, teary eyed eight year old looking to me for the immediate “mommy fix”..  As many mothers would do, my mind instantly began searching for the quick solution, and I noticed that it would be no problem to snip off a little piece of the inner part of her costume skirt.  So we did and within moments, a head band was made.

Many similar situations have occurred over the years – whether it was configuring my big scarf into a pair of make-believe pants for my son (after he had vomited on his clothes while on a trip over the Atlantic) or using loose random notes in my pocket book to create an interesting game during a wedding ceremony after the children had lost patience – there was/is always an adventure and a problem to be solved.   

Sometimes I am called to routinely channel my creativity for the same purpose every single day.  My son prefers that I tell an original, new story to him every night before he sleeps. So while I am fumbling around within my blank, tired mind searching for  imaginative characters and thinking that this story is just never going to make any sense, my son’s excited eyes let me know that it is just fine to let the fantasy go wherever it may go, …and usually, the story somehow works (for him).  There are so many situations like this, every single day, that I could go on and on….

Does this creativity translate to the workplace?  I think so.  At work I try to use a similar creative approach to our daily challenges by trying to assess practical alternatives by looking at them from fresh new angles.  While the context and the frame work are different, the environment is certainly more controlled and there are often many more pieces to the puzzle, I find that my creative solution oriented approach (coupled with the goal of creating a happy outcome for all involved), skill sets fashioned from motherhood, tend to work more often than not! .