I'm always fascinated by how people approach their daily working lives so we recently undertook some research of our own, with the help of YouGov, to find out a little bit more about what makes you tick and what brings you down. In light of our findings, here are my top 10 tips on how to be an energetic and confident Creative Leader, to shine more brightly, spread creative magic where it's needed and love every minute of doing so.
1.Do what you love and what you are great at. 53% of us workers don't love our jobs. As a third of our lives are workdays we need to make those days enjoyable! When you do what you love and what you are great at, being brilliant becomes effortless.
2.Trust your gut. We spend too much of our time being way too clever and debating the future. Our conscious thinking is limited whereas our subconscious has almost unfathomable capacity; it speaks to us through our intuition. Trust it and your genius with come forth.
3.Don't talk, just do it. Getting your hands dirty and trying things out is the best way to learn and prime your subconscious to give you the answers. Experiment constantly and you will benefit from Technicolor creativity and have the energy of a herd of charging elephants.
4.Be the fun. Work is not fun, we make it so. 61% of workers don't think it's fun, perhaps because they don't know how to make it a party. The fun comes from you. Smile, laugh, dance and find fun folk to play with!
5.Positive buddies. Surround yourself with people that talk up opportunities and get excited about possibility. By doing so you will constantly be egged on to change things up. Beware the naysayer and embrace the optimist.
6.Move to think, talk to land. We all process kinesthetically so help yourself out by getting off your arse. Go for a walk and chat with a buddy if you want to tap into your creative genius. Speak constantly and quickly for 7.5 minutes as your buddy listens and notice how quickly you come up with some real gold.
7.Fuck brainstorms. Very few are skilled enough to facilitate them and 51% of us come up with our best ideas on our own. Unless you have Elvis-like ability, avoid having ideas with more than three or four people. Small is beautiful so keep it simple and human.
8.Call it. Only 6% of employees strongly agreed that when things aren't working we can talk about it and sort it out. This is a huge waste of talent and energy and a ridiculously fearful way of living. Get the moose on the table and everyone will be relieved that it's finally been said; deal with it and move on. Be a grown-up.
9.Decide and then react. If you're stuck on a big decision just make it either way and then notice how you feel. Those feelings are your subconscious telling you whether it was the right or the wrong decision. Just another way to get your gut working for you.
10.Smile. The world needs more...
All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2082 adults, of which 1282 are working full or part-time. Fieldwork was undertaken between 10th - 11th September 2014. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 18+).