creative voice – Ulrike Hill

I love my job. When I talk to people about what I do to earn money, they often respond with a sigh and then a dismal, “I wish I could do something I love”. I am in a creative environment and my creative voice is part of my company brand. My present way of earning money is deliberate and the result of many years of learning and making mistakes.

The world is changing. The rules for happiness are changing. People realise that making money is not the key to happiness. Today’s fast-paced, commercialised life, people are searching for meaning. Surely there must be more to life than driving to work, doing the work, driving home and then repeating the process all over again the next day. Again and again until retirement.

How can the corporate worker create meaning? By exploring their creativity.

Think about this:

Childhood is about creativity. The imagination is filled with expression and make-believe worlds. Far too soon, the creativity is stifled at school. Children are told to ‘colour in the lines and colour the sky blue and the grass green’. Consider this: have you noticed the sky being consistently blue? The winter sky becomes moody. Sometimes it changes from a depressing grey to a threatening black. Creativity is not about stereotyping. It is about experiences and using your senses to create meaning experiences.

Business is about meeting deadlines, reaching sales targets and keeping a wary eye on budgets. Then it is report writing, emails, agendas, maybe a marketing piece or two. People are consumed in the world of balancing salaries and monthly expenses. No wonder creativity flies out of the window.

I worked in the corporate world and I often felt as if each day was a fight for survival: get that promotion and make more money, meet tight deadlines, get on the good side of the tea lady so that she made my coffee the way I like it. Sure, I made more money. I was promoted but was I happy? Not really. I had to find my creative voice before I died.

I started a social newsletter for the company. The company was not big and obviously budget was tight so I asked one of the staff members with some design knowledge to compile an electronic newsletter. The outcome was wonderful. Another person was an amateur photographer so he was responsible for taking photos at our socials. This soon extended to sporting events and even everyday fun moments in the office. A few people created interesting tags and captions for the photos. Slowly people started contributing interesting news and facts and the social newsletter became a collaborative affair. It also did wonders for company morale.

Finding creativity in your business needs some out-of-the-box thinking. If creativity does not seem to be a viable option for your workplace, then explore your own creativity. Start a hobby that requires creative thinking or action. Perhaps what you need to do is slow down and get back to basics: use your five senses to experience the beauty that surrounds you and then translate that into something creative.

As a writer, I find that writing is not only a great way to explore your creative voice, it is also cathartic. Bad day at the office? Write about it. Keep a journal. Who knows? Perhaps one day that journal will keep you.

Need to pump some creativity into your office. Book a space on our the Writer’s Voice breakfast workshop. For more information contact: writer@ulrikehill.co.za or call 071 636 8028.

The world is changing. People realise that making money is not the key to happiness.

I receive many emails from people who want to write a book and looking at these emails has made me wonder if creativity is what people are searching for. People want more from life. It seems that life is a constant running around like hamsters on a wheel; running with no purpose other than to meet month-end commitments

So what happened to creativity?

Children learn using their senses and exploring their creativity during their formative years. Far too soon, the teacher starts to strangle creativity and demands that they colour in the lines and use blue for the sky and green for the grass.

Have you noticed the sky today? What colour is it? Grey? Blue?

Creativity is not about stereotyping. It is about life experiences and thinking out of the box. Freedom of expression is important in developing this skill.

Business is about meeting deadlines, reaching sales targets and keeping a wary eye on budgets. People are consumed by a world of balancing salaries and monthly expenses. No wonder creativity flies out of the window. Numbers have started to rule and dominated our creativity.

The search for creativity

Years ago, I trained as an English teacher. After three years in the classroom, the lure of earning a decent salary moved me into the corporate world. But, I still had that hole in my soul. Something was missing. The money was great but I was not happy. Years later, I changed careers once again. I went into adult training and found that I had a natural talent. I loved teaching people how to write. I found that people who wanted to learn how to plot their books and develop their characters inspired me. I found my creative side. I found that companies who attended my Story of a Business course went back to their workplace understanding the language of their company. They were able to identify with the character that the company had become. They found that they could still be creative in an environment that may not seem to be creative.

Finding your creativity

Attend a creative writing course, photography class or look back to your school days. What did you enjoy doing? What made you feel like the hours rolled by without you noticing? Perhaps it was sewing or building model aeroplanes. Find time to pursue your creativity.

All it requires is taking time out from your busy schedule. Create some ‘me’ time. Slow down and get back to basics: use your five senses to experience the beauty that surrounds you. Keep a journal. Who knows? Perhaps one day that journal will keep you.

Ulrike