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Meaning is essential. As a species, we all have a unique desire to experience our lives as significant. Creativity as a company value brings a profound sense of meaning to the lives of the people who work there.
Through the nourishment of creative insights, the gratification of bringing those insights into the world, the ecstatic joy of dropping in the experience of creative flow, and the excitement we feel when we are wowed by the creations of others, the creative process quite naturally brings fulfillment and meaning to our lives. According to the Forrester survey, of all the companies ranked highly for fostering creativity, 69% have received awards and recognition for being a “best place to work.”
Humans as meaning making machines
No other creature out in the world makes things to the degree that human beings do and since it’s part of who we are in the same way that a tree reaches its branches up to the light and a fish is meant to swim, as human beings we are here to create and when we create, our lives are so much more rich in every sense of the word.
Let’s explore the two basic types of meaning in the workplace.
Experiential meaning : Self-expression
The first type of meaning comes from the experience of being in creative flow. If you recall my definition of creativity, it’s simply this: Connecting with the world and affecting it in a meaningful way. The connecting with the world is the passive side, our willingness to open us and allow the world to give us information. Connection is the source of creative insight, those aha moments and that what leads to new creations and innovations.
Manifestation is the active side. It’s our willingness to take our own insights or the insights of others and start to give them form. Manifestation in the work of bringing our insights or the insights of others, out into the world.
Then there’s a place in the middle, the meaning place, which draws on both the connectedness of creative insight and the making a difference of manifestation, both happening at the same time. This is what I call “Self-expression”.
Self-expression is deeply meaningful because it allows us to feel that sense of openness and connectivity while we are simultaneously taking action. Self-expression has the satisfaction of receiving from the world while we’re simultaneously giving to the world.
If that sounds like a strange idea just think of a great athlete. Think of Michael Jordan, for example, on the basketball court connecting with where his own players are and where the opposing team’s players are and making moves, moving seemingly effortlessly, poetically, magically through defenders to make the basket. That’s an aspect of being in a flow state.
But flow and Self-expression is not limited to athletes, you can see it in performers or great speakers. Think of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. One man standing up there, but the sense of the tides of eternity moving through him.
Self-expression can also be witnessed in great doctors, great healers, great parents, even great mechanics and programmers, anyone, like you, who is willing to go fully and completely into whatever it is that they’re doing.
Self-expression itself is deeply meaningful simply because when we Self-express, when we find ourselves in the space between insight and manifestation, in the space between the passive and active aspect of being a human being, it feels like we’re home.
That’s why it feels so good. It feels like we’ve arrived fully in our humanity, in our human bodies, In our bodies, mind and spirits. It’s an incredible feeling.
Conceptual Meaning: Crafting your vision and mission
In order to get there there’s another level of meaning which is essential: Your vision and mission
Why is it important to craft a vision and a mission? In the modern age, there are so many distractions and diversity a lot of us are very confused about, “what do I actually do to be happy?”
With the seemingly infinite number of choices we can live our life, now, more than ever, it’s up to us to articulate what it is that we are putting our attention on. In order to do so, we have to make our own meaning, create our own narrative, about what our life is up to.
When we start to create a vision for ourselves it allows us to have a true north in our lives, which allows us to cut through all the noise.
The vision is describes the direction you are going and the mission is describes why you’re going there.
Here’s an example of a vision and a mission from my own life. My vision in life is to be an internationally celebrated teacher and trainer on creativity. One who specializes in transmitting the experience of being creative.
What’s my mission? My mission in life is to empower others as creators. The reason why I do what I do is because I believe that creativity is a path towards true fulfillment. It is a way of being that we can apply to anything by connecting with the world and affecting it in a meaningful way.
With those three components: connection and making a difference and meaning, you have everything that you need in order to have a really great life.
What I want to suggest to you is, again, within your life, in your individual life, and also within your organization, if you don’t already have a vision and a mission please start crafting them. Take time to contemplate, “Where do I want to end up in a year from now?”
How about five years and now or ten? Where do I want to end up? Where do I want to be ten years from now?” Just look at that because when you start to put it down on paper you can start to feel the pull in that direction.
The other aspect is why do you want to go there? Why is it important to you? Not why it’s important to all the people around you, but why is it important to you? That really involves some introspection and soul searching.
Then, look at your vision and look at your mission and look at how it intersects the organization that you’re working for. When you do that, when you have your own sense of your vision and mission, what it does is it allows you to start to take on the entrepreneurial mindset.
It means that even if you’re working for an organization you’re not waiting for other people to tell you what you should or should not do. With your vision and mission in place, you feel compelled to take action.
The entrepreneurial mindset gives you not only a sense of power, but it gives you a deep sense of satisfaction. And it creates a meaning for all those around you. When you’re connecting with the world and affecting it in a meaningful way, you’ll naturally inspire the people around you and the way in which you connect, the way you make a difference, and the way you derive meaning for your life is entirely up to you. That’s why it’s important that you craft your own vision and your mission.
About the author
Austin Hill Shaw is a creativity expert who works with individuals who want to unlock their full creative potential and organizations that want to build cultures of innovation. He is the founder of Creativity Matters, author of The Shoreline of Wonder: On Being Creative, and inventor of The Creativity Quiz.
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