We could be at the apex of a new period of confusing conversion. In fact, the world has been transformed by profound innovation and the magic of technology that benefited the human race.
Working moms of today have also undergone huge transformation in their roles in their families and in society, in how they handle their daily lives, and in how they develop their inner and outer selves. Recall the time when, about 75 years ago, women were considered the exclusive “possession” of men. We could not make the most out of our productivity, we could not completely take part in political exercises, and we were supposed to give in to men’s decisions.
But look at where we are now today – we have become as competitive as men are in all economic, political and social endeavors. Any perceived barrier that hinders the advancement of women is gone. As we look back down the decades and pat our backs for our many achievements, let us not forget to tell ourselves that there are much more to accomplish in the years ahead. Along with this reminder, and inspite of all these transformations, working moms should not stop at trying to be better in every undertaking. And what is the key to this, you may ask. How can working moms flourish in an era where innovativeness will decide who and what will thrive? The answer is: By developing and honing their innate creativity.
On an individual scale, creativity is necessary to be able to produce fresh and valuable ideas and solutions to everyday problems and challenges, which, by the way, working moms have a lot of. Sans creativity at work and at home, working moms will probably just surrender to the tremendous pressures of measuring up to their responsibilities in the workplace and at home. Creativity is therefore necessary for our survival and winning the continuous battle for a balanced life.
On a social or organizational level, creativity is important to improve work and performance. A recent survey of Fortune 500 CEOs asked what they looked for when hiring employees and promoting managers – and every one of them indicated “creativity” as one of the primary characteristics. In fact, almost 60 percent ranked creativity higher than intelligence.
Considering the importance of creativity, it would do well to ponder at how we can have a creative outlook. Well-known experts have given pertinent advice and provided some ways on how one can develop a creative outlook:
- Constantly search for ideas and play with knowledge and experience. Creativity is not about creating original ideas. Rather, it is about observing what already exists and blending them in various ways for new purposes or to address existing concerns. Therefore, being able to “play” with available knowledge and experience will help generate creative ideas.
- Try varying approaches. People with a creative outlook understand that there is no single right way in approaching a problem. There are, in fact, many right ways waiting to be explored in approaching a problem.
- Use crazy and absurd ideas as ladder steps to practical new ideas. Many of the technologies today that give us the daily conveniences were hatched from what probably seemed to be impractical ideas then. And today, people cannot imagine living in a world without these technologies brought forth by crazy ideas.
- Break rules occasionally. Rules keep the status quo. If the status quo needs to be improved, then, rules have to be broken sometimes.
- Explore ideas in strange outside places. Confining our selves in our comfort zones simply preserves those very same comfort zones. If we want to get to better comfort zones, then, we would have to move out of our familiar comfort zones and go to uncharted zones.
Creativity should be given a chance to yield a thousand new ideas from which innovation can be taken. The door to opportunities is always open, and working moms, teeming with such new ideas, can take the lead in entering an exhilarating new world.
Tags: technology social