Booking Creativity

There is a very good book shop where I often go shopping (what else). The reason it is very good is because it is very cheap. When I say it is very cheap, this is no reflection on the quality of the books – many of them are main-stream and can be bought in Waterstones or WH Smiths for a lot more than the mere £2 or so you pay in this shop. We are not talking about remnants here. Being a bit of a cheapskate, though there are exceptions, this appeals to me and I find it very hard to walk by with my wife and accompany her to the lingerie department in John Lewis' where I find it hard not to slit my wrists with boredom!

And so it was that I bought myself a motivational book. As I have only read the first few pages of it, I am not going to reveal the title as you cannot make a proper considered judgement until you have read the whole thing. What I will say is the cover price is £15.99 and I paid £2 for it! Spookily enough, I was browsing this self same book in Waterstones or some such up market book store where it was going for the full price. I was very tempted despite the price, so when I saw it offered at £2 it was a no-brainer.

So, beginning my delving into this heavy-weight tome, I was struck by a comment about one's attitude to work. It was along the lines of are you the sort of person who simply lives for the weekends? This is, I have to say meant to be an inspirational book, so it made me think. Could you hear the gear wheels grinding? Anyway, I am not really one of these people, but I have at times been veering that way. The point is, that if we are to get the most out of life, then we need to encompass the whole of it, and not just the weekends. In fact, if everything revolves around the weekends, and holidays, for that matter, then life is a bit sad to say the least and very unfulfilling. So, it would appear that if we want to find real fulfilment in life, then we have to try to carry all our creativity into every aspect of our lives. This would help to alleviate the Sunday evening blues and replace it with a twing of excited anticipation looking forward to work the next day. I mentioned the word “creativity”, because as human beings we are meant to be creative. So when we go to work, do we actively engage with it and challenge the way things are done and try and come up with new and imaginative ways of working? Does it matter what sort of job you have? Probably not – there are no limitations or monopolies where ideas are concerned.

In short, to make life worthwhile, then worth has to be injected into it, whether it be the bosses' time or our own time. We are meant to be creative, and so a greater sense of fulfilment can be achieved in the workplace by releasing that creativity which is lurking in all of us.

I am now going to stick two pencils up my nose, put a pair of underpants on my head and say “wibble”. I need a coffee.