When I was a kid, if my sisters and I told our mom that we were bored, she would wave her hands and say, “If you’re bored, you’re boring.” Meaning: go find something to do. After some moaning and groaning, our creative juices would slowly kick in: we’d build a fort using blankets and the kitchen table, outline an entire city for our Barbies and Beanie Babies across couches and end tables, and swing outside while perusing the grass for tiny flowers. My mother’s reaction taught me to view boredom as a temporary state of mind, one I had complete control over, and the same is true for adults as well as children.
It’s easy to think of creativity as something reserved for a special few: the artists, the dreamers, the entrepreneurs. Or maybe you think of creative output only as something with significant impact: coming up with the Next Big Thing or wild innovation in your industry. But it’s really related to moving outside your comfort zone. New challenges position you to grow, which is imperative for you personally, and from a career perspective, your growth and development increase your value—which is good for job security and for your long-term potential as a whole. This challenge is all about how you can continually find ways to level up in your career in terms of proactively pushing yourself creatively.