One thing I admire about my husband is his eagerness to explore new skills. He’s the type of person who will wake up at 3 a.m. thinking of ways to solve a coding problem. He honors his “what if” thoughts and inspires me to do the same, and he’s also taught me that this type of thinking can show up in many ways.
For example, I once worked with a team of marketing folks, and we kept running into the problem of identifying publication channels. I remember thinking, I wish we had a database of all these newsletters that everyone could access. I brought it up to some leaders and asked what they thought, and they agreed—yeah, sounds great. This type of task wasn’t in my job description, nor did anyone request that I personally make it happen. But I could see the value, so I did it. Then when someone had a question, I pointed to the database. Is that example particularly creative? Nah. Still, any time you bring something into existence that didn’t exist before, you’re strengthening your creative skills because you’re looking for gaps, asking questions, clarifying pain points, and taking initiative.
Your challenge today? See if you can go with your “What if?” impulse the tiniest bit, even if the concept at hand seems beyond challenging, out of scope for your talent or role, or too pie-in-the-sky. Stay curious, and consider if there’s any way you could work toward that thought in some capacity, or at least open the door to conversation about such work with the right people.
TRY THIS
Set a timer for two minutes. Write down the phrase “I wish I knew how to…” and then finish that sentence with however many examples come to mind. Keep writing until the timer goes off. Pick one thing on the list you could explore creatively this week. For example, if you wrote, “I wish I knew how to speak French,” then borrow a beginner’s book from the library or watch a few introductory videos online. Anything new or different will feel like a creative challenge!