Lorenzo Dickerson

When we think about who needs creativity, we’re likely to imagine it’s people in more creative fields; writers, designers, artists, and musicians.

But if you think about it just a bit more, and change the question from who “needs” creativity to who “benefits” from it, you start to get a different picture.

“There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all. Without creativity, there would be no progress, and we would forever be repeating the same patterns,” Edward De Bono writes in his brilliant book Six Thinking Hats.

If you look around, you’ll inevitably notice that everything that makes your life convenient is a result of someone’s creative work. Not just their actual labor, but creativity as well.

Think about how you get your water. Instead of having to haul from rivers and streams it now comes out of a faucet. Who could have ever imagined that?

Think about electricity. Electricity is practically magic, like we just plug something in or flip a switch and suddenly we have light and the Internet and television. Of course none of that could exist without the creative ability of those who were daring enough to imagine it, then build it.

And typically these things don’t come about because of one person. Even our understanding of writing, and art, and music, grew from the creative pursuits of many, many people over thousands of years. Not each of them were a writer, or artist, or musician, they just saw something in the world that didn’t feel quite right and so they changed it.

I benefit from creative work.

Not merely financially, through my writing or my creative apps, but I benefit in that the creative work I do (most of which I never share) enables me to bring out the best version of myself, of who I want to be and how I can shape the world around me.

Even if nobody ever bought one of my books, or apps, or ever read this blog, I’d still benefit from these creative expressions because they serve needs in my own life.

Your creativity is probably much the same. How you spend your time, how you express yourself, and how you utilize your imagination to shape the world around you, all benefit you, whether you are fully aware of that fact or not.

Don’t measure anything unless the data helps you make a better decision or change your actions.