If I asked, “What do you think creativity can do for you?” what would you say? I know a lot of people would say that creativity will help them bring more fun into their lives, create things they love, or become a more well-rounded person. But not many people think about the more practical consequences of creativity. Today, I want to open up the discussion about creativity and success.

Defining success

Success means different things to different people. It might mean:

• Building strong relationships with people you love
• Learning to love yourself
• Having your dream job
• Overcoming a fear or bad habit
• Attaining peace and joy in your life

Success can look different at different times, too. Once you succeed at one thing, you’ll set your sights on another. You can also be striving toward success in multiple ways at once.

Regardless, success matters to each of us. Success, in its broadest sense, means achieving what you set out to achieve. That matters to everyone, regardless of what their goals are.

That said, with this post, I really want to focus most of my thoughts on professional/business/career/financial success. Things like:

• Being able to retire early
• Building your business to a certain size
• Getting a big promotion
• Earning a certain salary
• Growing your savings

Why do I want to focus on these things? Let me explain.

Creativity and success

The main reason I want to talk about this more “material” success is because it is rarely talked about in connection with creativity. We don’t usually put the two ideas together. In fact, it’s much more likely that when you think of a “creative” person, you imagine a “starving artist” type—someone who enjoys the creative process, creates art or music, and doesn’t really care much about money, acclaim, or other “worldly” successes.

But creativity applies just as much to the high-powered business person as it does to the guy singing for tips on the street. Creativity has the ability to aid success in all its forms, including the more professional and practical ones. 

Here’s why creativity and success go together.

Creativity builds confidence and trust in yourself. 

Creatives listen to their guts and their intuition. They learn to be less analytical about what will work and what won’t, and instead go with what feels right. Eventually, this helps you build confidence and trust in yourself. With that kind of confidence, and with your intuition to guide you, you can not only set big professional goals, but chase them eagerly and hopefully. 

Creativity helps you work well with others. 

Creativity encourages collaboration. This is largely because it helps you be more open-minded. When you are open to other people’s thoughts, you are able to work with them better and more effectively. You won’t micromanage, you won’t make other people feel “less than,” you won’t ignore others’ potentially good ideas. Whether you are managing other people, collaborating on a big project, trying to co-president a startup, or just trying to demonstrate that you have leadership skills, being able to work well with others is always going to serve you. 

Creativity shines light on new opportunities.

When you change nothing, nothing changes. If you just accept things the way they are and keep plugging away at your career, you’ll probably be fine, but you might not reach the level of success you’re looking for. Creativity helps you think in different ways, approach problems from different angles, and take risks in order to try something new. Creative thinking could lead to your next million dollar idea (it’s led to plenty of others!). 

Creativity supports professional advancement.

Did you know that 60% of CEOs cite “creativity” as the most important leadership quality? And that when CEOs were asked which quality they valued most in their people, they said creativity and other things related to creativity (like problem solving and coming up with new solutions)? Basically, people in the business world value creativity. A lot. If you are trying to climb a ladder, score funding, or make a good impression at a new company, creativity can make all the difference. It might be the competitive advantage your career needs to help you find the success you want.

Creativity helps you find well-rounded success.

Burnout is a very real thing. Almost all professionals find themselves experiencing some level of burnout at one time or another. Creativity can be an important tool in helping you avoid burnout. Creativity can help you infuse joy back into your life when things have gotten monotonous. It can help you keep your life well-rounded so that you’re able to work hard and play hard. When you’re recharged, you avoid burnout, and when you avoid burnout, you’re able to keep working effectively toward your goals.  

Creativity helps you envision a successful future.

Creativity can help you paint a picture of the “you” you want to become. It can help you see past what is and discover what could be. The more creative you get with that future, the more real it will start to become to you. This will also help you create a step-by-step plan that will help you make that future an actual reality. In that way, creativity can literally help you bring your dreams to life. 

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Creativity and professional success don’t always get paired together, but every professional can benefit from being a little more creative. It’s time to break whatever stigma exists around creativity and bring the power and potential of creative thinking to everyone, everywhere. Success is yours for the creating.