The battle between the corporate world & creativity: How to find equilibrium

A levels. Music or Maths, Art or Philosophy. Should I go to university, do I really need it?

Why should we have to choose? I'm sure anyone who went to a strict secondary school, sixth form or college is familiar with the "going to university and studying a facilitating subject is the only way forward narrative". Well for those who feel like they were forced to ignore their creative side/struggle to incorporate creativity into their lives or even those who just feel that they'd like to experiment, read on!

1. POSITIVE ASSOCIATION & EXPANDING YOUR NETWORK

Ever heard the saying "you become like the company you keep"? Our friends can influence our mood, the way we think and what we do in our spare time. In the same way, surrounding yourself with people who are already in the direction you'd like to progress in means that you can learn from them and make more connections.

2. LEARN TO GET OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE

Start a new fitness class, watch a film from a genre you would never usually watch, or try a new restaurant. Anything that will shake up your routine or broaden your horizon. I recently watched a film about a girl who creates a poker empire and becomes an FBI target. I was stuck for choice on a nine hour flight and probably wouldn't have watched it otherwise, but surprisingly I did enjoy it. (I probably would have enjoyed it even more without having to listen to the screaming baby and sit through the freezing cold air con but nothings perfect right :)). So it's the little things like examining your creativity through films that will even inspire your next project, whether its a fashion piece, a potentially award winning blog post or a business. And even if it didn't inspire a project, you hopefully learnt something new along the way.

3. CREATE A SIDE HOBBY

If you don't already have a side hobby or project, think about starting one! If you work a 9-5 job, you'll be aware of how valuable your time outside of work becomes. Filling your time with the right activities is crucial and it can be good to get the balance between seeing friends, exploring your creative projects and work. Note that I haven't boxed creative projects and work into one element. It's great when you can have a project you're developing that doesn't feel like a chore. My blog takes a lot of time to maintain but the most important thing for me is that it's enjoyable. It's also worth seeing if you can incorporate your creativity into your job - collaborate with other teams, see what extra assistance they may need, ask your manager if you can develop a new proposal. Be proactive. As long as what you're proposing will help your company commercially, try your luck and see if you can make an impact!

4. INCORPORATE SOME GREEN AND BLUE HUES INTO YOUR WORK SPACE

It has been scientifically proven in various studies that green and blue increase creativity. Hard to believe? A study showed one group a glimpse of green and another group, various other colours. And guess what? Those who were shown green were significantly more creative than those who weren't scoring more on the creative scale. So think about your creative space and whether it's worth buying a green/blue wall sheet, desk plant or changing your laptop background.

5. ADJUST YOUR ROUTINE

Establish whether your creativity thrives in the morning or afternoon, just before lunch or after, on a week day or a weekend. How many times have you sat down to do some work or a task and no matter how hard you tried or for how long, you just couldn't focus? When I was studying for my English Literature exams, I would sometimes get a bout of energy at night and would take advantage of that. Exploring routines and the way your body reacts can really make a difference in terms productivity. 

Are you an introvert, an extrovert or an ambivert?

We analyse, and we analyse our analysis, and we analyse the analysis of our analysis until we stop (because we think that our brains might actually explode) and we say “what are we analysing again?”)

I think 2018 might be the year of "let’s create as many terms to describe people as we possibly can until they all start to overlap and not make any sense at all". Some are so complicated that we forget how they're explained or we have to use about five equally as complicated terms to explain them and by that point, is the other person still with you or are they thinking about how much they’d love a cup of tea right now? Of course they’re still with you, you can see the deep concentration on their face, or are they just... oh, they're just bored to death.

Skoliosexual, ENTJ, zir, omnivert, eccedentesiast. These are some of the more rare terms used to describe us as people. The last is probably the most simplistic in meaning, ironically. I'll leave it to you to guess what they mean, shall I?

But, you'll probably be happy to know, I'll be looking at some of the more well-known terms today.

Introversion, extroversion and ambiversion I was deep in thought one day (nothing new there then), when my thoughts veered onto how we often put things into boxes and look at them in black and white. All my life, I'd thought I was an introvert. I like my own company, I'm quieter than most people (probably because I use up all my energy thinking!) and small talk? It's not really my thing.

But this left me tied, because depending on the context, I can be quite sociable and being the centre of attention is nice occasionally, but only up to a certain point before it starts to get overwhelming. I'm also not particularly creative or imaginative which are both common introvert traits. And I don't have low blood pressure as far as I know (?)(apparently, according to a Japanese study, introverts are more likely to have low blood pressure than extroverts. Did you know that? Nope, me neither!)

Twenty minutes in and I found myself deep into my Google search, wondering how these articles had analysed my personality so well and how they'd got the criteria so right. It was like an epiphany! There are quite a few characteristics, but I decided that the following described me best:

1. Well, there's the fact that I can't decide if i'm an introvert or not, which probably speaks for itself.

2. I don't always volunteer to speak up first or to start a conversation, but I can be a bit of a chatter if you catch me at the right time.

3. I hear the phrase "out of your shell" a lot. Sometimes I get the "I thought you were shy, but actually, you just needed time to come out of your shell..." *sigh*

4. What I choose to do at a particular time, on a particular day depends on my current energy or dopamine level. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that helps control the brain's reward and pleasure centers. According to Scott Barry Kaufman, dopamine is generally more active in an extrovert's brain than in an introvert's. That's how we distinguish between the different personality types. For introverts, that rise in dopamine is satisfying for a while and they can be content up to a certain point until they become "overstimulated". Introverts much preferacetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that increases by thinking analytically, contemplating, reflecting and placing focus onto one thing. This makes sense, I thought. Sometimes, I can be energised for hours while socialising in a crowd and the fun never seems to wear off. On other days however, nothing at all satisfies me except being in solitude and having time to think, which is when the "overstimulation" of dopamine and my grumpiness (did I just make that word up?) kicks in.

So which one are you, if any? There are lots of tests and quizzes that can help you determine which type of person you are, some of which I'll leave below. I'd say that my research has helped in terms of self-evaluation. It's forced me to think about why we are the way we are and the idea that uniqueness doesn't equate to being weird.

If you have a spare minute, take one of the quizzes below and prepare to be awakened. Or maybe not... maybe we should stop putting everyone into boxes, assigning them with labels after labels, and look at things in colour. Let's all just accept the idea that we're a very complex species and get on with it. Whatever that "it" is for you, whether it's thinking more or speaking less, mingling or being in solitude. Ultimately, it really doesn't matter.

Are you an introvert or an extrovert? Take the quiz here

If you're still stuck, try this one. You might be part of the ambivert army

Read more about dopamine & acetylcholine levels here

An evening at The Houses of Parliament

Although many of the laws passed and values stood for in the Houses of Parliament may not be so beautiful, visually, it is a stunning place. Last month, I visited to attend a conference, BAME Women: Why Parliament Needs Us & How to Make it Listen. As for "making it listen", we are still a long long way from completely achieving that, but there's no harm in making a start. That day, I walked through the corridors in awe of just how beautiful and intricate the building was. It was very calm and still and I wished I hadn't worn such loud clunky boots that day.

Here's what I learnt (along with some pretty images you can find at the end😊):

8% of MPs are from ethnic minority backgrounds and 54% attended a private school. It doesn't take a genius to work out that this is in no way representative of the UK population and there are many members of society who don't have someone to speak for them as a result. I find this very alarming and wish that those in power would see this as more of an issue. But unfortunately, wishing doesn't get you anywhere.

Power isn't given, it's taken

Taking power means that you speak up, speak out, challenge and actively aspire to be as capable as those in higher positions. Being a young person in the workplace, I am constantly told to be the best I can be as otherwise, you can risk someone else stealing your shine.

We need to question the term BAME*

It has always made me feel a bit weird. It's almost as if Black and Asian people have been grouped together, when in reality, we have very different struggles and are at different points in the journey to equality. I'm not sure it makes sense to have just one term that encompasses a whole group of people?

The hallways, featuring marble statues.

The walkway up to the entrance.

The Stained glass window in Westminster Hall, which is the oldest part of the Houses of Parliament.

Committee Room 9

A shorter post today, but hopefully, just as interesting.

*Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic or Black and Minority Ethnic