Quiz: Are You Creative?

Here’s a little truth about success. If you want to succeed, especially as a business owner or entrepreneur, you have got to be creative.

It’s not enough to just master the current “hot” marketing tactic. The industry is changing so rapidly that the smart money is on what Stephen Covey called “sharpening the saw” or taking care of YOU.

Your creativity, your knowledge, your self care.

For some of you, this might be exciting to hear. I get to be more creative! Yay!

But, for others, you may be worried you’re not creative, or not creative “enough” to be successful.

No worries, I’ve got your back. I created a short, simple little quiz to help you determine if you’re creative “enough” to compete in today’s world.

Get a piece of paper and number it one to seven. For each question, write down the letter that corresponds to your answer.

1. When you come across a rose, you immediately:

A. Smell it.

B. Quote every rose poem you can remember.

C. Write your own poem.

D. Sketch the rose.

E. Step on the rose.

 

2. One of your dreams in life is to:

A. Write a novel.

B. Become a painter.

C. Travel the world.

D. Climb all the famous mountains.

E. Check every. single. thing. off your to-do list (just once!).

 

3. Your desk:

A. Is buried under everything (including the kitchen sink). You can barely even find it.

B. Resembles a natural disaster.

C. Is a bit of a mess, but you know where everything is.

D. Is basically neat—you use the stacking method.

E. Is in perfect order—everything organized and in its place.

 

4. The person you admire most is:

A. Einstein.

B. Walt Disney.

C. Your mother.

D. Jane Austin.

E. Anyone who can get everything crossed off their to-do list.

 

5. You consider yourself:

A. Extremely creative.

B. Creative.

C. Somewhat creative.

D. A little creative.

E. About as creative as a turnip (actually, come to think about it, turnips may be more creative than you!).

 

6. You get new ideas:

A. All the time.

B. Several times a week.

C. Several times a month.

D. Once or twice a month.

E. You dimly recall getting a new idea when George W was in office. Or maybe it was the first Bush. (Argh.)

 

7. You dream in:

A. Color.

B. Black and white.

C. Both black and white and color.

D. You can’t remember now.

E. Nothing. You don’t dream.

Scoring:

Throw out all your answers except for number five—the “You consider yourself:” question.

If you answered:

1. Extremely creative—then you are.
2. Creative—then you are.
3. Somewhat creative—then you are.
4. A little creative—then you are.
5. About as creative as a turnip—then you are.

Okay, this was a bit of a trick, obviously.

But it’s also absolutely true.

How creative you think you are directly corresponds with how creative you actually are.

To illustrate this point, consider a famous study  conducted by a big company that wanted to increase creativity in its employees. First, they hired a group of consultants to come in  and test every employee.

They discovered that the only difference between the employees who were creative and those who weren’t was in how creative they perceived themselves.

Even more telling was what happened to the group that didn’t perceive themselves as creative. The consultants focused on helping them nurture their creativity, and at the end of the study, those employees were actually more creative than the ones who had initially considered themselves creative.

This means that you too can become more creative. In fact, how creative you become is entirely in your own hands.

Creativity Exercise–Assumptions

Ready to become more creative?

Here’s an exercise to help you get started.

Write down all the reasons why you’re not creative. Go on. Write them all down. Every negative reason you can think of. Things like:

• I’ve never been creative in my life.

• I haven’t had a new idea in over a year.

• I don’t have time to be creative.

Now, reverse those negative assumptions and make them positive. Like so:

• I am a creative person.

• I have lots of new ideas all of time.

• I don’t need time to be creative because I already am creative.

Actually write those reverse statements down.

Do this every day, adding to your list, and see what happens.

This is a great way to start getting rid of those “inner demons” that keep us from realizing our true potential.

Want to dig into this in more detail? My “Love-Based Money and Mindset” book is fabulous for helping you overcome beliefs that are no longer serving you (and thinking you aren’t creative is definitely not serving you). Check it out here.