When you work in a creative industry, you get to direct that creativity towards a specific goal. It means that you get to do what you are the very best in. It feeds you. But sometimes it can be hard to dig deep into that pool of creativity and harvest its power to meet goals.
With this banging at the back of our heads, as a team we decided to dive into unfamiliar territory. We headed straight into poems. For one night only we were the culture café of dreams. It had twinkle lights dancing like fairies, inspiring our poets to reach deep into their souls. It had red wine to toast in the honour of ‘creativity’, ‘small cars’, ‘life’ or to whatever the artists felt was needed to nourish their inspiration. It had an open mic to which anyone at any given time could go and recite their heart out. It was – in a word – beautiful.
However, none of it would have been possible if it weren’t for two tiny words, so often forgotten in everyday life. Those two little words gave us the courage to be proud of our creativity, of our performances and of our hidden talents. Those two words are the mundane duo of ‘Thank You’. Something that each brave performer uttered after sharing a piece of their spirit with the rest of us. And each time those words were said, raving applause ensued. Reaffirming the audience and – most importantly – the performer that something remarkable had just happened. Creativity had been shared, and more than the sum of its parts was experienced.
The lesson learnt from that night was to apply the magic words of ‘Thank You’ to yourself (not only to the people around you) outside the realm of culture café dreams. Give credit to your own work and remember to appraise your own talent, knowhow, skill and achievements. Thank yourself everyday and applause your creativity with vigour.
(Bonus note: The night also worked great as a way to build a deeper relationship with your team, creating a ‘sharing is caring’ atmosphere. This makes everyday communication smoother and adds to the overall creativity by making people more open on sharing their ideas.)
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Anne Ryynänen juggles sales & marketing at LudoCraft and is astonished on a daily basis about the creativity she faces from the team around her. To take a sneak peek into the life at our office, check our Instagram feed @ludocraftgames.