Creative confidence by Tom and David Kelley. Introduction

Blink 9
Channeling your creativity will improve your work and make you happier in your private life.
Allowing yourself the freedom to think creatively and to innovate is one of the best ways to ensure your own happiness, both professionally and personally.

For starters, when there’s innovation, engagement and creativity in your work, your employers will start paying attention. Nowadays, companies recognize the great value of people who can pitch new ideas and help their projects achieve new heights.

Not only that, but the recognition and success will make your job far more challenging and fun.

Nearly everyone who has worked with the authors to rediscover their creative potential has their own stories of how cultivating creativity did marvels for their career. It’s allowed CEOs to involve themselves in innovative, grassroots work and helped lawyers approach tough cases in a novel and intelligent way, leading them to win more cases.

A creative mind can do wonders for your personal life as well.

We all become bored or unhappy with our life trajectories at some point. However, when you experience life with new eyes and see the value in even the smallest things, you put a fresh spring in your step.

Just look around while you’re on your way to work and you will see that every day is an adventure, rather than a grim chore. For example, you might marvel at the way your kids and your partner play at breakfast, or how the leaves change with the seasons.

Not only will this new perspective help you to enjoy the mundane aspects of life, but the life you’ve built for yourself will further inspire and motivate you.

So be creative, be innovative and take control of your life. It’s not time to be afraid; go out and do something!

Final summary


The key message in this book:


Creativity isn’t just for artists. It’s in our blood. And although society does everything it can to smother it, you can still flex your creative muscles in order to win it back. The only way to do that, however, is to face your fear of failure and take immediate action.

Actionable advice:

Give your children the gift of creativity.

If you want your kids to be able to think freely and creatively, then you’ll need to combat the messages they get in school. Give them space to do and want things that are “unrealistic.” Let them paint outside the lines and let them fail so that they can use that experience to develop their own novel solutions.