We may think intuitively that living an everyday creative life will increase our sense of wellbeing because it feels good. There’s now growing data to show that it can be also be associated with increased happiness and mental health.
Psychologists define wellbeing as a focus on happiness and positive emotions, or a deeper focus on living life in a full and deeply satisfying way.1 This form of wellbeing includes the dimensions of autonomy, mastery, purpose in life, personal growth, positive relations with others and self-acceptance. 2
Wellbeing can also be defined as a sense of balance that can be affected by life events or challenges. We feel a stable wellbeing when we have the behaviours, skills and resources we need to meet any psychological, social and/or physical challenges that may arise.3
Our positive sense of wellbeing can be further linked to motivation and to the work of author Daniel Pink. His studies concluded that motivational behaviours depend on three of these wellbeing dimensions – namely a sense of autonomy, mastery and purpose.
His research shows that people with intrinsic motivation display self-direction and a devotion to becoming better at something that matters to them, that connects to their larger quest for excellence and to a purpose. He goes on to say that science confirms that this behaviour is essential to being human and, now in a world of rapid change, it’s also critical for both personal, professional and organisational success of any kind. 4
Neuroscience explains that this unconscious brain state relates to survival and the tenancy to keep going. It ensures we don’t get distracted by destructive habits or addictions that can derail us. The stronger our sense of purpose, the more reward our brain receives from not being distracted from our goal. 5
Negative motivators can creep in when we have a lull in momentum, when it feels like we’re not progressing our goals. This is the time to identify distractions, or what could be subconsciously sabotaging our positive efforts. This is another prompt to raise our awareness of time wasting apps, or demotivating tactics that could be side tracking us.
Finally, even happiness is linked to creativity and we look to psychologist and author Dr. Martin Seligman, for his theories on positive psychology and wellbeing. Dr. Seligman believes we can become lastingly happier by using our signature strengths more often and in new ways- strengths such as wisdom, honesty, spirituality, kindness, gratitude, curiosity, and, of course, creativity. 6
As we weave these concepts together, we can start to plot a pathway to a creative life everyday. Creativity encompasses both wellbeing and motivation and at their intersection we find the essential dimensions of purpose, mastery and autonomy. These all figure highly in enhancing creativity in the workplace and on how we can experience creativity in everyday life.
The motivational essentials From:
To recap, Daniel Pink defines the essentials purpose, mastery and autonomy as:
Autonomy is acting with choice. People are at their best when they have autonomy over what they do (task), when they do it (time), who they do it with (team) and how they do it (technique).
Mastery requires engagement to become better at something that matters. It’ s a mindset to see our abilities as infinitely improvable and requires effort and deliberate practice.
Purpose is by nature what humans seek. Progressive organisations are building a new purpose and motive into the way they do business, with policies that enable employees to pursue purpose alongside profit. If we consider this from a more personal perspective it may be translated into our ‘why’, that is, why we do what we do.
From: Pink, D. (2011) Drive: the surprising truth about what motivates us. Penguin Putnam, USA, 207-208
Check out the activity to leverage your advantage to expand your everyday motivation and wellbeing
References
1. Deci, E.L & and Ryan, R.M. Hedonia, eudaimonia, and well-being: an introduction, Journal of Happiness Studies, January 2008, Volume 9, Issue 1, pp 1-11 Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10902-006-9018-1#page-1
2. Kaufman, S.B. The creative life and well-being. Scientific American, March 2015. Retrieved from https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/the-creative-life-and-well-being/
3. Dodge, R. Daly, A. Huyton. J., Sanders L.D., The challenge of defining wellbeing. International Journal of Wellbeing, 2(3) 222-235. Retrieved from https://www.internationaljournalofwellbeing.org/index.php/ijow/article/view/89
4. Pink, D. (2011) Drive: the surprising truth about what motivates us. Penguin Putnam, USA, 80-81.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Values_in_Action_Inventory_of_Strengths5. Swart, T. (2019) The Source: Open your mind, Change your life. Penguin Random House, UK, 159.
6. The Inventory of Strengths is designed to identify an individual’s profile of character strengths and was designed by Christopher Peterson and Martin Seligman. The VIA (Values in Action) Inventory of Strengths is a measure of character strengths and a survey is available online, over 400 000 people have participated so far. They have published the Character Strengths and Virtues: A Handbook and Classification, Peterson and Seligman (2004). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Values_in_Action_Inventory_of_Strengths
Image Creativity Encompasses from: The Creative Advantage Lifecycle, Enhance your creativity throughout all stages of your life by Maria Simonelli 2021