HOW CREATIVES DEAL WITH CONFORMITY

From determining daily habits, to how confoming affects the cultivation of our creative ideas, this section acts as guidance including tips and tricks in how to break the stagnant chain.

Good artists look for relationships among diverse ideas. Striving for progress is the ultimate goal.

When trying to reach a goal, evaluating high resources and low demands leads to a mostly positive, invigorating experience called challenge, which corresponds with feeling confident. Low resources and high demands lead to a much less confident state called threat, which may produce feelings of anxiety.

“When participants’ goal was to fit in with a group of people who disagreed with them, their cardiovascular responses were consistent with a psychological threat state,” says Seery. “In contrast, when the goal was to be an individual among a group of people who disagreed with them, their cardiovascular responses were consistent with challenge. “You may have to work to reach a goal, but when you experience challenge, it is more like feeling invigorated than overwhelmed. It is consistent with seeing something to gain rather than focusing on what can be lost,” he says. “It could easily be overwhelming to face a group on the other side of an issue or candidate, but this study suggests that reminding yourself of wanting to be an individual can make it a better experience, challenging instead of threatening, invigorating instead of overwhelming,”

Mark Seery: associate professor of psychology at University of Buffalo

LEADERSHIP AND FACING CONFORMITY

Leadership is the willingness to move in a different direction than others. If we want to lead, then the real question is how can we resist the pull of conformity and stand courageously in truth and right? How can we live the values that make us and our colleagues trustworthy? 1. have a clear, strong, and committed values. What do you believe in? And how resolutely are you willing to stand behind those beliefs? Are you willing to be vulnerable? To be embarrassed? To be disliked? To be fired? Powerful, trustworthy leaders answer yes to all of those questions. 2. yearn to see what is going on around you. Can you see it for what it is? 3. finding the courage to act when something is going on that is out of sync with your values. To say something. To stand up to power, if that’s what it takes. And to do it skillfully, and with respect, so that you are more likely, not only to succeed, but also to preserve the relationships around you where possible.

Finding courage is the most difficult because it requires that we go against the norm of what is going on around us. And, while that might be something we’re born with, it doesn’t come naturally to us as adults. It takes practice! Practice in small ways: Keep common workspace clean when everyone around you is leaving it messy. Work every day even when the people around you are taking sick days. Act or speak differently than the people around you. Make different choices than others: choose not to eat dessert or drink when everyone else is. Avoid ingoring your own desires and doing what others say because it sounds “right.” Step outside your comfort zone. Finding joy and happiness leads to progress, fulfillment, and meaning. Listen to your gut and trust your intuition. Appreciate and be present in the moment When you do those things, slow down enough to feel its impact on you. Knowing that you can tolerate that feeling is the secret to escaping its hold on you, giving you the freedom to act in line with your values. - - - - - - - -

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES