Art Can Bring Us Joy And Make Us More Productive In 2024
Source: Reworked, Stephanie Barnes
Photo: Jené Stephaniuk on Unsplash
Welcome to 2024. We’re all stressed out and overwhelmed.
The last few years have seen our workplaces and our lives turned upside down and backwards. Many of us are feeling more disconnected than ever. Disconnected from our colleagues, our friends, our families and from ourselves.
We’re trying to be productive, with the aim of being more productive than the computers that both help and hinder us in doing our jobs. We’re trying to hack biological systems that were never meant to be hacked, only nurtured.
What if there was a way to take care of ourselves and to feel more connected to ourselves, our jobs, our friends and family? What if there was something that would make us more productive and happier?
The book, “Feel-Good Productivity: How to Do More of What Matters to You” by Ali Abdaal, says that the secret to productivity isn’t discipline, it’s joy. It might be time that we ask the question, “what would this look like if it was fun?” to redesign our work and our lives around that question.
Strategies for Joyful Work in 2024
Bringing more art and creativity into our lives and workplaces is a way to do just that, and is supported by research on the impacts of various artistic interventions in a variety of settings.
Arts-Based interventions (ABIs) challenge individuals to think through visual, auditory and dramatic means using parts of the brain associated with emotions, memory and reasoning together. This results in cognitive flexibility or neuroplasticity and has the following documented benefits:
Wellness and mental health
Amplifying learning
Flourishing
Creating Community
Productivity (Feel Good Productivity)
Sustainability
Innovation and Transformation
Joy and humanity
Culture (sharing, collaboration, trust, respect)
Intuition
Both/and thinking
Coping with VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity)
Art and creativity are what is missing from everything we do. It strengthens our humanity in the technology-driven world we live in. Bringing art, creativity, play and fun into our routine helps us create the lives and workplaces we all crave. Examples of how to do this include:
Quick drawing activities, e.g. scribble drawings
Writing a Haiku (a short form of poetry that originated in Japan)
Improv activity
Guided visualization
Painting
Creating a sculpture (e.g. out of things on your desk)
Photography
We only need to find the courage.
Finding the Courage to Create
We look at what we’re afraid of, acknowledge it and work through it, ultimately moving past it and doing what we were afraid of. Not all fear is bad, but many are rooted in stories we tell ourselves and past experiences, especially from childhood. Those aren’t particularly useful and we are well-served by processing them.
One tool we can use to help us put fear in perspective is to use the 10/10/10 rule: will this matter in 10 minutes? Will it matter in 10 weeks? Will it matter in 10 years? There are very few things that will matter in 10 weeks, and even fewer that will matter in 10 years. And, even if it does matter in 10 years, we can learn a lot from just trying, which connects to the next tool to try.
A second tool to try is to just make a start. This is what I often suggest to people when they are starting out with arts-based interventions: start small (like a scribble drawing) and see what happens. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn’t, but you’ll have fun and learn something while you do it, which will allow you to iterate for the next time. If you try with a group of people who are curious and interested, chances are your vulnerability in trying something new will gain you some relationship capital and improve your connection to them.
Another tool is to create an alter ego. Imagine yourself as a superhero/heroine. What would he/she do? When we adopt the traits of our favourite idols, we tap into their courage and confidence, and set our own aside (this is called the Batman effect and was identified by researchers in 2017).
A final tool you can try is to repeat affirmations to yourself. Repeating phrases such as, I am confident, I can do this, I am unstoppable, can be quite helpful and reassuring.
With these tools, I hope you’ll find the courage to bring more joy (and productivity) to your life and workplaces using arts-based interventions.
It’s 2024, isn’t it time?
About the Author
Stephanie has over 30 years successful, experience in knowledge management and accounting in the high tech, Healthcare and public accounting sectors. She is also an accomplished artist having had exhibitions in Toronto and Berlin.