Finding creativity during a global pandemic
During the first coronavirus lockdown in The Netherlands back in March 2020, just like so many other people, I found myself feeling a little lonely, and with a lot of time on my hands.
I was working from home everyday, away from my friends and colleagues, and it started to feel a little like Groundhog Day. I felt that I needed to find something offline to get away from my laptop. My girlfriend bought a how-to book on drawing animals and plants in 10 steps “De natuur — Tekenen in 10 stappen”. We decided to use the book to spend time together learning to draw.
After some time practicing, and with growing confidence, I decided to try something bigger, a larger scale challenge. I wanted to paint some of the animals from the book on an actual canvas.
I hadn’t picked up drawing tools in almost 16 years, and I felt the urge to try a new challenge to unlock old skills. I created a picnic pond scene, painting ducks and a tree with a mountain backdrop. The end result was okay. It was not something I was particularly proud of, but I really enjoyed taking the time to put my practice into paint.
It was a break from the mundane routine of working from home while going through a global pandemic. I found that I could completely focus on the painting and forget (just for a while) all the other stressors in my life.
Once the painting was finished, I presented it to my colleagues over video calls, to share what I have been up to during our casual catch-up calls. They were supportive and encouraged me to create more paintings and, with the help of HR, we were even able to organise a few painting competitions within the company, to entertain and inspire our colleagues to get creative in their own ways.
As I continued to create new paintings for the competitions I began to notice improvements in my skills each time. With each practice and finished piece I started to feel more and more confident in my work (and possibly even proud!). This is the same as with any skill, the more practice you put in the closer you get to mastering that practice.
In his book “How to Lead in Product Management”, Roman Pichler discusses that exercising and focusing on creative activities helps to engage people in continuous learning. I was focused, engaged and improving in my hobby and in the process I was adopting a growth mindset.
Pichler puts in very clear terms when he says “Learning something new requires the right mindset or attitude. If you believe that you lack talent or are not smart enough, then you make it hard — if not impossible for yourself to acquire new knowledge, skills, and behaviours.” Growth Mindset in Product Management
For example, when I started this project, I didn’t believe I was good at painting. It was something I hadn’t done since leaving secondary school school almost 16 years ago. But with effort, patience, as well as the positive feedback from others, my painting skills are slowly improving, and my belief in my ability is also growing.
The principles of growth mindset can be applied to the world of work, and the various roles we do. Acquiring and developing new skills at work can take a long time, but the process is meant to take time. There’s room for mistakes and, importantly, asking for help and learning from others is always a benefit. When we ask for help from others, they get a chance to teach and we get a chance to learn, so really, we’re both developing our understanding of the topic!
Pichler wants us all to develop a growth mindset, and to have an open minded attitude towards learning. He encourages creative outlets outside of work, such as “learning to draw or paint, sing, play an instrument, take up yoga, or another form of exercise”, as these activities can teach us about ourselves as much as they teach the skills required to practice them. We can tap into what sort of learners we are (auditory, visual, kinesthetic), how we handle conflict and criticisms, and how well we deal with the successes and failures of others. The more we learn about ourselves outside of work, the more we can grow as teammates to our colleagues.
For me, approaching this new hobby was not only a way to embrace a new skill, it also gave me a new way to stay connected with colleagues, friends, and family. I would share my progress and get feedback, and this would sometimes spark conversation about other people’s creative outlets as well. The more I shared my work, the more people reached out to me to ask if I was taking requests!
I started painting the pets of my friends around the world, and decided to share my work over on Instagram as well. It feels wonderful to be able to practice my new skill and make people I love happy at the same time.
Working on my paintings has helped me stay motivated during the isolation of national lockdowns and the increased time spent working from home. It even helped calm the nerves of starting my new job this autumn. Taking the skills I’ve learned through painting, like patience, perseverance and dedication, into my new role has been of great service to my work toolkit.
I want to create a space here to share my own experiences and those of other artists and creative workers, to find out the real life benefits of introducing regular creative outlets on all aspects of life. I’ll be talking to painters, jewelry makers, bakers and anyone else who wants a chat about what it means to them to start their own side hustle or full-time hustle.
I’ll also keep sharing my own progress, on the paintings and how I’m building a small business from them — so please expect plenty of puppy paintings coming your way.
Please comment below if you’ve picked up a new creative skill during the pandemic, or if you know of anyone else who has done so. I’d love to hear from you.
