Attention Left-Brain Professionals: Here's How You Can Be Creative Too

Read time: 3 minutes

99% of left-brain professionals underestimate their creativity.

Not for lack of capabilities but due to a simple misunderstanding.

This matters because:

Creative work is unique.

Unique work is scarce.

Scarce is valuable.

When most think of creativity, they conjure words like innovative, imaginative, visionary, and artistic—a "thinking outside-the-box" mentality. However, creativity isn't just about crafting a masterpiece; it's also about "thinking inside the box."

Thinking ‘inside the box’ is designed to add constraints to the process, which allows you to focus on the essential part: the message.

To be great, you need to be better (than everyone else) or be different.

Better is the product of competition. That means you’re battling against people with similar skills, goals, and mindsets. What seems to be a race to the top is really a race to the bottom because we often sacrifice important things to beat out competition (e.g., time, principles, and money).

But there is another path: different.

Choosing to be different builds a moat of uniqueness. It relies on your creativity — both the ‘outside of the box’ and ‘inside the box’ type of thinking.

Different is way more valuable.

3 ways you can leverage “inside-the-box” thinking to build a moat of uniqueness.

Remember the words I used to open this post?

99% of left-brain professionals underestimate their creativity.

Here’s creativity hidden in plain sight.

1. Build a suite of templates to focus more attention on the message (not starting from scratch)

Staring at a blinking cursor can be overwhelming.

Proven templates help you concentrate on the message instead of worrying about starting from scratch. It’s a rare occasion that someone actually realizes you even use templates. (And I’ll bet they get more upset with themselves for not thinking of using them sooner — this is precisely how I felt).

A perfect opportunity is creating email templates.

Start by reviewing recent emails. Find commonalities in structure or phrasing. Transform them into a template. Incorporate into your daily email habit.

 At some point, all you do is fill in the blanks.

2. Use reverse engineering to reduce optionality (and get to the answer faster, with less resources)

Creativity isn’t only about what you produce but how you produce it.

Reverse engineering in problem-solving creates constraints by reducing optionality. Start with the desired outcome and work backward. You'll focus on what you can do rather than endless possibilities.

Here’s an example of how I use reverse engineering:

I work with business owners who want to generate “more” profits.

A simple first exercise is to create constraints with two questions:  

1. Can you quantify what “more” means?

2. When do you expect/want this “more” to happen?

By doing so, I have 3 critical datapoints identified: the endpoint, the starting point, and the time we need to get there.

Now, we can walk backward to build each checkpoint (using the resources available).

3. Set constructive rules to preserve creative energy (and prevent distractions)

Racehorses have blinders, so they focus on the race, not the crowd.

Many distractions prevent you from doing your work. Set rules to serve as guardrails. These could include:

• Setting a time limit on your work

• Determining when you do certain types of work

• Establishing principles for how you execute work

I’ve implemented a rule: “Get an ugly first draft done as fast as possible” (for crafting presentations, written work, or qualitative analysis).

I used to edit and filter while trying to create the first draft. This would waste energy (and cause frustration when the first draft wasn’t perfect). I’d treat the first draft as though it were the final version.

This conserves energy for creative refinement and optimization stages.

Add constraints to the process — and let creativity thrive.

Thank you for reading,

Peter

Do you remember how it felt when you introduced your friend to a band — before they became popular?

You felt on top of the world — like you knew something no one else did.

Why not relive that feeling and share this post with a friend or colleague?

You get the credibility (and I get more perspectives to improve the content).

Win-win.

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