A recent episode of The Portfolio Life (With Jeff Goins) featured an interview with Rob Bell. I'll listen to anything by or with Rob Bell- he's funny, honest and provocative.

Their discussion about creativity got me thinking. Rob made the point that most of us have this perception that "the creative people" are over there, painting a daisy on a canvas. The rest of us? We're pretty ordinary.

The problem with this is that most of us are way more creative than we typically admit, thus making us also "creative types". It's too easy to just pin creativity on the lady who taught you art in elementary school.

Cary and I were talking to the kids last week about this very thing. One of our kids is really into drawing and painting. The others like to draw but it doesn't come as naturally to them. As a result, they typically think of their brother as the creative one and of themselves as slightly more vanilla. I explained that "the world" will try to make them less creative as they get older and that their creative seed will need to be watered continually.

Or else (cue the drums)... They will end up driving a boring car, living a boring life, waiting for retirement in order to find once again something creative about life.

That's pretty dismal but most people, if they are honest, have that view of life. Hang in there until retirement, etc.

Your career needs creativity in order for you to thrive. It craves it in fact, in order for you to solve problems at your current job and in order to find your next job. The next time a problem comes up, know that your creative gene can kick in and solve things, bringing forward momentum to your team and to your organization. Creative solutions are what brought us GMail, Amazon Echo and the iPhone. Creativity is what will help you design a career that you're truly proud of. And, one that brings you joy.

As it turns out, creativity is not just for "the creatives" and those who teach art. Rather, it's baked into each one of us. Our careers, key to who we are as people, need to be linked to creativity.

It may be the very fuel that propels a career into extraordinary impact and more interesting spaces.