7 Ideas to Get Your Creative Juices to Flow Even if You are the CEO

YOUTH needs inspiration. They need examples that they can follow. They need to learn from others who have made it. They need to learn from you - those were the words of an event organiser persuading me to give a talk to young Malaysians about how I managed to pursue my passion to be an artist despite my hectic life as a CEO in the corporate world. I took the challenge. All I had in my mind was the urge to use both the left and the right brain as the means to pursue my creative arts undertaking. After much thought, it involves a lot more than that. It involves the following 7 that I have unintentionally undertook in pursuit of my passion:

1. Find the time. If you have the time to bitch about others in the social media, then you shouldn't say you do not have the time. Block your diary as if it is part of your work commitment.

2. Don't be calculative. Go buy those canvases and paints like how you would buy pirated dvds or cigarettes or vapes and do not say you do not have the money.

3. Get your family and friends to join you. That way you simultaneously cover both hobby as well as quality time with your family and friends. I try to get my son to follow me to the studio for painting or even jamming. Recently a brother as well as a friend of mine joined me. Now my studio has 3 artists.

4. Let go of all worries. The human mind becomes very rigid if you put too much rules and regulations. Break free from the norm. Do things abnormally. You will realise how liberating it can be and that is a conducive state of mind to be creative. For example, why paint a scenery of Sawah Padi? Why not paint a scenary of Ultraman fighting Godzilla in a Sawah Padi?

5. Let others see your work. Social Media is good for this. But be open to criticisms. Some will like your work. Some will say it is crappy. Ask them why. You are then able to continue doing what is good and improve on what is bad.

6. For every work that you do, find a message that you want to deliver. That message is normally very simple but it will subconciously flow into your thought process and will manifest itself in many aspects such as the colours that you use, the objects that you choose to paint, the brush strokes and the like.

7. Don't take things for granted. Beauty is all around you. You need to pause and acknowledge the beauty and cherish it. Enjoy it. Only when you can appreciate it will it be able to work through you and be reproduced in your creative undertaking. For example, going to art shows or art museums will open your mind to the wide spectrum of art, creativity and beauty. Appreciating God and the life that He has given you is the ultimate source of inspiration.


I think 7 is enough :)

Johan Ishak

Chief Executive Officer

MyCreative Ventures Sdn. Bhd.