Have you ever thought that you’d be more successful if only you were more creative? Most of us believe that being as creative as possible will yield the best results, but there’s actually lots of evidence to the contrary.

Creativity is an essential quality which is present in all aspects of our lives. It is in our way of thinking, presenting, building, preaching, and even the little daily chores we do at home. If we are not imaginative and innovative with ourselves, life becomes pretty boring doesn’t it? Being creative helps us stay organized and come up with new ideas and techniques for the work we do. Simple inventions like Snapchat and Facebook wouldn’t have taken place if it wasn’t for the minds that thought out of the box and helped create the world we live in now.

As essential it is to be creative, it shouldn’t come in between professionalism. Studies have shown that proposals that show too much creativity often fail, and that humans are drawn to what’s familiar to them. Despite being original with your content, people tend to sometimes try too hard to achieve something and end up overkilling it. It comes out as a cry for attention, be it by an unemployed candidate or a simple youtuber. People tend to overdo in trying to impress the audience they are approaching.

Less is more

Yes there are expectations for people to bring a unique and different idea on the table in order to be noticeable and inventive, but sometimes less is more. An article printed in Brigham Young University’s school magazine tells of an MBA student who sent his resume to Johnson & Johnson, only to have it returned with the instructions that it “needed to be printed on white paper, mailed unstapled in an 8 ½ x 11 envelope, and could not have fancy printing or graphics, bold, underlines, italics, or small print.” This is a great example which teaches us balance between our creative thinking and knowing how much is too much. In trying to create an impression, overdoing can easily bring down the value of your work.

Know your audience

Know when to demonstrate your abilities and how much. Being too flashy or overly creative for a 9-5 job resume doesn’t really fit in a professional work place, does it? This just ends up portraying an individual who has misplaced priorities, someone who spends too much time amusing themselves with creating a project instead of focusing on putting that project to work in order to achieve its intended result. In industries like graphic design and advertising your resume can be as vibrant and spirited as you want.

Balance

It is all about the right balance between being familiar with your knowledge and being too surprising. It’s not enough to simply come up with the most creative idea you can – you also need to make sure that it contains some familiarity. If an idea is so new that it’s hard to understand and explain, it’s unlikely to be successful.

But don’t neglect it

Getting out of your comfort zone is defeating a great enemy to creativity. It helps the mind achieve new perspectives and opportunities. Creativity is not just for artists. It is for business people looking for a new way to close a sale; it is for engineers trying to solve a problem; it is for parents who want their children to see the world more than one way. Creativity definitely challenges you.