Boring tasks are going away, and you might be too.

The capabilities of the human brain, which have built civilizations and empires throughout history, are, in modern times, stuck doing boring tasks. People spend a significant chunk of their time in routine work instead of engaging in valuable tasks.

It is a waste of significant brainpower. This is absurd.

Most companies assign you boring tasks, leaving you to spend years on repetitive and routine work. Strategic decision-making and value-driven tasks are often reserved for executive roles.

If you were to convert it into numbers, 10% of companies monopolize the value work, while 90% spend their time on mundane tasks.

My argument is this: if leaders, executives, and CEOs are tasked with the strategy, mission, vision, and value work of the company, why are so many companies falling behind and going through a transformation phase?

I believe they should ask themselves this question.

Imagine if 1000 employees dedicated 70-80% of their time to doing valuable work, such as solving problems, generating ideas, experimenting with concepts, talking to consumers and learning their needs, and analyzing and surfacing insight.

Most companies would be innovative and ahead of the curve, eliminating the need for transformation.

The reality is that brainpower is often spent on tasks such as reviewing and copying long lists of Excel sheets, transferring data between applications, creating marketing materials, and handling file creation and uploading.

A great company treat you as a thinker. A bad company treat you as worker.

A new Renaissance

This is about to change, and you have the opportunity to unlock your potential. However, you are not prepared because you have been assigned routine tasks for so long. Start transitioning yourself.

Part of the transformation involves automation and AI. It's a hot topic; every company is eager to deploy or develop its current state, similar to big data when it was a trending topic and every company followed suit, later realizing its importance.

Automation and AI topics are the same thing, they are efficient, fast and cost effective. Companies are looking to take advantage of them.

The company's leaders have goals, and you should create a plan and goals for yourself as well.

It's a critical time to think about yourself and prepare. Leaders are planning to have your tasks done by digital machines. Your skills will expire soon in the post-information technology era.

What is left for you to do? What decision will the company make—upskill you or let you go?

Whether you stay or move on, you have to upskill yourself and not rely on anyone. Rely on yourself.

I don't have the answers, but many individual contributors will have to engage in value work. If most of your tasks are automated, you now have the opportunity to do creative work and unlock your potential. Unless you're happy with your routine tasks that will lead you to nowhere.

This is the time to learn and develop creative problem-solving skills, as we advance toward the future. More and more companies and industries will need this skill.

This is what is called working with your mind and intelligence.

You don't need to venture into technical skills (IT) if you're not into it. I strongly recommend pursuing a creative type of work. With this skill, you can solve complex challenges, generate new ideas and solutions, improve companies, products, and services, or build new businesses.

The one skill that will be more recognized and rise in demand, existing across jobs, industries, and companies, is the skill of creativity. Since the beginning of life, humans have always created, invented, and developed things.

Creativity is not just about beautiful artwork or elegant design; it's more than that. Anyone can be creative in their field, regardless of their title and role.

The skill of creativity is the ability to bring something new into existence, whether it's a novel solution to a problem, a new method, or an improvement to existing products and services. Behind every creative work or invention lies a need, effort, and thoughtful consideration.

“There is no commerce without creativity.”

—Daniel Lamarre, CEO of Cirque du Soleil

What makes creativity is going to be in demand as a skill?

Two reasons:

• With every complex issue, global challenges are born, requiring new solutions. This need calls for creative mindsets, thus increasing the demand for this skill.

• The advancement and rise of AI, robots, machines, and automation will replace many process-driven jobs and daunting routine tasks. This shift will create space for creativity as a skill to engage in high-value work

How to become creative and gain the skill

Creativity comes from a set of skills, learning, and actions. Here are a few ways to get started:

• To be creative, learn the fundamentals of problem-solving, start studying design thinking, read books on various design disciplines, the lean startup method, and innovation.

• Maintain a curious attitude to learn new skills that will diversify your knowledge. diversify your interest in reading and exploring various topics, ranging from psychology, technology, politics, biography, history, and business to science and philosophy books.

• Be open-minded to different and new perspectives, approaches, and models. Approach tasks differently, engage in conversations with individuals from diverse sectors and backgrounds, learn about their work, and share your thoughts with them.

• Be a critical thinker, analyze data, map information, and surface insights. Recognize patterns and have a passion for creating new things. Train your mind to generate ideas.

All of these activities will fuel your creativity skills.

Start nurturing your journey in creativity as a skill. It will open the path for you to become a creative problem solver, generate new ideas, start your own business, or be in demand to solve companies' problems.

Expect creativity to become a required skill in job roles. Many companies across different sectors will hire based on creative problem-solving skills.

I hope you enjoyed the post. Thank you for reading. If you have any questions or require help, please feel free to reach out

Ahmed Bousuwa