💭 The Quiet Crisis of Adult Imagination — and Why We Shouldn’t Accept Its Decline

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We see endless LinkedIn posts about AI, leadership, productivity hacks, and industry trends.

But we rarely talk about imagination — especially in adults.

We all seem to agree that imagination fades with age. We even joke about it. “I used to be creative once.” “My kid’s the artistic one.”

But I don’t think we should accept that.
Because imagination isn’t something we grow out of. It’s something we stop exercising.

And when we lose it, we lose more than creativity — we lose connection, curiosity, and our ability to see possibility.

🧠 When Imagination Quietly Slips Away

The data tells a sobering story.

  • The Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking — used for over 50 years — show a steady decline in creative thinking among both children and adults.
  • Microsoft’s Work Trend Index found employees now spend 57% of their time communicating and only 43% creating.
  • Gallup reports that only 31% of U.S. employees are engaged at work — the lowest in a decade.
  • And Harvard Business Review found that nearly one-third of meetings serve no meaningful purpose.

We are overconnected, over-scheduled, and under-inspired.

We spend our days responding, not imagining.
And when imagination goes quiet, innovation does too.

👩‍💼 The “Terminally Serious” Mom

I learned this lesson the hard way — not in a boardroom, but in my living room.

Years ago, a corporate personality assessment labeled me “terminally serious.”

I laughed when I read it — but it stuck with me. It sounded like a diagnosis.
And maybe it was.

When my son was little, playtime came naturally. Coloring. Blocks. Reading together. But as he got older, play became more imaginative — “Let’s pretend I’m a wizard,” “You’re the dragon,” “We’re in a kingdom.”

And I froze.

My brain locked up. I felt anxious. I wanted to join him — I knew how important this moment was — but I couldn’t make myself play.

I felt like I was failing him.

This wasn’t about toys or storylines. It was about connection.
He was inviting me into his world, and I didn’t know how to get there.

🎵 Finding My Way Back

So I started small.

At bedtime, instead of reading the same old stories, I began making up songs — little silly tunes about whatever he loved that day. I wasn’t trying to be creative. I was just trying to connect.

He loved them.
Those songs became our thing.

It wasn’t the melody — it was the imagination behind it.
He saw me trying to meet him there.

As he got older, his play changed again — from bedtime songs to RPGs, storytelling, and Dungeons & Dragons.

And the “terminally serious” mom? I joined him.

My first game, my character’s name was literally Character.
My second? Her traits were “dark hair, dark eyes.” (I know, groundbreaking.)

But I kept showing up.

And here’s what I noticed:
The younger players were uninhibited — they invented, improvised, and laughed freely.
The adults hesitated. We worried about looking silly. We stayed safe.

Still, I leaned in.

And something surprising happened: after that game, I started having ideas again.
Not little ones — real ideas for work, for writing, for life.
Within a week, I had three new concepts that reignited a creative spark I thought I’d lost.

It was as if playing pretend had reconnected a circuit in my brain — and my heart.

💡 What It Costs Us When We Stop Imagining

That experience made me realize something profound:
the loss of imagination isn’t just personal — it’s organizational.

When adults stop imagining, companies suffer.

  • Innovation slows down.
    Teams stuck in meeting loops rarely stumble upon fresh ideas.
  • Convergent thinking takes over.
    We reward what feels safe instead of what feels possible.
  • Engagement drops.
    When people can’t bring their full creative selves to work, they disengage — and disengagement costs companies billions.

Imagination isn’t fluff. It’s fuel — for leadership, strategy, and culture.

Without it, we stop seeing new paths forward.

🌱 Reclaiming Imagination in Adulthood

Here’s what I’ve learned — as a mom, a professional, and a once “terminally serious” adult:

1️⃣ Give yourself permission to play.
Play opens doors logic can’t. It reconnects emotion and creativity.

2️⃣ Protect “maker time.”
Schedule uninterrupted hours for thinking, sketching, or exploring ideas — no meetings, no emails.

3️⃣ Encourage imagination in teams.
Replace “status updates” with “what if” discussions. Not every idea needs an ROI right away.

4️⃣ Redefine “silly.”
Silliness is courage in disguise. It’s what innovation feels like before it’s proven.

5️⃣ Let AI handle the repetitive.
Use technology to clear mental clutter — not to replace human imagination, but to make room for it.

6️⃣ Look for inspiration everywhere.
Don’t just chase the next leadership book or podcast trend. (Don’t get me wrong — some are great.)
But true inspiration comes from contrast — from your child’s games, from art, music, nature, sports, travel, or even failure.
When you pull ideas from unexpected places, you train your mind to see patterns others miss.

7️⃣ Don’t punish failed ideas.
If people are punished for ideas that don’t work, they’ll stop taking creative risks.
Failure isn’t final — it’s feedback.
Reward curiosity and courage, not just results. That’s how cultures of imagination are built.

✨ The Real Takeaway

Imagination doesn’t fade because we get older — it fades because we stop letting go.

We become so focused on not looking foolish that we forget how to dream.

But here’s what I’ve learned from my son:
Imagination is connection. It’s how we understand others, how we innovate, and how we rediscover ourselves.

If we want more innovation, empathy, and joy — at work and at home — we have to get a little uncomfortable again.

Because sometimes, the most serious thing an adult can do
is to get a little silly, play again,
and imagine something better.

💬 If this resonated with you, comment “IMAGINE.” I’ll share a short checklist to help you (or your team) rekindle imagination this week.

🔁 If you’ve had your own “terminally serious” moment — that point where play felt hard but connection mattered more — I’d love to hear it. How did you find your way back to imagination?

💡 And if your organization wants to reawaken creative problem-solving and human connection across teams, reach out to ALL2S Consulting LLC. We help teams document, streamline, and reimagine the processes that make innovation possible.

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