106 Chapter 5 and, at that moment, elevate the quality of their own creative process. Proactive vitality management has theoretically been positioned as an overarching behavioral construct encompassing the affective, cognitive, and physical components of vitality. Accordingly, using proactive vitality management may trigger multiple, intertwined processes that may subsequently promote creativity (cf. Lavrusheva, 2020; Op den Kamp et al., 2018; Ryan & Deci, 2008; Ryan & Frederick, 1997). Research has shown, for example, that work engagement may play a role in the mechanism underlying the link between proactive vitality management and creativity, primarily addressing the affective aspect of the process (Bakker et al., 2020). Based on the large body of literature on the role of (un)conscious processing in the creative process, we aim to dive deeper into the cognitive aspect of proactive vitality management and examine how it may translate into elevated creative performance on a daily basis. To this end, we focus on daily states of mindfulness as a potential underlying mechanism that may contribute to a better understanding of the proactive vitality management-creativity link. As a mindful state is characterized by having a wide attentional breadth combined with a present-moment focus, it theoretically makes for an ideal cognitive state to elicit creativity (Dane, 2011). Indeed, previous studies have linked mindfulness to creativity (Lebuda et al., 2016), although inconsistent findings have been reported, resulting in a call for more studies on the value of mindful attention and awareness for creativity (Baas et al., 2014). While mindfulness – and its link to creativity – has often been examined at the person-level (i.e., as a trait-like variable), mindfulness is inherently concerned with varying levels of awareness and attention to ongoing events and experiences (Brown & Ryan, 2003). To better reflect this volatile process, we adopt a daily diary approach to investigate mindfulness as a state that fluctuates within persons, from situation to situation. This methodology provides more detailed and ecologically valid insights (cf. Hülsheger et al., 2013; Tuckey et al., 2018). Finally, our research contributes to the literature by addressing the call for studies on how individuals may attain a mindful state (cf. Dane, 2011; Hülsheger et al., 2018). While many scholars have focused on the mostly beneficial consequences of mindfulness, we propose that individuals may use proactive vitality management on a daily basis with the aim of achieving a state of mindfulness and, subsequently, a boost in their creative performance.
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