What made Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Edison and Albert Einstein such creative geniuses? It wasn't reading books about How To Be More Creative, that's for sure.
The idea that creative people all sit in coffeehouses somewhere drinking lattes and scribbling genius ideas on their napkins is a myth. We tell ourselves, as a society, that a creative thought is as unique as a shooting star or a winning lottery ticket. Contrary to popular belief, one doesn’t need to be an artist to be creative. Each one of us is a special kind of artist. Every one of us is born a creative, spontaneous thinker. The only difference between people who are creative and people who are not is a simple belief. Creative people believe they are creative, they have a particular identity and set of beliefs about themselves and thus become interested in seeking out the skills needed to express their identity and beliefs. This is why people who believe they are creative become creative. If you believe you are not creative, then there is no need to learn how to become creative and you don't.
Startling insights, how systematically are they?
Science is only beginning to unravel the full complexity behind different forms of creative accomplishment; creativity is notoriously difficult to study in a laboratory setting, and the choice of one approach over another limits the way that creativity can be measured. Still, we do know that much of what we associate with creativity—whether writing a sonnet or a mathematical proof—has to do with the ability to link ideas, entities, and concepts in novel ways. This ability depends in part on a wandering, unfocussed mind.
In a recent research by Maria Konnikova in the New Yorker, she writes: "Creative insights and imaginative solutions often occur when we stop working on a particular problem and let our mind move on to something unrelated," Hence, focus isn't enough. We need the mind-wandering, too.
In one recent study, participants showed marked improvements on a task requiring creative thought—thinking of alternative uses for a common object, such as a newspaper—after they had engaged in a different, undemanding task that facilitated mind wandering. The more their mind wandered when they stepped away, the better they fared at being creative. In fact, the benefit was not seen at all when the subjects engaged in an unrelated but demanding task.
In other words, if startling insights could be systematically arrived at, they wouldn't be startling.
The challenge: a naturally “non creative” brain
Edward de Bono who has been teaching people of all ages how to think in more interesting, innovative and creative ways for nearly five decades, explains why the processes of deliberate creativity are not natural:
“The brain is specifically designed to be 'non creative'. If it were creative the brain would be utterly useless. It would be impossible to get up in the morning or to function at all. With only eleven items of clothing there are 39,916,800 ways of getting dressed. To go through these and to sort them out would take a lifetime. We do not need to because the brain simply switches us into the appropriate routine. That is the basis of perception and of action."
What is creative thinking then?
Have you ever had an amazing idea that just seems to be the ideal solution to a problem? Has anyone ever told you that you are amazing when you have shared an idea? Have you ever solved a problem that nobody else could solve? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then chances are you already know what creative thinking is.
De Bono: ”Creative thinking is a skill, it’s not just a matter of individual talent. It's not a matter of sitting by the river and play baroque music and hoping you get inspired. That's very weak stuff (…) and it’s what gives a bad name to creativity”.
Creative thinking is the process we use to develop ideas that are unique, useful and worthy of further elaboration, whether we are dealing with once in a life time inventions or daily situations. In other words: ideas that have value.
Creative thinking requires passion and the determination to immerse yourself in the process of creating new and different ideas, without judging them a priori. All creative geniuses work passionately hard and produce incredible numbers of ideas, most of which are bad. In fact, more bad poems were written by the major poets than by minor poets. Thomas Edison created 3000 different ideas for lighting systems before he evaluated them for practicality and profitability. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart produced more than six hundred pieces of music, including forty-one symphonies and some forty-odd operas and masses, during his short creative life. Rembrandt produced around 650 paintings and 2,000 drawings and Picasso executed more than 20,000 works. Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets. Some were masterpieces, while others were no better than his contemporaries could have written, and some were simply bad.
Why is creativity so important?
“Creative activity helps people stay healthy,” says University of Texas sociology professor John Mirowsky in EHS Today. “Creative activity is non-routine, enjoyable and provides opportunity for learning and for solving problems. People who do that kind of work, whether paid or not, feel healthier and have fewer physical problems.”
Creative thinking can be a ticket to success and great accomplishment. A creative thinker is hard to hold back. They are always thinking and they are always on top of their game. It is hard to deny a creative thinker anything because they are good at what they do. They are able to bring their creative thinking to the table to help improve their life and accomplish their goals.
Ways to foster creativity in everyday life:
Whether you’re trying to solve a tough problem, start a business, get attention for that business or write an interesting article, creative thinking is crucial. The process boils down to changing your perspective and seeing things differently than you currently do. Here some ideas to start developing this skill.
Allow yourself to make mistakes: It took Thomas Edison 10,000 tries to invent the light bulb. He said he never failed; he just discovered 10,000 ways that did not work.
Reward your curiosity: Take a trip to the library and indulge yourself on a Google search or a StumbleUpon journey. Allow yourself the room to follow through on topics that interest you.
Enforce a creative routine: Read an inspiring quote, listen to talk radio, or put on some music that moves you at the start of your day.
Get feedback: Whether you are at work or at home, put your ideas into the world and listen to what others think about them.
Visualize: whether you day dream, do mind mapping or vision boards, imagining things in details and writing them down, visualizing helps you to live with intention (interested in Vision Boards? Do not miss the article in this edition on Happy and Healthy)
Do not expect any of the techniques to work instantly for you. What they do is to set the mind thinking, first consciously and then seemingly unconsciously. Then, when thinking about something else, a solution pops into one's mind, seemingly from no-where.
It's ALL about the questions you ask, the rest is just giving yourself space to think.
Sources: The Guardian, New Yorker, Creativity Post, META Lab, edwdebono.com, NCBI.
By Claudia Schalkx
Claudia is a multilingual consultant fluent in Spanish, English, Italian, and Dutch with over 25 years international experience in communications, public relations & marketing. She was born in Venezuela from Dutch parents, has lived and worked in Venezuela, Colombia, Curacao, St. Maarten, USA, Italy and The Netherlands where she resides. She is Colors Chief Editor. Her duties include content selection, revision & editing, finding and attracting collaborators, and identifying new business opportunities for Liberty Publications. More info
