It\u2019s a process you learn to develop over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This distinction is important, particularly if you\u2019re coming at creativity from a place of having been turned off from it: working or living in a culture or place that promotes routine and answers over the unknown and question seeking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you believe creativity is a state of being\u2014that it\u2019s on or off, something people have or don\u2019t, something you must be empowered to flip on\u2014you\u2019re much more likely to accept excuses<\/em> for why you can or cannot use it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The common fallacy tends to be: \u201cI can\u2019t be creative because my boss\/parent\/partner won\u2019t let me.\u201d<\/em> Of course creativity scoffs in the face of constraints. True creativity says: \u201cthey\u201d won\u2019t let us do things one way, so we\u2019ll try another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So what\u2019s preventing you from being more creative here and now? What if it\u2019s just your perception that creativity is a switch, or something to become or a state to achieve? How might we change the perception of creativity as being something you don\u2019t turn on or off and instead being something you develop as a skill? Something that can work around any constraints? A skill that gets better over time, not worse?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Creativity\u2014the ability to think of ideas which are both novel and valuable\u2014is\u00a0a skill anyone can learn. Much like math, science, writing, or a foreign language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I remember thinking I\u2019d never be able to do math, even of the basic variety. I grew up thinking mathematics were something you were either good at or not. I watched in school as students who excelled at math breezed past problems I could hardly understand, let alone solve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But over time I learned math is a learnable skill: it was just the ways I was being taught that weren\u2019t right for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I found \u201ctricks\u201d for solving problems, visual approaches that aligned more with my way of thinking. I learned when terminology and labels mattered and when they were just for show. I learned how to break the problems down into manageable chunks rather than trying to solve large problems at once. And I realized just how important it is to approach a problem with confidence, without which my mind wouldn\u2019t even begin to view a problem as something I could solve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The same attributes are all true of creativity. Creativity is a skill which can be learned by anyone and developed over time.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n To do it requires learning small tricks for utilizing it: flipping a problem around, changing perspective, asking silly questions, finding a partner, or any of the\u00a0other hundreds of thinking tricks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Developing creativity also requires a clear perspective of what it is and what it isn\u2019t, how it\u00a0differs from innovation or imagination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you want to develop your creativity you too must\u00a0improve your confidence\u00a0of doing so. Without which it won\u2019t matter how capable you are, you\u2019ll find your mind simply don\u2019t even want to try.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Creativity is a skill like any other, in that you can develop and improve it. It\u2019s not a switch to be turned on or a trait you\u2019re either born with or not. When you realize this, many more options for how to utilize your creativity become apparent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"