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“Despite all the discussion about and study of creativity, it still remains as the most mysterious and alluring human power.”
What is Creativity?
Creativity is generally thought of as the act of making something original and new. There is no real way to measure it. People have studied it in many different ways - in psychology, science, business, history and even artificial computer intelligence. Creativity can take place to help with basic survival or to create great works admired by many. Some people see it as a flow of God through them and others believe it to be a matter of mental necessity.
The Creativity Workshop says that they can help anyone be creative.
The ability to be creative is sometimes seen as something a person is born with and yet some claim it can arise as a product of the environment one is brought up in. Society tends to stereotype creative people as everything from being a genius to being mentally ill. It’s generally believed that only certain people are creative types, but by definition, everyone creates something new and original - even if it is their own way of handling daily routines or thinking of a new way to tell a funny joke to a friend.
Creativity for Personal Development
That being said, creativity does not always have to do with making music and art, or writing books. It’s an important part of creating and marketing all products and services, designing technology, advancing science, teaching in new ways, and in every other field of human endeavor. Because of creativity’s widespread value, the development of it has become a business in and of itself. The basic idea is that if you can improve your ability to be creative, you can improve your life and the lives of others.
BrainstormExchange.com is social community for exploring ideas with others.
The Latin origins of the word creative mean “to have grown”. So the idea that society and people experience growth from creativity is inherent in its meaning. That’s why some believe that a creative work should not only be new and original, but also useful. But ‘useful’ can mean many things. Is art worthy of aesthetic appreciation ‘useful’? Is taking something that already exists and adding to it creative, or is that really just creative copying?
The Process
Creativity also has many parts to it. There is the person that is creative, the process they use to be creative, the actual thing that is created and the environment in which the creative thing is displayed. There is also the element of resourcefulness and intelligence that are involved in the creative act. All these factors make for a very complex definition!
Then there is the inspiration which takes place that drives the action of wanting to create as well as the skills and experience that help the person carry out the practical aspects of making something. Just because someone is considered in the ‘right-brained’ group doesn’t mean they have the same level of skill as others similar to them. Also, many people love to be creative but talk about a lack of inspiration. For instance, having ‘writers block’.
CreativeLatitude.com is a community for people to cooperatively engage in the creative process.
People always talk about how something creative happened spontaneously by chance or ‘out of the blue’. One explanation is that the creative person is always thinking of ideas and occasionally one of them is good! Breaking down and throwing out general assumptions of how things are done, how thing should be, or how things are can also help foster fresh thinking and truly creative thought.
Developing Income from Creativity
Many people have new, creative ideas, but only a percentage of those ideas are ever acted on. That’s why we have the word ‘innovation’, which means actually applying a new, useful and unique idea in a practical situation. For instance, trying out a new spreadsheet template at work that helps to improve expense reporting, or recording and distributing a CD on the Internet. So basically, creativity is the first step in the process of innovation.
Companies like Strategyn.com take innovation in business seriously.
So a person can ‘create’ the new sound of rock music with song they write, but can only ‘innovate’ the music industry if they manage to get it on the radio and in stores.
In business, the creative cornerstone of innovation is known as intellectual property and can be legally claimed by the creator in the form of a copyright or trademark filed with the government. So if you are an artist, movie producer, songwriter, inventor or other creative professional, you want your work protected so you can make money from it.
Being Creative in Any Profession
When Isaac Newtown came up with the law of gravity, he said it was an instant creative idea he had when seeing an apple fall. That’s just one example of the millions of innovations that have taken place in computer science, biology, medicine, architectures, and every other field, thanks to creativity. The technical problem solving required in these careers often forces creativity. Ever heard of ‘Creative Accounting’? It usually means that financial officers are up to no good, but is still an interesting example of the application of creative thinking to even the most ‘left-brain’ job.
CreativityAtWork.com has lots of great articles about being creative on the job.
Throughout the economy and society, creativity and innovation is generally encouraged by leaders in management, government and the community in general. However, there are still limits beyond which most people will accept creative acts outside the standard socially accepted norms. In other words, be careful - it’s entertaining, inventive and profitable to ‘think outside the box’, but think too far outside and others may not be ready for it!
