Let me start with the words of Steve Harvey: »Your mission, your purpose and destiny will all be tied to one thing – your gift.« So many times we are caught with thinking that if something is broken, we must fix it. Well, what you believe, you receive. What you think about, that’s what you get. If you’re not quite a fan and a master of making mosaics from broken pieces, then please, do not try to put broken pieces of the past together again. Instead, start discovering yourself. Your gifts, your talents, find your passion and creativity; what makes you feel alive over and over again? Why do we tend so much to fix the old, when creating something new is a unique seal every one of us can leave on humanity? It’s the fear of the new. The fear of one of the biggest consistencies in life – change.
Creativity as a process
A bunch of ideas and a vivid imagination are just tools to help you be creative and
productive. See, creativity is not just brainstorming ideas but a process to discover, to create, to bring something new into new form; into being. I’m going to point it out again: Imagination and ideas are not the same as creativity. Creativity is a skill that can be developed and a process that can be managed.
Linda Naiman, founder of Creativity Work, discusses that value creation as a result is combined from 4 main categories: Imagination, Creativity, Empathy and Innovation. So, creativity is just a part of making the whole value creation. What’s also important is setting goals, which must be clear and as written by many authors – S.M.A.R.T. (SMART is an acronym which stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely).
George Land is one of the authors who have studied and are exploring a field of creativity. In one of his studies he came to the conclusion that we are naturally creative and as we grow up we learn to be uncreative. How unbelievable is that? But it’s only partly true. When we grow up we usually forget to wonder about things and outer world so our capacity of creativity only decreases. If we can learn to be uncreative, through years we can learn how to be creative again too.
Linda Naiman writes about Clayton M. Christensen and his researchers, who tried to study the DNA of Innovators. They discovered that our ability to generate innovative ideas is not just a function of the mind, but also a function of five key behaviors that optimize our brain for discovery. These are:
- Associating
- Questioning
- Observing
- Networking
- Experimenting
Meanwhile, Hitesh Bhasin, on Marketing 91, points out that there are 4 different types of creativity:
- Deliberate and Cognitive Creativity
- Deliberate and Emotional Creativity
- Spontaneous and Cognitive Creativity
- Spontaneous and Emotional Creativity
Some tips how to keep your creativity level high:
- Regular exercise to keep your neurotransmitters (most importantly dopamine- and serotonin-related ones) in balance
- Listening to music (music as a key to opening up emotions)
- Writing a journal (writing is proven to be a very helpful tool for increasing brain activity)
- Reading (reading increases the level of concentration and serves as an inspiration)
- Relaxing (finding something that relaxes you so you can take your time and
merely observe things and wonder) - Surround yourself with creative people (it affects your beliefs and behavior)
Dreamer or an innovator?
This is just some basic information about creativity in general. What I wanted to discuss here was to dive deep into creativity.
How to use your associative memory, your curiosity and skill of observation to change an idea into a whole value creation, especially when you’re stuck in a habit of fixing the old?
Start with changing your beliefs, your expectations and consequentially you’ll change your behavior. You need a clear intention, based on strong emotions and with that you can change your expectations as well as sensing. Imagination will turn out to be just a starting tool in the bigger picture of creativity.
What’s the difference between a dreamer and an innovator? Self-discipline and working hard even when you’re not feeling it. Yes, we all need passion to create new things, but in the period when we lack passion, the second most relevant factors are self-discipline, patience and hard work. Putting ideas into practice, no matter how long it takes.
Everyone has their own timeline. Don’t compare yourself too much to others. Let them be your inspiration instead of your competition. Maybe you will need more time to put an idea into practice than someone else but keep on going. As long as you’re working on it; as long as you are not standing still, you’re putting your idea into practice which already makes you an innovator. The finish line is just a finish line, true creativity is the process itself.
“True creativity is the process itself.”
May Rose
Dream big, set your goals even higher, work hard but start by winning small. Don’t forget, small victories once become your whole value creative mission.
If you have any ways of maintaining a healthy dose of creativity of your own, feel free to share them with us and others down below. 🙂
May Rose
Moment in time 