CREATIVITY IS ALL WE NEED.

Creativity is a way of living life that embraces originality and makes unique connections between seemingly disparate ideas. Creativity is about living life as a journey into seeing and communicating the extra-ordinariness of the simplest, most every day acts.

We often think about creativity as making something, but in fact the root meaning of the word means ‘to grow’. When we are creative we feel as if the world and all that is in it is vibrantly alive. Creativity’s by-products are some of the major achievements of civilization.

Creativity is the process of bringing something new into being. Creativity requires passion and commitment. It brings to our awareness what was previously hidden and points to new life.

Some people say creativity has nothing to do with innovation— that innovation is a discipline, implying that creativity is not. Well, I disagree. Creativity is also a discipline and a crucial part of the innovation equation. There is no innovation without creativity. The key metric in both creativity and innovation is value creation.

Human beings are essentially born creative–from infancy on we find innovative ways to negotiate life. The most creative people find ways around obstacles because they see them not just as roadblocks but also as opportunities. Creativity expands our perceptions and along with expanded perceptions come new ways of problem solving–from making an exquisite meal when you don’t know how to cook to painting an extraordinary landscape when you are living in a freezing attic and can’t afford a full box of paints.

Creativity begins with a foundation of knowledge, learning a discipline, and mastering a way of thinking. You can learn to be creative by experimenting, exploring, questioning assumptions, using imagination and synthesing information. Learning to be creative is akin to learning a sport. It requires practice to develop the right muscles and a supportive environment in which to flourish.

Although creativity is often defined in terms of new and useful products, I believe it makes more sense to define it in terms of processes. Specifically, creativity involves cognitive processes that transform one’s understanding of, or relationship to, the world.

In all areas creativity is the approach we must take. That’s one part of the reason creativity matters, and that our future depends on educating the value it provides. It’s not enough to emphasis intelligence and analytical thinking in today’s world. We must recognize just how powerful the creative mind can be.
Some solutions will fail, of course. Some will remain incomprehensible until other realms of technology or thinking improve themselves. But anything is possible given enough brain power and time.

Teachers often have biases against creative students , fearing that creativity in the classroom will be disruptive. They devalue creative personality attributes such as risk taking, impulsivity and independence. They inhibit creativity by focusing on the reproduction of knowledge and obedience in class.

When you encounter a new idea, listen to it or read it through, but don’t engage with it much right away. Instead, put it aside for a day and come back to it later. When you read it again, it will feel more familiar based on the mere exposure effect. Mere exposure is the observation that we like things better after we have seen them once before. Let that familiarity help you open yourself up to new prospects.

This way of thinking about talents and skills is particularly important when it comes to thinking about creativity. For skills that involve actions in the world, such as shooting a free throw or playing a musical instrument, people have a pretty good idea of what they need to do to improve. But for mental skills like creativity, few people know enough about the way their minds work to be able to treat it like a skill.

There are also drawbacks to creativity . Sure, creative people solve problems, crack jokes, invent stuff; they make the world pretty and interesting and fun. But generating creative ideas is time-consuming. A creative solution to one problem often generates other problems, or has unexpected negative side effects.

Creativity is correlated with rule bending, law breaking, social unrest, aggression, group conflict and dishonesty. Creative people often direct their nurturing energy towards ideas rather than relationships, and may be viewed as aloof, arrogant, competitive, hostile, independent or unfriendly.

Creative people are great observers--they catch details by using all of their senses. What others see as circumstances beyond their control, creative people see as endless possibilities. They love to people watch and are curious about other people's lives. They come up with some of their most creative ideas by observing others.

In order to maximize the quality of your knowledge, you have to develop the habit to explain things back to yourself. Think about what happens when you sit down to watch a TED talk. A great speaker gives an inspirational 15-minute presentation.

Creative people are in tune with their own internal
creativity clock--which typically does not reflect your usual workday hours. They know when they are most likely to be creative, whether it is first thing in the morning or in the middle of the night, when most of us are sleeping. Through trial and error, you too can find your own internal creativity clock. Companies seeking creative types should consider this as well--flexibility is key.

While you are listening, you feel that you have understanding of what the speaker is saying. Afterward, if you try to repeat what you learned to someone else you may realize that your feeling of understanding was a reflection that the speaker understood the topic very well. Unless you explain talks like that back to yourself afterwards, though, you have no idea whether you understand it, too.

With innovation and ideas at the heart of business today, creativity is one of the most desirable attributes in a modern career. Innovation is a much-coveted capability that many businesses seek (and struggle) to build. Innovation is the organisation’s output from creativity by its people - in other words, for companies to innovate, they need creative individuals.

Creative people spend time alone daily to allow their minds to wander. Research has proved that daydreaming can bring out your best creative self because it can stimulate connections within your brain and provide insights you may not have considered.

One of the five core personality dimensions is openness. It reflects how much you are motivated to consider new ideas, concepts, and experiences. The most creative people are typically very open people. If you are someone who resists new ideas and experiences, that does not mean you cannot be creative. It just means that you need to develop a new set of habits to try new ideas on for size rather than rejecting them just because they are new.

It isn’t actually necessary for everyone to be creative for the benefits of creativity to be felt by all. We can reap the rewards of the creative person’s ideas by copying them, buying from them or simply admiring them. Few of us can build a computer or write a symphony, but they are ours to use and enjoy nevertheless.

A critical aspect of creativity is to remember that any idea you have is something that you pulled out of your memory. That means that when you have a brilliant idea, you retrieved a helpful piece of information from memory and used it.

How do you get information from memory? All you do is ask your memory a question, and it pulls out information related to that question. If I ask you to think about an ice cream you ate, you do that. Even if you did not expect me to start talking about ice cream.

Memory serves up experiences related to the questions you ask it.
That means that whenever you want to think about a problem or situation differently, you have to ask your memory a different question. The most creative people don’t settle on a single way to think about a problem.

Instead, they keep finding new descriptions of that problem and allowing their memory to find more information that might help to solve it. The more different questions they ask, the more creative ideas they have.

Creative people don't just think about success or a new product; they feel this success or new product with every fiber of their being using all of their senses--also known as imagery. Talk about inspirational. The good news is that almost anyone can use imagery to see and feel the possibilities and it can improve with practice even if you initially don't believe in it. And research has proved that as little as 10 minutes of imagery a day can reduce blood pressure, lower cholesterol, and ameliorate pain. So start imagining today how success will truly feel.
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