What is creativity?
When many of us think of the word ‘creative’, we automatically think of artists, musicians and designers. We think of their ability to create something from a blank canvas and we may think to ourselves there’s no way I’m a creative person but actually creativity can also be about solving problems in original ways. In the Cambridge dictionary, creativity is defined as “the ability to produce or use original and unusual ideas”. Perhaps you work a lot with spreadsheets, where most people would think of that job as requiring only technical skills and logic, however creativity is needed to think of solutions to problems. So really, for any occupation you may find yourself in, creativity is as important a skill set as any and it can be used anywhere and everywhere. You can think of creativity as two main parts, the first of which is ‘relevancy’. This is the problem solving part of the concept where the solution is relevant to the problem or question on hand. The second part is ‘novelty’. This is the ability to create something or solve the problem in an original and unique way. All of us have this ability to problem solve and think of new ways to do it, some may have this come easier and some maybe not so much but creativity is a skill that we all were born with.
So why do many of us feel that we are not creative? In 1986, George Land conducted a research on creativity which tested 1,600 children who ranged from ages 3-5 years old. They were given a creativity test which he also used to test engineers and scientists applying for NASA. This first round of the test was successful and he decided to retest the same children when they were 10 years old then again when they were 15. The creativity scores were as follows:
5 year olds - 98%
10 year olds - 30%
15 year olds - 12%
The same test given to 280,000 adults: 2%
The result from this study demonstrates that non-creative behaviour is learned. Children all have creativity within them but as we are exposed to rules and regulations when we grow up, our creativity tends to be suppressed. We go through school during our formative years; an educational system which was created during the Industrial Revolution, over 200 years ago. Its purpose then was to train people to be good workers who could follow rules. We then go to work, where many people are sitting at desks and go through the routine motions of their jobs.
The good news is that creativity is a skill that can be learned and trained again! However we cannot do it by taking any course but by actively applying and using creative thinking.
The benefits of creativity
As mentioned above, creativity is a useful skill in the workplace, not just in your typical ‘creative’ occupations involving artistry but really any job. Process oriented tasks will soon be phased out as automation takes over. This is where creativity will become essential in the workforce. In 2020, amongst the most important skills in the workplace that employers were looking out for included problem solving and creativity.
Beyond the workplace, creativity can be beneficial to our health. Studies conducted about the five broad personality traits of agreeableness, extraversion, openness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism showed that poorer health can be linked with neuroticism (trait with a disposition toward anxiety, depression and negativity) and conscientiousness (trait of responsibility, being organised and consistent) with better health; and when we look at openness (trait which embraces new things, imagination and novel experiences) research shows this trait as one that has a positive impact on health throughout life. This may be the case because when we put creative thinking into action, we are using a variety of neural networks in the brain, keeping it healthy and active.
How can we improve our creativity?
We can learn to be more creative and develop this skill but let’s first break down the general process of being creative. The first part of creativity is when we go through experimentation, exploration and using our imagination to come up with different scenarios and ideas, this is also called divergent thinking. The second part is where we narrow down to one idea or solution that works, this is called convergent thinking.
As mentioned earlier, our education system is one of the major reasons we have unlearned creativity. Many exams we go through make us only focus on convergent thinking where there is just one right answer we must find. One of the important parts of relearning creativity is to get back to the divergent thinking and take time exploring.
So what are some practical ways we can develop our creativity? One of the interesting things to note about creativity was addressed by Northwestern neuroscientist Mark Beeman and Drexel University cognitive psychologist John Kounios. They found that the ACC (Anterior cingulate cortex) which is responsible for empathy, impulse control, emotion, and decision-making, is activated when we’re considering out of the box ideas. When we’re in a good mood, the ACC is more conditioned to accept these ideas. This links happiness and our brain with the ability to be more creative. So we can say that one of the best ways to be creative is to also be happy!
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The first way to improve on your creativity then is to elevate your mood: Some ways we can increase our happiness:
Daily gratitude reflection
Daily mindfulness practice
Regular exercise (if we sit still for too long we become prone to the same thought patterns)
Good sleep
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Set constraints - they help drive creativity. Sometimes staring at a blank page won’t get you anywhere.
If you want to create something, search for prompts to get you started (journal prompts, art prompts)
Give yourself a starting point and an end goal
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Give yourself time and room to imagine and explore
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Read - it stimulates the brain, opens you to new possibilities and inspires you
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Try something new - it can give you new perspectives and ideas
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Take breaks from your everyday routine - give yourself the time to create regularly
Always remember that with starting something unfamiliar, it won’t always come easy to you. Take your time with it, give yourself the room to explore and enjoy the process instead of seeing it as a task you need to complete. Creativity is all about stepping outside conventional boundaries so your creative process may be different too, it is all about trying things out and discovering it for yourself.
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