Do you think about yourself as a creative person? I have been asking myself this question many times. Sometimes I think yes, I am a creative person, I like to draw, sew, and knit. But at the same time, I think I’m not, because I don’t come up with something greater or original work. But does that mean I’m not creative? And do I really need to do, what society consider creative skills to be creative?
So, what is creativity actually? We often think about specific skills, when we think about creativity and being creative; drawing, painting, dancing and so on. Yes, these skills have something to do with creativity, but you don’t have to be doing them to be creative. There is this misunderstanding of creativity, that it belongs to a specific skill or that creativity is a sudden flash of insight or inspiration (Feinstein, 2012). “But actually, creativity is any act, idea or product that changes an existing domain or that existing domain into a new one.” (Csikszentmihalyi, 1997, s. 29).
So, creativity is not something that belongs to a skill; creativity is its own skill. You must develop your creative skill to be more creative. The creative development is what sparkes the creativity. Rather than thinking about creativity as the sudden light bulb, then think about it as a tree. We need to start small, work with it and nurture it, so that it can grow and get stronger and better (Feinstein, 2012). Everybody has the potential to be creative, we just need to understand that creativity is a skill that we need to learn and nurture as every other skill. And where and how can I do that, you may ask. Alone time, playing and daydreaming. This is just some of the ways to give your brain the opportunity to be creative (Smit & van der Hulst, 2018). Some of the best ideas often comes from daydreaming, playing or being by ourselves. “When we embrace our alone time, the most beautiful ideas appear.” (Smit & van der Hulst, 2018). I know that from my own experience but also from hearing about others. For example, J. K. Rowling, her idea about Harry Potter started just from a daydream on a train ride to London (Discover; Biography; J. K. Rowling, 2021). But also, that is why kids are so good at being creative. They have no problem doing things and adding their own twist to it (Smit & van der Hulst, 2018). The kids do what is called the creative development.
The creative development is the process of exploring creative interests, learning, evaluating options, having ideas and insights, engaging in creative projects, and reflecting upon one’s creative work and development, triggering further development (Feinstein, 2012). This is what we need to be better at, or just be better at acknowledging that we already do it. and if we do that, we can nurture it and make it grow. But why is it so important to be creative? Creativity is what sparks new ideas and new solutions (Smit & van der Hulst, 2018). Without new solutions and ideas, we wouldn’t be where we are today. And we could not go beyond what we know now. We need to acknowledge that we all are or can be creative people.
You already may be a creative person without knowing it because you think of creativity as belonging to a specific skill, as mentioned before. But creativity is its own skill and if we do the creative development, we are creative people. I’m a creative person in my academic writing, I have never though of it that way, but I am. I explore new ways of thinking and have new ideas and insights to a subject. But that can happen anywhere, in any subject or skill. So by getting better at knowing what creativity is, we can get better at developing it.
So, what do I want with all of this? I want you to start thinking about yourself as a creative person no matter what. If you do any of the things that has to do with creativity, then you are creative. And don’t stop the work on your creativity. “Because when you are in the moment, ideas start to flow” (Smit & van der Hulst, 2018). And remember anything can be a creative work, creativity does not belong to a skill, it is its own skill. “Doing something creative everyday will result in a beautiful collection of your own original and authentic material.” (Smit & van der Hulst, 2018).
Bibliography
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1997). Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention. New York: Harper Perennial.
Discover; Biography; J. K. Rowling. (2021, October 25). Retrieved from Bloomsbury: https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/discover/harry-potter/j-k-rowling/biography/
Feinstein, J. S. (2012). Unleashing creative development. Kindai Management Review, pp. 132-142.
Smit, I., & van der Hulst, A. (2018). Creativity Takes Courage: Dare To Think Differently. New York: Workman Publishing.