Probably if you hear the word creativity you immediately associate it with art, painting, an inventor, etc.
It is fun because that’s a mind bias, and creativity is present in many forms,
Think of taking a new path while going to work, a different way of sipping your coffee, a new way of solving the same old problem with your spouse, or even just a new ingredient to your favorite smoothie.
Why do i mention all of those examples? That is because many people think of themselves as non-creative, as if creativity is for just certain people, more related to artistic endeavors or because they believe the things i just mentioned are not considered “creative”.
That is not how things work, just think about the word “creativity” it literally has almost the whole “create” word in it.
Create doesn’t mean you need to aim for a groundbreaking human evolving technology or a magnificent piece of art that will be admired by millions all over the world.
It means that you are putting out there something that wasn’t there before.
Why is creativity not encouraged?
Why do we tend to not focus so much on creativity? or deem it as non-important task in our daily life?
Remember how i have previously mentioned that society is not encouraged to think by themselves?
Well i think as we are in a society that encourages to pursue work and money as the main objective in life and giving it a higher value over almost everything else, other many important things are left behind, as if they were less important.
Mo Gawdat the former CEO of Google “X” the division of Google that oversees the developing all the new breaking technology we could imagine said in a recent interview, one of his biggest mistakes was not learning to value and nurture more his “feminine” side.
He of course being a very intelligent and analytical type of person acknowledged that many times that feminine side is linked more to creativity and artistic endeavors- which he of course recognized to be of tremendous value.
We of course know that creativity is not linked to any specific gender, what i got from his comments was that he was acknowledging the importance of creativity.
Think about that for a moment, it makes total sense. He was the guy in charge of the research and development of new products, new technologies, and yes, those are done by engineers of all sorts BUT…
How do you come up with the new ideas?
Yes, you have the money, the people, the time.
Basically, you have all the resources to build almost anything you could come up with, but how does that serve you at all if you don`t have any ideas for new products, technologies, or ways of doing things.
Just take a moment and think about the following-
Mostly all of the people on this planet are daily consuming some kind of content, they are consuming some kind of social media, they are watching Netflix, they are buying something from Costco.
All of those were created by someone with an idea, a vision and enough willpower and determination to execute it.
How many of the people that are so busy consuming are also creating something of their own?
That could be anything, it doesn’t need to be a product or service, not even something for profit.
It could be a painting, redesigning their living room, making their own clothes, etc.
“In a world of consumers and creators, the true architects of change are those who shift from merely savoring creations to passionately crafting them”
Start creating
Those are great ways to start, anything that you create will make wonders for your life, the thing is that while maybe we have painted, or created something in the past, the ratio of consuming vs creating is very skewed.
We consume much more than what we create, and creating doesn’t need to be difficult, it could be as simple and easy as you want but done more frequently.
Learn a new language, do a chopstick man in the restaurant, make a drawing, start a blog, redesign the way your furniture is organized in your home.
Practice in these apparently “little” things will start to make you more open, more relaxed and open to creativity.
Being in nature for example can also foster those feelings, and nature on its own can be a great teacher.
Benefits of being creative
I believe the benefits of creativity are pretty “obvious” but in case you need some clarification, here are some of what quickly comes to mind:
- Sense of pride/achievement over your own creation
- New neuronal pathways developing
- Better your problem-solving abilities
- Adaptability
- Innovation
Recommended Reading-
If you want to explore and learn more about the world of creation and creativity through some books, i found this two to be great,
“The Creative Act-a way of being” by Rick Rubin –
This is THE book, at least in my opinion, it really goes deep into ··Creativity·· from many angles, interesting perspectives and every one of the “78” parts the book is written on can take me a whole day just to ponder on- great book! Definitely a must read for anyone wanting to explore this topic deeper.
“Zero to One”-by Peter Thiel
This one was very entertaining to read, even though is not really focused on being “creative” it talks about innovation, the type of innovation that changes the world, gives great perspective on it through the lens of founders and ultimately teaches you to think from “Zeroth principles”.
Some more thoughts
Anyways i hope by now is clear that creativity is vital and deep ingrained essence of humanity.
Much of what we see today is a product of the creativity of a fellow human that may or not be alive today, but at some point, had an idea that was brought to life.
If you think it that way, we can also see how creating can be in certain cases a way of sharing a part of you with other people. I believe that is a beautiful thing that is available to anyone that is willing to follow his heart and create.
From a teacher creating his own method, to an engineer creating a new device for heat, all the way to a musician creating a new song.
Creativity is part of our humanity, embrace it and enjoy it, share with me on the comments what have you created or want to create in the future?
Much love,
Zifush.