to be creative

The Roffey Park Management Institute calls this phenomenon “washing-up creativity”. Essentially it refers to a person’s ability to come up with creative ideas while doing seemingly menial tasks.

Things, like walking the dog, or even taking a bath, is when our minds are the most active. This generates a rich stem of creative ideas when we are the most relaxed. In those situations, our subconscious mind takes over and works the situation out.

This eventually gives rise to what we know today as flashes of Inspiration. This also happens when we are dreaming. When we sleep, our subconscious mind is active and often works on these tasks. When you wake up and remember the dream, it is often the key to all the answers and creative ideas.

Learn how resourcefulness and creativity drive innovation. Learn to harness your ingenuity and adaptability to solve problems creatively.

Resourcefulness

Resourcefulness is a prime quality for creative individuals. Resourcefulness is the ability to make something out of what is present. People who are naturally resourceful tend to pick up on the cues available in their present environment. Then, they mold these cues into creative works.

The ability to be resourceful eventually leads to a better quality of life both in terms of survival as well as making something creative out of available materials.

Lack of doubt

One of the key aspects of creativity is the lack of doubt in an individual’s mind. An individual who doubts himself or herself tends to spend a lot of time second-guessing their creation. This creates a negative impression in their mind.

Carrying around this perspective of pessimism tends to hinder creativity. If you are constantly clouded by thoughts of doubt, there is little to no place in your mind for creative ideas.

That is why, every time you have these sort of self-doubts regarding your creations, you can remind yourself what these cost you and aim to replace them with better thoughts that have the ability to better serve you.

Curiosity is the main component of creativity. Curious people have a thirst for knowledge and hence move forward to learn more things as compared to people who are not curious in nature. Curiosity promotes creativity. This has been repeatedly proven through scientific experimentation as well as by personal statements from people who currently work in creative fields.

Curiosity often makes us do things that we would not have done otherwise. This venture into new territories is tied up with the previous point where we talked about courage.

The two concepts are deeply interlinked. To venture into grounds that you are not previously familiar with, you need to be curious about finding out what lies on the other side. But at the same time, you also need the courage to go beyond the comfort zone. You need to have that bravery within to seek out the new experiences that will lead to creative ideas. And this bravery often comes from a curiosity to learn. Hence both the concepts are dependent on each other for their individual existence.

A person who displays both these qualities will often have higher levels of creativity.

Mindful people are able to come up with more creative ideas as compared to people who are more distracted or lost in their thoughts. Mindfulness is the ability to stay connected with the present moment without losing the train of thoughts to remembering the events of the past or planning the events of the future.

The ability to stay mindful is considered very important both in the fields of creativity and productivity. The people who are able to cultivate mindfulness tend to be able to stay focused for longer on their creative projects than the ones who leave their projects in the middle because they are distracted by other things going on.

The way to be mindful is to be aware. Sometimes this takes a lot of practice because we are not used to staying tied down to the present moment. This patience can be cultivated through regular practice.

Mindfulness techniques are easy to access, quick to perform and have enormous benefits to both, the mental and physical health while boosting your creative abilities. Once this becomes a habit, you will no longer need these medications. You will become creative naturally.

Having a larger perspective

John Godfrey Saxe created a world-famous story that goes by the name of “The Blind Men and the Elephant”.

The story is about six blind men of Indostan who go to see an elephant one day. They all try to work out what the elephant actually is just from touching it without getting to see it.

While one blind man touches the tusk, another one touches the trunk, the next in line touches the tail, and it keeps going on forward. As none of them have actually seen the elephant, they can not identify what it really is. They just assume what it could be with what they felt when they touched the different parts of it.

Try to keep the big picture in front of you while looking at details. When you do this, it will help you to put things in your life in their proper place along with the appropriate context.

Assumptions are considered to be lazy thinking. Assuming does not give any right answers. Assuming only brings us to wrong conclusions about things. Which is why it is important to get to the root of something instead of blindly assuming what is going on.

When creating a work of art, it is important to create it from a point of knowledge and creativity rather than assuming how things are supposed to be. You must also focus on finding ways to think creatively and keep that in line with reality. When the two align perfectly, you can create masterpieces.

Incorporating different perspectives

To be creative, you need to incorporate fresh perspectives into your mindset. Like when a child creates something, it is so different than what an adult would create. This change in perspective is what gives rise to creativity in individuals.

Some new perspectives can give birth to fresh creative ideas. This can be anything from thinking from a base point of what a bear could imagine to thinking about the same thing from the perspective of a fish.

This variety of thinking is the foundation of creativity. Those who think more from various perspectives have the ability to create better than those who do not consider other foreign perspectives.

The following characteristics that determine the causes of creativity in an individual.

Confidence

Courage

Having a creative imagination

Incorporating different perspectives

Go beyond Assuming

Having a larger perspective

Have Unique Thoughts

Observational Skills

Mindfulness

Curiosity

Resourcefulness

Lack of doubt

Quick Adaptation

People who remember their dreams

Everyone is essentially creative. Creativity does not discriminate. It is said to be buried in each one of us. It can be tapped into by some invention or re-invention. However, these qualities mentioned above have the highest potential of igniting the creative spark that is present in each one of us.

Some people have their creativity handy and closer to the surface level. In these people, it is easily noticed.

However, some people need a little more push for creativity to be fully expressed. But that does not mean they do not have creativity. It just means that they need to actively work on their creativity regularly to maintain its level.

If it is ignored or remains unused for a long time, eventually it starts diminishing or gets buried deep inside us. To prevent this, one must continually develop the skills mentioned above one way or, the other.