Creativity is the act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality. Creativity is characterised by the ability to perceive the world in new ways, to find hidden patterns, to make connections between seemingly unrelated phenomena, and to generate solutions. Creativity involves two processes: thinking, then producing. If you have ideas, but don’t act on them, you are imaginative but not creative.
I never considered myself to be very imaginative growing up. As a math & science geek, I always saw creative people and wondered how they did it. You can imagine my surprise when a teacher informed me she’d submitted a poem I’d written to Reader’s Digest and it had been accepted.
Maybe I was creative after all?
But what is creativity in the first place… We see those around us who seem to have all of these great ideas. They must be creative.
After working in marketing for 8 years; I know that the only way people have great ideas, is to have a lot of bad ones too. Quantity and quality are tied on this one.
Which is why when I hear of one of my friends with “creative block” the issue isn’t that they can’t come up with any more ideas. The real reason behind creative blocks is the fear of bad ideas.
When you’re afraid of putting something out there, no matter what it is, that fear will prevent you from even trying. This is especially stressful for those who work in a ‘creative’ field.
When creativity becomes a profession… It often stops being creative
-Seth Godin
Life, being creative and success all have one thing in common. Risk.
You see, without taking risks we only ever play it safe… and eventually you find yourself playing it safe just like everyone else.
In order to reach the heights others can’t reach, you have to be willing to risk the climbs they won’t take.
Instead of painstakingly researching that marketing plan, do a rough draft where you just wing it. Facing a problem? Write out some cartoonish solutions to it that would never work.
Put pen to paper and just TRY something. Don’t let fear hold you back from greatness.
Besides, what’s the worst that could happen?
