You want to be more creative? Sometimes it is not about trying
harder to act creative. I see a lot of people trying too hard. Sometimes it’s not just about giving one the space to be
creative. Sometimes it is just being
strategic. And sometimes it means apply a healthy dosage of common sense.
Strategic creativity
is more valuable than creativity.
Not everyone needs to be “creative” the same way as other think you
should be “creative”. It is not about ideas. It is an attitude. Everyone can
live a creative life and be creative how he/she sees live.
It seems that when creative people (artist) with certain carft try to solve a problem or achieve a certain end result, particularly when the goal is related to their craft or specialized skills, they have an advantage. But when the problem is too big for them, it takes strategic creativity on a more sophisticated level.
Creativity is in such demand today and it is not the years of schooling or what art schools you attend. The word “Creatives” is used in advertising world to describe
those who work on creating advertising campaign or providing craft for
production. People in these roles
like to believe that they are more creative than others. It is not the case at all.
Creativity is not a job title,
crafts, capability or skills. Creativity is state of mind, which you can use in
everything you see and do. People should live a creative life rather being creative. By
living a creative life and having that state of mind, one naturally becomes
creative. Creative is independent of discipline, culture and tools.
So how do you live a creative life? Here are three specific ways that can help you to live a creative life.
- Be Bipolar. A little madness yield great artists, designers, inventors and scientists. The evidence is growing for a significant link between bipolar disorder and creative temperament and achievements. Seeing the extremes of both sides of anything help you to understand the spectrum of choices and options. Go to places you don’t normally go and use that space. It is not available for everyone.
- Be Foolish. Be lazy. Everywhere people are telling you rules and the right ways to do things. Be acting silly and even lazy can sometimes help you to see easy paths to complex problems. Agatha Christie wrote, “I don't think necessity is the mother of invention. Invention . . . arises directly from idleness, possibly also from laziness. To save oneself trouble.”
- Be Strategic. Most people see this as the opposite of creative. This is total rubbish. Being strategic can also be creative. And being strategic you need to be very creative. The best strategists are often most creative people who can apply creativity in the context of a specific problem. They don’t’ dress in a funny way or even trying to act like artists. They may wear suits and even a tie, but they could also be the super creative types.
Creativity is not just about “aha” moments or interesting ways to look
at things. Creativity is about putting empathy to work. Creativity is not about
perfection. Weisberg and Csikszentmihalyi both talked the importance of motivation in creative performance. A notion of Csikszentmihalyi’s concept of creative flow is that reaching peak performance is “autotelic”, meaning it is enjoyable for its own sake. So the ‘creative person’ is simply someone who enjoys creativity and therefore does it all the time, even with no reasons and gains nothing from it. Someone just want to be creative all the time. That's different from peope who are strategic in applying creativity. Nothing good of bad. Just two very diffferent creative types.
Creativity is not about opening new doors because something said creativity people have no doors and doors are for those without imagination.
