When we speak about creativity, most people think mainly of fine arts, and artistic creations, whose role is mainly aesthetic. But creativity is not only that. So, what is creativity?
Creativity is defined as the ability to make or otherwise bring into existence something new, whether a new solution to a problem, a new method or device, or a new artistic object or form. If you split the word, you will see that it is formed by create + activity, so it is an action of creation, whatever the creation is.
Therefore, that’s why creativity is not necessarily artistic. Creativity is also problem solving with the addition of some key features: relevance (the degree to which a problem is solved and can be verified) and innovation (the degree of uniqueness and originality put in the solution found).
Innovation
To generate innovation, you shall be creative. It is the link between creativity and innovation that makes the former such an important element. Today it is essential to innovate continuously to move forward, improve yourself, remain competitive in a healthy way and be able to face new challenges.
Creativity is an important trait of the human being, that we all possess, and that makes us successful individuals. From the point of view of personal development, being creative means thinking independently, being able to create, using your special talents, making the best of your experiences, values, and ideas.
Motivation, that is the desire to do something for the simple pleasure of doing it, triggers creativity. This means that even in the workplace creativity is more stimulated when we carry out activities that we consider interesting and not when we are motivated exclusively by extrinsic factors such as, for example, money.
Children begin their life journey with incredible potential, a creative mindset that lets them approach the world with curiosity, with questions to discover what surrounds them. Unfortunately, as they grow, educational practices when they start school, most probably will turn them into Cartesian beings who may lose their talents.
Creativity is a great motivator because it makes people interested in what they are doing. Creativity gives hope that there can be a worthwhile idea. Creativity gives the possibility of some sort of achievement to everyone. Creativity makes life more fun and more interesting.
Edward De Bono
How to boost creativity
As said before, creativity means “create – activity”. Therefore, it can be considered a productive capacity. It consists in facing problems by adopting new perspectives, with the aim of finding innovative and effective solutions in any field of application, identifying new and useful connections to generate new conclusions starting from the available data and information.
A creative individual shows the willingness to learn from failure and explore new paths.
You can enhance your capacity of being creative with an open mind free from prejudice, with motivation to be able to find the strength and try new ways of doing something.
Cultivate trust in your talents, avoid old habits, and leave room to new ideas. Your creativity will boost as never before!
Do you consider yourself a creative person?
For more on creativity, please visit my blog crisbiecoach.blog.
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Thank you, Cristiana, for sharing this very rich post about creativity. I found it very interesting. I fully agree that children will most likely have their innate creative instincts drummed out of them by the incessant beat of society and educational system that says, “we do it this way, here,” and fill their minds with facts, facts, and more so-called facts, many of which change with time, by those with the biggest megaphone.
I don’t consider myself a creative person—but a creative being. Such is my deepest nature.
Thanks again. I’ll be looking forward to your next post!
Thank you Art. I like that you consider yourself a creative being. I think you are!
I loved how you broke the word down. I may be going off on a tangent, but what spoke to me was the action part of creativity. Ie: creativity is more than an idea or having the ability to do something; there’s an action that has to go along with it to reach a state of creativity. Great post – thank you, Cristiana!
Thank you, I think you got exactly what I meant!
Create + activity – that’s a great break-down that is going to stick with me from this wonderful post. Thanks, Cristiana!
Thank you Wynne!
Thank you for this post. I agree we get so caught up with creativity meaning artistic – I know its taken me a long time to break down that barrier. I agree with the commenters above, breaking the word down into create and activity really helps establish a clear understanding. I think I’m going to borrow this to explain to my students what creativity means when I’m looking for creativeness in their management assessments. This will make understanding so much easier.
Thank you 🙂
Thank you so much for reading and commenting!
Years ago I had people denigrating me, saying that I wasn’t suited to work in a business environment as a creative person. When I helped flip the script by pointing out that my creativity led me to be a creative problem solver, and it allowed me to “think outside of the box” to use a now overused expression, I won people over.
There are so many myths about creativity and creative people that are still being re-written!
What a super interesting and inspiring post- thanks Cristiana!
Thank you for reading and commenting Todd!
Very interesting post Cristiana. I agree – creativity is definitely about problem solving – applying a bit of “out of the box” thinking. I do believe creativity will be seen as one of the most sort after traits in the future world. Thank you 🙏
I also believe it, David. Thank you for commenting!
Thank you for sharing this. It’s very helpful. It broadens the scope of creativity. I consider all writers, including myself, to be creative. I also create designs for my online shop so that counts as well.
I think you are truly a creative person!
Thank you!
I really enjoyed reading your blog post on the importance of structure in creative endeavors. You make a compelling argument for the role that structure plays in fostering productivity and success. At the same time, I’m curious to hear your thoughts on the role of creativity in this process. Do you believe that there is a way to strike a balance between structure and creativity in order to achieve the best results, or do you feel that one should take precedence over the other? I’d love to hear your perspective on this.
Hi Tim, thank you for commenting. I think that creativity takes precedence on structure. When I have an idea, I try to break it down and structure a path towards the achievement. But I think it is a very personal approach. I guess it would be possible that during any process of structuring you may get a new idea and then you can start from there to adjust the structure consequently.
Yes! Thanks for this post. I have so many
Times thought I should write one post about this and you did it.
Great reading
Thank you !
A good one. Thanks for sharing.