Table of Contents
Creativity
Creativity is the result of continuous and consistent thinking of innovative ideas and efforts of transforming those ideas and imaginations to ground reality, it is an overall process and not just an event. “The stone is broken by the last stroke of the hammer but it doesn’t mean that the first stroke was useless”, it was a complete process involving many strokes of the hammer and each stroke had its impact on the stone. It is not just a moment that results in the creation of a new method or object, rather one needs to be committed and persistent towards his art or study to derive innovative ideas out of it.
To be creative is to have the ability to bring new ideas to the forefront and to have the ability to express oneself by turning his/her imaginations and ideas into reality, it involves the creation of something new, exciting, and innovative. Ones who are free and independent in their thoughts, dreams, aspirations, and most importantly in implementations and actions tend to be more creative, constructive, and productive. Creativity involves surpassing the conventional ways and coming up with new and innovative ideas and ways. Creative thinking is the one wherein our brain finds and makes connections between different ideas and events. Research has shown that creative mindset decreases with increasing age, as about 98 percent of children under the age of five are highly creative, however, this percentage drops to 2 percent by age of 25.
For example:
If there is a craftsman who is excellent at his work, we call him a person with a creative mind. It took him long to practice his art persistently to be excellent at it. The practice provided him freedom of thoughts and imagination towards his art and as a result, he could bring new and innovative craft pieces into existence.
It wasn’t the case that the concept of gravity and gravitation entered Newton’s mind as he saw a falling apple while sitting in his garden, rather he has been studying these concepts for decades. It wasn’t either the case that Einstein all at once gave the theory of relativity, it took him years to derive it after continuous efforts.
“Creativity leads to innovation and innovation breaks history, so history is of those who have a creative mindset towards their actions and its implementation.”
Creativity is a journey, a journey of experiences, a journey of perceiving the world differently in a more practical and reasonable sense. This complete journey includes a process, a process of learning through failures, a process of finding out something new, a process of being persistent, a process of moving towards expertise. Creativity is a mindset of looking at this world with a different perspective and this mindset takes a long time to develop and to broaden. Studies have shown that every child is born with some creative skills and it is up to the individual and his/her upbringing as to how these creative skills will broaden. If an individual has freedom of thoughts, actions, and implementation from an early age, he/she is likely to become more creative by learning through small creative adventures.
Creative Process
The creative process involves introducing the world to a new, exciting and innovative idea or product by turning your imaginations into practicality. If you are a songwriter then it is about writing a new song, if you are a scientist then it is about finding some new facts or principles. If you are a craftsman then it is about making a new craft piece.
Stages of Creative Process
Preparation Stage
Preparation is the first stage of any creative process and involves observations and imagination.
For example: If you are a craftsman, then you go on observing others’ crafts pieces and imagine a new and creative one. If you are a scientist, you go on observing different phenomena related to the concepts and find out connections between these phenomena.
This stage prepares you for the complete process. This first stage of preparation is a spark that lit the entire imagination and its implementation.
Incubation Stage
This is the second stage and it has to do a lot with our subconscious mind than the conscious one. This process involves thinking about our idea and framing it out, not actively but passively. The most interesting part of this stage is you are not consciously working on the idea and it is not under your control rather it goes on with its pace and takes its time to complete.
Insight/Illumination Stage
This stage is the one where you get the insight of your idea consciously and it seems like “yes this is the one!”. The idea which was in your subconscious mind comes to the forefront of your mind.
For example: If you are trying to come up with a new song or poem, then it is the time when some brand new lines of it strike your mind and you say that “yes this is it!”. If you are a scientist observing some phenomena then it is the time when you realize or find some significant link or clue related to your concept and you say “yes this is it!”.
Evaluation Stage
This is the stage of practical, conscious thinking about your idea where you try to weigh the validity of your idea. This is the stage where you try to find out whether this idea will work on ground reality or not. This stage can result in two aspects either you return to the preparation stage trying to think more practically about the idea or you move ahead with the idea with motivation and enthusiasm for its implementation.
Elaboration/Verification Stage
This is the fifth and final stage of any creative process. This stage involves “actual working” on the idea which requires a lot of hard work, motivation, and persistence to transform the idea in imagination to the one in reality.
For example: If you are trying to make an art piece, then this stage is the one where you stop just imagining and sit to work out the idea and finalize it.
How to be more creative?
Let your mind be independent, minimize distractions and try thinking about something with a different perspective.
Practice more and more and be persistent at it, practice gives you experiences that broaden your thinking making it more creative and productive.
Look at the world with fresh eyes and with a fresh mind that is more passionately, practically, and reasonably and try to wander around different corners of it.
Creativity is nothing without implementation, if you can imagine innovative ideas but can not dare to validate, evaluate and implement them then you are not creative. Creativity demands taking new steps so that a new way could be discovered.
Be energetic, enthusiastic, and motivated that “yes you can” and “yes you will”. Failures are sure to be there, barriers are meant to be there but keep going, keep falling, keep rising so that the creativity could flourish with expertise.
Also read: Why Students Fail in Exams
FAQs
1. Is it possible to make yourself creative or it is there in the individual since birth?
Ans: Every individual is born with some creative skills and most of them are trainable, so it is possible to make yourself more and more creative by persistently practicing your work.
2. Does creativity have something to do with emotions?
Ans: Creativity involves expressing oneself by transforming his/her ideas and imaginations to reality and this could be the expressions of emotions be it a painting describing the enthusiasm of a painter or a crafts piece showing the dedication of the craftsman or a song describing the suffering of the writer.
