A Creativity Primer
Creativity is defined as the ability to come up with ideas that are new, surprising and valuable. These ideas can be in the form of concepts, visual imagery or scientific theory to more artistic things like a style of painting, a dance move and a cooking recipe. We find creativity in all aspects of life, not just in art, science of business.
However, there’s a common misconception that creativity cannot be cultivated (cue the familiar excuse “I’m not the creative type…”). Creative people are often viewed as the rare few who have an innate ability to think different, look at the world with fresh eyes and develop interesting ideas and points of view.
This assumption is simply untrue. Everyone is creative but some individuals are able to display it more often and more convincingly than others.
At its core, creativity is simply the act of combining two or more seemingly unrelated things together to form something new.
In his short (20+ pages) but seminal book “A Technique For Getting Ideas”, James Webb Young introduces a simple formula that can help anyone produce ideas.
“The production of ideas is as definite a process as the production of Fords...In that the production of ideas, too, runs on an assembly line...where the mind follows an operative technique which can be learned and controlled.”
The “technique” is based on the following premise:
Any new idea is simply a combination of existing ideas
The capacity to take existing concepts and use them to create new combinations largely depends on our ability to see relationships between concepts.
It is important to develop a fascination with a wide range of concepts; to cultivate an ability to learn, understand, archive and retrieve relevant information when searching for relationships between facts.
Living in a curious way and becoming fascinated with how the world works will ensure that you will never run out of ideas. The more knowledge you have about the world, the more opportunities you will have for creating new relationships and connections between ideas.
All ideas follow a five-step process:
Gather materials
This is the research phase: Start by gathering both specific information (project / task related) and general information (concepts in relevant areas that can spark inspiration).
Digest materials
Unpack and synthesise the information you have gathered in your mind. Look at the facts from different angles and experiment with fitting ideas together. Brainstorm and write down any ideas that come up; keep going until you cannot come up with any more options. The goal of this step is to prepare your mind for making creative connections.
Step away from the problem
Stop thinking about the problem. Find something else to do that stimulates your mind and energises you. Let your subconscious work on the problem in the background.
Manifest the idea
This is when the idea comes to you in a flash of inspiration, usually while you are in the midst of doing something else. But only after all the prep work has been done and you’ve stopped thinking about it.
If you’re still stuck, walk away from the problem again and allow more time for your subconscious to work its magic. Most of the time, after a few days away from the problem, you will come up with new insights.
Testing and feedback
Once you have the idea, mould and shape your idea into something practical and useful. Put it out into the world to test, learn and refine. Lean into feedback. Good ideas are self-expanding and people will naturally tell you how to make it better.
