Creativity ®

Original post from www.mhonorato.com

“I’m just not the creative type”

So we have this terrible, big and absolutely wrong misconception about what it’s creativity and how it works…All summed in one phrase. This idea that creativity is a “Trademark” exclusively for some people, who are born with this divine gift. For the rest of us is nothing left more than the illusion of being part of this exclusive “club” and to admire the ones who are there.

But I will prove you wrong! And that’s the fundamental base of this post. To erase this misconception and set the ground for you to explore your creative side and to change the way you approach, at the end, to life itself.

Everyone is born creative, but we forgot it on the way.

There is no more clear example of this than kids. Just watch and analyze what a kid do during his day a day life. I think that you know what I’m talking about…But which are this common factors that makes kids so creative, without exception.

• Curiosity = Creativity: Kids are curious by nature, they are amazed by this new world they have to explore. Creativity is the mechanism which connects their curiosity with actions.
• Trial and Error: They don’t have the sense of right or wrong, they just try and see a result of an action. Their learning and creative process is determined by these results.
• They ask and question everything: There is nothing that can escape from their radar. To question everything is one of the bases of creativity.
• The don’t care: Kids actions and beliefs are not restricted in any sense and by no one, just by their imagination. They do what they think is the correct thing…Until that we, the adults, “define” that they are wrong.

But this not last for ever…At least not for all of us. Mainly because our education system and the culture we live in is designed to kill this creative process, as Ken Robinson explain in his world famous TED Talk.

When we are told that a tree is not supposed to be drawn in that way, when someone laughs about what we created or when our parents told us that we were not good enough. Those were the moments when each one of us prefered to start to forget about creativity and we begin to act by the rules and common sense.

“Every child is an artist, the problem is staying an artist when you grow up” – Pablo Picasso

Only 1 in 4 people believe they are living up to their own creative potential, by the Adobe study on creativity. Now is the time to change those numbers.

Creativity is a process.

Creativity is born in the mix of two process: Thinking, then Creating.

Seems something obvious, but people tend to understand it as “One extremely and complex process that just a few are capable of accomplish”…Is easier than that.

In order to succeed on each process we need to be open to perceive the world in different perspectives, to make connections between different concepts and generate solutions based in ideas and thoughts…If you have ideas, but don’t act on them, you are imaginative but not creative.

And as any process, creativity can be develop and manage. Dave Kelley, founder of IDEO, has helped hundreds of people to face their creative “fears” with the same technique that Dr. Bandura, one of the most important psychologist of our history, developed to treat all kind of phobias.

Overcoming the Creativity ® (Trademark).

The beliefs that only geniuses or gifted people are creative, is only extinguishing our confidence in our creative abilities.

For the romans the word “Geniuses” was totally different from what it means today. For them, the genius was “the individual instance of a general divine nature that is present in every individual person, place, or thing.”

A completely different story if we see it that way! We all have our own genius. We just need to discover where and that’s when creativity comes to play.

A study made by Exeter University showed up that the conception that “Geniuses” like Shakespeare, Picasso, DaVinci, etc were, somehow “gifted”, is a myth. After hundred of studies examining outstanding performances in arts, mathematics and sports, the results were that “the widespread belief that to reach high levels of ability a person must possess an innate potential called talent.”

Dedication, effort, motivation, self discipline and practice are the only way to be, or find, the “Genius” in each one of us…Creativity is the mind support to accomplish this and to overcome the myths that surround it.

“You see things; and you say, ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say, ‘Why not’?” – George Bernard Shaw

Our task is to build a life around this conception…A life around creativity.

P.S. If you found value in this article, it would mean a lot to me if you hit the share button and I would love to hear your comments! Let’s connect at @mati_honorato or mhonorato@slidepick.com.

Any grammar, spelling or punctuation mistake, please let me know. So I can keep improving my english…my best to all of you!