What does it mean to be creative?
Understanding and recognizing creativity
What does it mean to be creative? How do we explicitly identify creative actions, thoughts, and products? We can begin with learning about creativity in the context of it being a subject, which it is — just like business or education.
Creativity is a subject that is comprised of theories which explain and predict different perspectives and approaches. There’s a multitude of theories that describe what creativity can look like in a variety of contexts. Like most theories, they can be dry and take time to understand. The goal of this article is to simplify some theories on creativity to make them practical and easily accessible — and ultimately to be able to identify what creativity looks like in ourselves and others.
The field of creativity covers every aspect of life — business, relationships, death, experiences, crime, education, war, and of course the arts. Creativity is not an ability that only a few eccentric people possess. EVERYONE IS CREATIVE. Understanding the subject of creativity can help us identify it, celebrate it, intentionally use it, and foster it in others.
“The best way to become more creative is to learn about creativity.”
— Some guy at the Southern Oregon University Conference, 2018
