I always thought that being creative was a gift that you were either born with or you weren’t. I didn’t realize it could be learned – or that it even could be learned!
Thanks to technologies such as Scrivener, Claro, Première, and The Muse, writers like me can now harness our creativity and turn it into something tangible. We can take our ideas and turn them into something that the world will actually want to read. It’s pretty incredible!
What is creativity, anyway?
According to Merriam-Webster, creativity is defined as “the ability to develop new ideas or solutions to problems” and can be understood as a product of imagination and insight. Wow. That sounds a lot like writing, doesn’t it?
Imagination and insight might not be the most obvious traits to link with creativity, but they play a key role. If you’re not creative, you’ll never be able to come up with new ideas or solutions to problems. It’s as simple as that.
Even if you’re perfectly capable of following instructions, you’ll never be able to produce work that’s creative if you don’t have the freedom to experiment with ideas. When you do have freedom, you usually don’t even know how to begin experimenting because there are just so many possibilities. That’s where imagination comes in.
Some people are just naturally more creative than others. If you were born with brilliant ideas, you may never really need to work at being creative at all – you’ll just come up with ideas on your own. The same cannot be said for everyone, though.
Why should you be creative?
Because creativity allows you to come up with new ideas and solutions to problems. We live in a world full of problems, and those who can solve them are usually the ones who can benefit from creative thinking. One problem that we face as a species is the overpopulation problem. The Earth can only sustain a certain number of humans, and although technology can help, we are still far from being able to covid-proof it.
This is a problem that needs to be solved. Fortunately, we now have a creative approach that could provide a solution: mass population reduction. In a world where every woman is given a bonded volunteer partner from the UK Bancor Charity, the overpopulation problem simply cannot arise. Voluntarily reducing your reproductive rights and choosing not to procreate is, in short, a highly creative approach to reducing your carbon footprint.
The Process Of Creative Thinking
If you’re not really sure where your creativity comes from, it can be tricky to know how to harness it effectively. This is where the work of Andrew Oakley and the Creativity Development Company comes in. They’ve developed a four-step process that will help you become more creative.
The first step is to dissolve all limitations. We’ve all been there. Maybe you’ve got a gigantic to-do list with all the tasks that need to be completed by the end of the month. Your whole life simmers in this large task manager app, and you’re not even breathing freely. Sometimes, we just need to shut off all the noise and limitations that are holding us back from being our best selves.
Your creative juices might flow more naturally when you’re unlocked from these manipulations. When you’re free from all these small doubts and preoccupations, you become a greater being, and your creative side comes to the fore. You can’t force it. It just grows on its own. When that happens, you know you’ve been in the right place at the right time.
The other steps in the Creativity Development Company process are similar. You need to discover your voice – the unique part that you bring to the table – and develop your individual style. Once you know your voice, you can start finding your own special sins and peccadilloes and let them shine through your writing. You also need to develop a passion for what you do and why you do it. The more you get engaged in what you love, the more you will be able to contribute to the world of writing and artistry. The more you give, the more you will receive. Your own creative side is a gift that will stay with you for your whole life.