How to Discover Your Creativity

Mozart would compose his symphonies in one sitting with no revision through a single act of inspiration. Most creativity requires dedication, knowledge and learned skill.

Creativity is a gift that has the power to transform how people perceive the world. The major difference between creative people and less creative people, is not talent, it is persistence. Discovering your creativity is an active process of committing yourself to its development. Becoming an expert in a subject that interests you is a great way to discover your creativity. Acquiring knowledge about the subject of your interest can increase your confidence about the subject. With confidence and knowledge, you are free to brainstorm new ideas and inspirations that come to you about the subject of your interest.

Instructions

1. Have patience and time. We all learn how to read write, dance, make music, perform experiments and all the other things we do through the creative processes of learning, copying, mimicking and repetition. Repetition, copying and mimicking give us the skills, knowledge and ease of use that comes with familiarity. Once we have mastered the concepts, we are free to work out ways to alter the concepts. Acquisition of knowledge is a tool in the box of creativity.

2. Find your confidence, fearlessness, preparation and persistence; these are necessary elements of the worthwhile process of discovering your creativity. With these tools in your creativity toolbox, you can envision new variations utilizing the knowledge you have acquired. For example, instead of just painting the vase exactly or following the steps of a dance we have memorized, we can envision new variations of these actions.

3. Master your craft, and then create completely unique things from scratch, improve on things already in existence or transform existing things into something completely new. There may be times during the creative process when you feel that what you have created is an incoherent mess, but with the proper tools in your creative toolbox, persistence will pay off with a unique creation that will be a thing of beauty to you and maybe to the world.

Tips & Warnings

• Brainstorming, the process of naming or writing down as many things that come to you without regard for whether or not they are useful, is a technique that helps with the creative process.

• Practicing convergent thinking by putting diverse ideas, objects and concepts together to create new ideas, objects and concepts or to solve a problem is also a spark for the creative process.

• New experiences can open the mind to different possibilities. Having creative experiences can lead to more creativity so be open to new things.

• All your efforts may not be successful, but you will never experience success if you are afraid to take a risk. Creative thinkers do not give up easily when things get difficult.

• Fear of failure can stifle your creativity. Confidence building is a necessary element for creativity. One of the best ways to build your confidence is to learn your craft.

• Understanding your creative process will help you to avoid getting stuck. For most of us, there is no magical flash of inspiration that will drop a fully formed complete creative project into our laps. Creativity requires persistence, skill and dedication.

References

• "Psychology Today": The Art of Creativity; D. Goleman, P. Kaufman; March 1992
• "Psychology Today": (Almost) Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Creativity; October 2008
• "Psychology Today": Teaching Creativity, 2: Debunking the Mozart Myth; December 2008

Resources

• "Make Your Mark: Explore Your Creativity and Discover Your Inner Artist "; Margaret Peot; 2004