What is creativity?

Dictionary.com defines it like this:
cre·a·tiv·i·ty  [kree-ey-tiv-i-tee, kree-uh-]
noun
1. the state or quality of being creative.
2. the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns,relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful newideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination.
3. the process by which one utilizes creative ability: Extensive reading stimulated his creativity.

In other words....




...turning new and imaginitive ideas into reality or, the process of bringing something new into being.

Creativity involves two processes:
1. thinking, and
2. producing

and it requires whole-brain thinking: imagination, artistry and intuition from your right-brain and logic & planning from your left-brain.

A study by George Land says we are naturally creative but as we grow up we learn to be uncreative and we lose our creativity. Creativity is a skill, just like math, that can be learned & developed and a process that can be managed. Learning to be creative is akin to learning a sport - it requires practice and a supportive environment.

Generative research shows that everyone has creative abilites. With more training (and more diverse training) you have, your potential for great creative output increases.

The average adult thinks of 3-6 alternatives for any given situation. The average child thinks of 60.

Research has also shown that in creativity quantity equals quality - if you have a longer list of ideas the final quality of your solution will be higher.

It's a myth that you have to have "talent" to be creative.

Excellence in creativity is determined by opportunity, encouragement, training, motivation and practice practice practice.

The word creativity is derived from the Latin: creare = to make and Greek: Krainein = to fulfill

There's a great TED talk by Sir Ken Robinson about creativity (well actually, it's about how schools kill our creativity). He says (and I agree wholeheartedly) that most children think they're creative - most adults don't.

Check out Ken Robinson's TED talk

If learning how to play a decent game of tennis or soccer or learning how to run is doable then so is learning how to be creative. And being actively creative comes in handy in all kinds of situations.

"Design thinking can help you manage the innovation process and overcome some of the barriers that prevent leaders from being effective innovators. Art and design processes help people develop fresh-thinking through aesthetic ways of knowing, imagination, intuition, re-framing and exploring different perspectives. Art-based processess also help people learn to be comfortable with uncertainty, ambiguity and paradox."

So get creative and start coming up with ideas...think outside of the box for new ideas.....