What if I told your that we way we all think about creativity is wrong?

A creative person is thought to be someone out of the ordinary who may have capabilities that are not there for everyone else. We think of creative people as artists, who are very often visited by the muse of inspiration. And inspiration is usually considered as something that just happens. It comes from somewhere out there and usually catches us unready… etc. You get the idea.

What if this approach is not entirely true? What if anyone can be creative? What if there is a structured way to become creative in your field?

Let’s start by really devising what creativity is. However you define it, you have to realize that there are what could be called: different levels of creativity. Creative things or ideas don’t have to be completely new. Creativity doesn’t necessarily disrupt or shock industries, businesses, or people. Creativity shines, it illuminates what’s around, it improves things. But creativity could be even very subtle.

You might even define creativity as “thinking outside the box”. But before we think outside the box, we have to define what this box really is.

One of my favorite fiction authors is Stephen King, and I once read a quote of him that said something like “inspiration always finds me writing”. Now, this might not be the exact quote but what he basically wanted to convey is that inspiration is one thing, but it’s nothing without work.

The more you work, the more inspired and creative you get.

Let’s see now what you can do to become more creative so you won’t have to wait for inspiration. Instead of waiting around for inspiration, how about you go actively looking for it?

If you’re looking to be creative for a specific area in your life, whether it is your business, your health, your lifestyle, etc, try to look around and see what other industries are doing. The more unrelated to your area of interest, the better. The problem with creativity is that when we are looking at the same area in which we already are, we are not looking for inspiration, we would be looking for modeling (or copying) what others are doing, and that, of course, is not creative at all. If that is not creative we try to think about something different and we get stuck.

On the other hand, when we are roaming about in other areas, we let our imagination go wild, we are disconnected from the problem that we are trying to solve (being creative in a particular area) and therefore it helps us think more freely.

By now you must be wondering, how do you connect the two now? How looking at what other industries are doing is going to help me have creative ideas for my business (for example)?

By finding out what is out there, you can identify what ideas you can apply to your area of interest, whether these ideas are new or not, they could be new in your industry. A company is offering subscription services, is there any way you can do that? A company is motivating their staff in a particular way, is there any way you can apply that to your kids? 🙂

Creativity is something new and different, but not necessarily a hundred percent new and never seen before. The Austrian economist Schumpeter described innovation as a combination of knowledge, and what is new is the combination, not really the knowledge.

So make sure that inspiration finds you working, and researching. Look around with an open mind and creativity will sure strike you.

I hope this will help you boost your creative self! Let me know how that works for you!