Not everyone chooses a creative career, but we can all use the power of creativity to live a more vibrant, satisfying, and successful life instead of repeating the same daily routine.
Can one become more creative?
It's challenging to provide a one-size-fits-all answer because of different types of creativity. What is the least useful type?
The Least Useful Creativity Type
Ideation Creativity is an ancient method used to generate new ideas. Does that surprise you?
Techniques like idea exchange, brainstorming games, or the first principles approach can help generate more good ideas. These are specialized creative tools used by composers, novelists, and entrepreneurs, but not commonly employed by many others.
Still interested in this knowledge, which is limited to a select few? Let's explore what great individuals have done:
- Josh Waitzkin, the American junior chess champion and world champion in martial arts, has written an autobiography.
- Gianni Rodari, the Italian author famous for Adventures of Cipollino, outlined his approach to teaching imagination in a booklet.
- Twyla Tharp, the renowned American dancer and choreographer, authored a book explaining her creative process, which we'll discuss shortly.
What Distinguishes Creative People (Aside from Their Ideas)?
Anyone can have interesting ideas—whether it's building a flying car, writing a play about South American tribes, sending a surprise email to a top executive, or applying for prestigious positions.
However, like you, billions of people are inspired by beautiful sunsets and aspire to increase their income. Yet, this doesn't make them all artists or entrepreneurs.
Only those who have acted upon their ideas or emotions and produced tangible outcomes can be labeled “creative.” Mozart and Jane Austen became so famous because of their results—the symphonies and novels that they had respectively produced—not because of their ideas.
Creativity Does Not Require So-Called Inspiration
A related misconception is that masterpieces are created in “Eureka” moments— a Greek word meaning “I have found it” and refers to creativity and inspiration.
It refers to a fictional story about the ancient Greek mathematician and inventor Archimedes, who supposedly exclaimed it when he discovered a solution to a difficult problem while bathing.
Mozart composed over 600 musical works, including 50 symphonies. To create the vast amount of internationally acclaimed music he did, he needed thousands of "Eureka" moments. In his brief career, he frequently finished one work per week. So, exceptional inspiration strikes infrequently.
Acclaimed choreographer Twyla Tharp believes that everything she achieved resulted from hard work. She said, “Nobody worked harder than Mozart. By the time he was twenty-eight, his hands were deformed because of all the hours he had spent practicing, performing, and gripping a quill pen to compose. As Mozart himself wrote to a friend, ‘People err who think my art comes easily to me. I assure you, dear friend, nobody has devoted so much time and thought to composition as I. There is not a famous master whose music I have not industriously studied through many times.’”
Creativity only manifests during the creative process, whether it’s composing a new symphony, trying out a new recipe in the kitchen, or figuring out how to help your child get into a reputable college. That's normal. If you've never played an instrument, you won't suddenly compose a symphony out of creative thin air.
This brings us to the most useful but underrated type of creativity:
“Kaizen”: Finding Ways to Improve Anything
What is the non-creative approach to any activity? Carrying out the same task daily in the same way. Therefore, the creative approach is constantly changing depending on what you do and how you do it.
For example, engineers employed great creativity to expedite the process when Ford Motor Company started producing cars. They stated, “In the past, the skilled worker made the flywheel magneto from start to finish, and a good employee could make thirty-five or forty in a day. However, a full production line exists now, with twenty-nine men carrying out distinct processes. The process took twenty minutes, but now it only takes thirteen.”
Ironically, a few decades later, Japanese automakers defeated the big American businesses, including Ford Motor, largely because of the "Kaizen" approach, which calls for constant, gradual improvement.
The creative Kaizen approach requires continuous improvements in your process:
- Today, you research a new dish to make for dinner.
- Tomorrow, you try making it in less time.
- The next day, you try varying the ingredients.
- The next day, you discuss your recipe with others.
- The next day, you learn to cook the same recipe.
- The next day, you research the ingredients' nutritional properties.
Adopting this mindset will help you become a more creative cook, as it is an aspiring global chef's mindset.
Transformative Creativity - Change Your Life
You might think that Mozart, Jane Austen, or Twyla Tharp were creative because they were constantly involved in creative activities. You may wonder, “How can one find creativity in an uninspiring job? How can one spend their leisure time after work creatively?”
It's common advice that we should "work towards our goals," but most of us lack specific goals or a well-defined life plan that allows us to maximize our time.
"Find a way to change anything you don't like about your life," is the conventional response. This is your life, whether you use it for goals or not. Since no one else will do it for you, accept responsibility for it.
This is where transformative creativity comes in. It’s not about decorating your office wall with inspiring posters to endure work. Rather, it's about attending evening classes in the industry you want to work in. It's about developing a friendship with a discerning chef who can impart a wealth of knowledge about cooking techniques rather than just throwing ingredients into a pot and hoping for a miracle. It’s about creating your own unique flavor and learning from the best rather than trying every ice cream flavor - this might lead you to open your own ice cream shop.
The essence of transformative creativity is taking concrete steps toward the life you want and away from the life you don't want. While Kaizen creativity helps you move forward and keep progressing, transformative creativity helps you change direction.
How Can You Unleash Your Transformational Creativity?
Eliminate obstacles. The first is a lack of clarity about your life goals. The solution is to set goals anyway
Success expert and widely read author Brian Tracy recommends setting ten goals for the coming year, but you can start with just three:
- One financial goal.
- One social goal.
- One health goal.
Your goals should not be unrealistic, like wanting to double your income, meet a celebrity, and complete a marathon by the end of the year. While setting big goals is generally good, you should start with realistic ones. Eventually, you'll learn how to create realistic, inspiring goals.
The second obstacle is a lack of determination to work hard enough to accomplish your goals. Here, the answer is to pretend that you've already accomplished them. For example, you might decide to write a novel, but you lack passion for it, so you don't feel creative or committed. All you need to do is keep writing. The emotions will come later.
By all means, try to boost your motivation levels. Ambitious entrepreneurs unleash their creativity and eventually succeed greatly.
Are you curious about the last type of creativity? It's a unique kind that Mozart also uses and provides a quick route to success.
The fourth and last type is named after Dr Watson, the colleague of the great detective Sherlock Holmes, invented by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Dr. Watson’s Creativity
Sherlock Holmes praised his friend and ally Dr Watson for demonstrating this type of creativity, telling him, “It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power to stimulate it. I confess, my dear fellow, that I am very much in your debt.”
Establishing a close relationship with someone with experience and insight can help you achieve great things, even if you are not very creative. Developing a close relationship with a skilled person is one of the most well-known ways to enhance your creativity. This holds true for all forms of creativity and includes the following:
- Formal mentoring for which you pay a mentor.
- An informal mentoring relationship is associated with friendship or marriage.
- A job as an executive assistant for which you are paid.
- Professional training by working on your mentor’s projects without financial compensation.
How Can You Convince Someone to Let You Be Their Dr Watson?
The most crucial aspect of Dr. Watson is that he executes Sherlock Holmes’ ideas, often at great personal risk. By doing so, he can gain fresh perspectives that can pique Holmes's vivid imagination, even if they are false.
Dr. Watson’s second feature is his acceptance of Holmes's overall approach and daily work style without questioning it, except in exceptional circumstances.
A little humility and exemplary work ethics have a significant positive impact, but you still have to formulate a request for what you want. For example, how would you word your request if you connected with a potential mentor you found online?
Here are excerpts from messages sent by an aspiring intern to a potential mentor:
- “It is an honor for me to connect with you.”
- "Dr. [Name], is there any way I can collaborate with you? Furthermore, I will not fall short of your desired level of success.”
- “I will work for free, as working with you is a dream I hope to achieve. Is it possible for you to set some guidelines that if I follow, I will work under your guidance?”
- “I will follow all your instructions and guidance, and I can be the first intern in [City].”
- “Please grant my request. I want to be under your supervision, and I will follow all of your instructions.”
You have to believe in yourself. Napoleon Hill tells the amazing story of Edwin Barnes, who wanted to become a business partner of the great inventor Thomas Edison. He eventually did so despite not having money or education. His only advantage was perseverance and determination.
Inspired by conversations with some of the most successful entrepreneurs, including Andrew Carnegie, the book Think and Grow Rich is an absolute masterpiece with creative lessons on every page.
In Conclusion
The power of creativity to improve your life is undeniable. Ideation creativity is the most overrated type; unless you decide to become an artist, author, inventor, or similar, it is not important.
While Kaizen—the pursuit of continuous improvement—is the most realistic creativity type, you are still moving in the right direction if you find ways to improve your life regularly.
Transformative creativity has the power to change lives, but it also requires courage, skill, and persistence. All you have to do is keep changing your life gradually, and it will improve. Even if you are completely unmotivated, remember that creativity is a mental state that transcends emotions.
The most empowering type is Dr. Watson's creativity, which is reuniting with an accomplished individual from whom you can learn endlessly. However, to reap the same benefits as Dr Watson did during his partnership with Sherlock Holmes, sometimes you must give so much.
Pick one type of creativity you want to develop and discuss it with a friend. Remember the words of the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu: “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”
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