What if we're more creative than we think and what do we need to access it?

When you hear the word creativity what comes to mind?

What is and isn’t creative? And what does that mean when you think about yourself and whether you are creative?

What is the impact of seeing or not seeing yourself as creative?

What if your definition is always narrower than what creativity could be?

More broadly how do the words we use about us even if seen as positive constrain or enable us?

Steady on this was meant to be about creativity 

So what could creativity be?

Everything has been created, whether by chance or design, things have come together to create something else. 

So what would that actually involve?

The obvious things are art, music and literature or things designed. 

Going further, people talk about creating research studies or hypotheses, we create families, meals, plans, solutions to problems, the list is really endless.

Under it all creativity seems to be a process of turning one thing into something else.

If this is the case what are all the ways you are creative that you may have taken for granted?

Why does creativity matter?

If you knew you were always more creative than you thought you were what would feel possible?

Writing this, I notice creativity feels like a core part of being human that we can often fail to recognise in us. 

For example, without creativity we would be eating very different and probably far blander food, the world as we know it (for better and worse) wouldn’t be what it is. 

So if creativity is a resource we all have, what do we need to access it more?

What do we need to be creative?

From your list of things you have created that you may not have noticed, what were the conditions that enabled you to create that?

For example, this whole blog post came from the realisation that I have far more blog ideas when I am less busy and that makes creating a blog post much simpler. In fact I have far more ideas when I am less busy. 

However space isn’t the only thing, some of those ideas haven’t come to fruition because unlike blogs I haven’t got a deadline (even a self-imposed one). A deadline that both commits me to action and to counteracting perfectionism.

On the note of perfectionism, what are the things that get in the way of you accessing your creativity?

And what may be the small moments that are opportunities to practice creativity day to day than fuel further creativity? 

It could be making a meal from whatever you have, trying a new route to work or a slightly different outfit. It could be playing a game of chess (and this is not just to validate my current obsession with online chess).

And knowing the things that enable creativity or that get in the way of it we know what we can do to dial it up. 

For example, knowing space enables me to be creative and to better tackle problems I can focus on reducing the time I’m doing things, even as simple as not reading when traveling or listening to a podcast when I’m cooking, so I can free my mind up to be creative even if not intending to be creative, simply creating the conditions for it to happen. 

So what can you dial up/ dial down to access your creativity?

In knowing we are all always more creative than we think we are, what would the impact be?

In fact, what is the benefit of just thinking we’re always more creative than we know we are?

(Yes, a heightened expectation could be one outcome but if we marry it with knowing the conditions conducive to creativity we are better placed to manage those expectations).

What would the world be like if we all believed our creativity was greater than we think it is?