You Are More Creative Than You Think
If I were to say to you, “Think of a creative person” , what sort of person comes to mind?
Maybe you picture an artist standing in front of a canvas, a novelist working on their latest book, a musician composing a new song or a designer staring thoughtfully at a computer screen. We tend to associate creativity with people who make obviously creative things. Paintings, books, music, films and designs are easy to recognise as the results of creativity.
But what about the rest of us?I have heard people say, “I haven’t got a creative bone in my body.” Perhaps you have said something similar yourself. Well, that doesn’t cut any ice with me! You are underestimating yourself. I am certain you are more creative than you think you are. I bet you are already creating lots of reasons why I am wrong.
Creativity Is Not a Special Gift
We sometimes talk about creativity as though it is a mysterious talent handed out at birth. A fortunate few receive a generous helping, while everyone else has to get on with life without it. That’s not the way it is. Creativity is part of being human. Think about what separates us from most other creatures with which we share this planet. We don’t simply experience the world as it is. We have the remarkable ability to imagine how it could be different. We can look at something and think, “What if?”
What if I changed this? What if I put these two things together? What if there were an easier way of doing that? What if I made something that doesn’t exist yet? Those thoughts might not seem particularly remarkable when they occur, but they contain the beginnings of creativity.
From a Stone to the Moon
Go back far enough in human history and one of our distant ancestors picked up a stone. We will never know exactly what happened next, but at some point somebody realised that the stone could be changed. Perhaps it could be chipped into a sharper shape and used as a tool. That person was looking at something that existed and imagining something that didn’t. Then they did something even more important. They made it real.
Move forward through human history and we find that same process happening again and again. Somebody imagined a wheel before there was a wheel. Somebody imagined that marks could represent language. People imagined ships capable of crossing oceans, machines that could fly and devices that could allow two people on opposite sides of the world to speak to one another.
Eventually, human beings looked up at the Moon and imagined actually going there. Then we did.
Of course, none of these things happened because one person suddenly had a wonderful idea and everything magically appeared the following morning. There were countless experiments, mistakes, improvements and contributions from other people along the way. But somewhere in the process was imagination. Something that wasn’t real became a possibility in somebody’s mind. Creativity helped make that possibility real.
You Don’t Have to Change the World
Now, before you start wondering whether I’m expecting you to invent the next aeroplane or organise a mission to Mars, I’m not. Creativity doesn’t have to change the world. It might simply change something. Perhaps you rearrange a room because you can imagine a better use for the space. You alter a recipe because you think another ingredient might improve it. You find an unusual solution to an irritating problem. Maybe you write a story. Perhaps you make something for your garden.
You might take photographs, design a website, restore an old piece of furniture, create a video, invent a game for your grandchildren or discover a better way of organising your working day. You might have an idea for a book, course, craft, piece of software or digital product. Some creations are enormous. Others are wonderfully ordinary. They still require creativity.
It Starts with Your Imagination
And don’t tell me you have no imagination. Ever worried about something? Ever looked forward to something? Your imagination is probably running riot in those circumstances. Imagination is fundamental to realising your creativity. Before we can create something, we have to be capable of imagining something that isn’t there.
That doesn’t necessarily mean seeing a perfectly finished creation in your mind. Often it begins with little more than a vague thought.
“I wonder if…” “Wouldn’t it be interesting if…” “There must be another way…” “I’ve always wanted to…” Those unfinished thoughts are worth paying attention to. We are very good at dismissing them. An idea arrives while we’re making a cup of tea, walking the dog, sitting on a train or trying to get to sleep. For a few seconds it seems interesting. Then everyday life intervenes. By tomorrow, we’ve forgotten all about it. Creativity doesn’t always announce itself with trumpets and fireworks. Sometimes it quietly taps you on the shoulder and waits to see whether you’re paying attention.
What If You Don’t Feel Creative?
That’s perfectly all right. You don’t have to declare yourself a creative person before you’re allowed to explore creativity. Nor do I think we need to spend hours examining why you might feel that way. You have arrived where you are through your own combination of experiences, interests and circumstances. Someone else’s journey will have been completely different. What matters to us is where we go from here. If you already consider yourself creative, perhaps you would like to develop that creativity and discover new ways of using it. If you aren’t sure, perhaps you would simply like to explore.
And if you’re firmly convinced that creativity is something other people possess, I hope you’ll give me the opportunity to change your mind. Not by telling you that you are secretly a great artist or undiscovered genius. Simply by encouraging you to start using something that is already part of you.
Creativity Is a Practical Skill
This is an important part of what we want to explore here at the Product Creation Academy. We aren’t interested in creativity simply as an abstract idea. We want to use it. That might mean exercising your imagination, experimenting with different ways of thinking, exploring ideas or learning to notice possibilities you previously overlooked. Eventually, you might decide to take one of those possibilities and make something from it. That is where things become particularly exciting. An idea that exists only inside your head can become words on a page, an image on a screen, an object you can hold, an experience someone else can enjoy or something that solves a problem.
Perhaps it eventually becomes a product that somebody wants to buy. Perhaps it doesn’t. There is plenty of time for all of that later. For now, I think we should begin somewhere much simpler.
Let’s See What You Can Create
You don’t need a business plan. You don’t need a niche. You don’t need to know what your first product will be. You don’t even need a particularly good idea. All you really need at this stage is a little curiosity and a willingness to explore. Over the coming articles, we’ll look at creativity from all sorts of directions. We’ll explore where ideas come from, how imagination can be exercised, how we can look at familiar things differently and how a fleeting thought can gradually become something tangible.
There will be practical things to try as well. Nothing complicated. Creativity is something to experience rather than merely read about. Most importantly, I’m not going to tell you what you should create. That’s your part of the adventure.
Our job at the Product Creation Academy is to help you discover your creativity, develop it and use it. Who knows where that might lead?
Maybe you really are more creative than you think.