C for Creativity, C for ?
The interesting thing about creativity is that everyone and their cat seems to want it, but a lot of people can’t narrow down what it is specifically enough to know how to get more of it.
A hundred years ago, creativity didn’t come up so often. People got paid to go to work and do as they were told. Children were to be seen and not heard.
But over time, there’s been a shift – you’ve probably noticed. Increasingly, employers want innovation, which means they want people who can make valuable contributions and come up with smart solutions. They want creativity.
But how do you grow creativity? What even is creativity?
For some, it’s just an airy-fairy buzz word. Yet, its huge presence in society suggests otherwise.
Creativity is the application of imagination.
Imagination is the lifeblood of creativity. This relationship is crucial because it breaks down the creation of ideas into specific steps you can focus on. If you find it hard to come up with ideas, is it because you struggle to come up with ideas or because you struggle to explore and develop those ideas?
What if?
A good way to understand this is through the “what if” concept. When you think What if my cat could talk? you’re questioning an idea, an idea which is the product of imagination. You are testing that imagination by using your creativity when you follow this up with What would it say? Would it give all your family secrets away? Would the cat continually talk, demanding more and more from you? What kind of personality would the cat have?
Creativity is what happens when you play with the ideas that your curious imagination dreams up.
So what can you do?
To expand your imagination, tap into your senses.
Transform everyday objects.
See a car? Make it bigger than the house – how big is it? How would you open the door? How would you drive it? How loud would the sound of the car’s engine be? Would it echo? What if you scratched a key against the car? What would it feel like – hanging off the side of the car’s glass windows, trying to open the door? Adding texture can help bring it to life too. How would the leather of a huge car seat sitting in the sun feel as you slid down it? Try taste. What if the car were made of chocolate? Maybe even smell. Can you smell the leather? Maybe the car’s made from vegetables – what’s it going to smell like after a few days?
To expand your creativity, try the “ten uses of...” concept.
See a paperclip? Think of ten different uses for it. Clipping paper, sure, but what about joining them together and making a rope? Or holding your hair in place? Or keeping your eyelids open when you’re tired (ouch)? The “what if” exercise is another good one for creativity.
It’s funny, really, that activities like this can make such a big difference. The ones I just gave you sound super easy, don’t they? And yet it’s the skills they develop which everyone wants: creativity, problem-solving, thinking outside the box.