Why it is hard to be creative?
Creativity is one topic in self-development courses that evokes immediate responses from students, entrepreneurs, innovators, etc. If you search internet, there are hundreds of techniques to improve creativity. Coaches, self-development experts claim that creativity can be trained. While I agree to some extent, I have few reservations about the claim. First, about the techniques. One must keep in mind that these techniques are processes and methods to acquire certain skills. A process requires certain initial conditions and process parameters to be successful. For instance, some skills may require prior knowledge of related subjects. A chemical reaction will complete upon meeting process parameters such as temperature, pressure, etc.
Similarly, creativity is a process that can be taught by methods with conditions and parameters. I will focus on conditions and these conditions will determine creativity. In my observations through interaction with innovators, four conditions emerge. I will elaborate on them below.
1) Passion
It is not the expertise in a specific subject that determines creativity. But, it is the passion and interest towards the specific subject determines the output and the conditions for creativity to happen. While it is not clear why and under what initial conditions one is drawn towards a specific subject, the intensity of the passion excludes all other interests and focuses the mind towards the subject. The intensity of the passion also brings two most important attitudes for a creative life — perseverance and endurance for the purpose of the subject above all other interests.
2) Personality
Two characters emerge and define the personalities of innovators and creators. They are a) ability and tendency to be self-immersed over a long period of time, b) clarity of thought or single-minded purpose of thought.
In a normal world, point (a) means boredom, idleness. In a competitive world where time is money, doing nothing is looked down. Of course, most of us can’t remain idle. We have to keep our minds engaged in apparent activities, keep doing something. Psychologically, this means that brain is continuously engaged with receiving inputs and there is very little space and time to produce output. Imagine hundreds of posts, messages and mails through social media at any point of time, not counting youtube videos, games, etc. Hence, point (a) means effectively blocking inputs and allowing outputs to happen from the brain.
Point (b) — clarity of thought is directly linked to point (a). Take a few minutes to observe our brains. The brain chatters continuously about the events of the previous day, about work, school and conversations with friends, spouse, children or boss. Innovators are able to forget themselves. They are able to bring in the subject of passion only. This does not mean meditation in the religious or spiritual sense but the ability to switch off external disturbances, however, interesting and important they might be.
3) Place
What I mean by place is a location where the brain is completely relaxed. It could be a fixed place or mobile. The latter means a short ride without any destination either by yourself or in a public vehicle. When I am pondering over problems, I have had solutions when I was on the motorcycle with fresh air hitting my face. It could also be specific places where the atmosphere acts as a stimulator for fresh thoughts. It could be café, beach or any other unknown place. It need not be a quiet place, even busy railway stations may help drown the mundane thoughts and help focus on the subject.
4) Time
Some creative outputs may happen only at specific duration of the day, week, etc. This could be true in the case of creative writing, etc. However, in my interaction with innovators, I have observed that solutions or creative outputs in the midst of any other activity or engagement, just like the Eureka moment for Archimedes. This is because, in my opinion, the first two conditions mentioned above are already met. This happens when the brain is engaged in a mundane and regular activity, where there is no conscious effort and the creative output just bursts forth.
While it is a hypothesis that creativity is inherent, psychologically, our brains are wired in numerous ways that leads to different characters. These characters determine the pursuit of our lives and goals. Training on creativity will be successful only when the conditions are met. Mathematically, processes and techniques are necessary but not sufficient unless the conditions are met to make a person creative.
