Many people believe that creativity is inborn and only a chosen few are creative. While it is true that creativity is inborn, it is not true that only a chosen few are creative. Everyone is born creative. In the process of growing up, educating yourself and adapting yourself to your environment, you slowly add blocks to your creativity and forget that you had it in the first place.
The difference between a creative person and a person who is not so creative is not in the creativity that they were born with but in the creativity that they have lost. How can you enhance your creative ability? One possible way is to observe the habits of creative people, identify the ones that you feel will work for you and then make a plan to cultivate them.
Here are 12 habits of creative people. If you cultivate some of them, you will feel an increase in your level of creativity. In the process, you will also feel tickled by life!
1. Curiosity.
Creative people are wonderstruck. They are tickled by the newness of every moment. They have lots of questions. They keep asking what, why, when, where and how? A questioning mind is an open mind. It is not a knowing mind. Only an open mind can be creative. A knowing mind can never be creative. A questioning stance sensitizes the mind in a very special way and it is able to sense what would have been missed otherwise.
2. Problem Solvers
When there is a problem, some people can be seen wringing up their hands. Their first reaction is to look for someone to blame. Being faced with a problem becomes a problem. Such people can be called problem-averse. Creative people, on the other hand, are problem-friendly. They just roll up their sleeves when faced with a problem. They see problems as opportunities to improve the quality of life.
3. Ideas are valuable
Creative people realize the value of an idea. They do not take any chance with something so important. They carry a small notepad to note down ideas whenever they occur. Many times, just because they have a notepad and are looking for ideas to jot down, they can spot ideas which they would have otherwise missed..
4. Enthusiasm to do more
Creative people are enthusiastic about their goals. This enthusiasm works as fuel for their journey, propelling them to their goals.
5. Persistent
Creative people know it well that people may initially respond to their new ideas like the immune system responds to a virus. They’ll try to reject the idea in a number of ways. Creative people are not surprised or frustrated because of this. Nor do they take it personally. They understand it takes time for a new idea to be accepted. In fact, the more creative the idea, the longer it takes for it to be appreciated.
6. Unhappy with the status
Creative people are acutely aware of their dissatisfactions and unfulfilled desires. However, this awareness does not frustrate them. As a matter of fact, they use this awareness as a stimulus to realize their dreams.
7. Creative people are optimists
Creative people generally have a deeply held belief that most, if not all, problems can be solved. No challenge is too big to be overcome. This doesn’t mean they are always happy and never depressed. They do have their bad moments but they don’t generally get stumped by a challenge.
8. Look at the bright Side
The ability to hold off on judging or critiquing an idea is important in the process of creativity. Often great ideas start as crazy ones – if critique is applied too early the idea will be killed and never developed into something useful and useable. This doesn’t mean there is no room for critique or judgment in the creative process but there is a time and place for it and creative people recognize that.
9. It is all about the environment
Creative people do most of their thinking in an environment which is most conducive to their creativity. If they are unable to influence their physical environment, they recreate their ‘favorite’ creative environment in their minds.
10. Scenario building
Reframes are a different way of looking at things. Being able to reframe experiences and situations is a very powerful skill. Reframing allows you to look at a situation from a different angle. It is like another camera angle in a football match. And a different view has the power to change your entire perception of the situation. Reframing can breathe new life into dead situations. It can motivate demoralized teams. It helps you to spot opportunities that you would have otherwise missed.
11. Expect the unexpected
Creative people have the knack of expecting the unexpected and finding connections between unrelated things. It is this special quality of mind that evokes serendipitous events in their lives. Having honed the art of making happy discoveries, they are able to evoke serendipity more often than others.
11. Expect the unexpected
Creative people have the knack of expecting the unexpected and finding connections between unrelated things. It is this special quality of mind that evokes serendipitous events in their lives. Having honed the art of making happy discoveries, they are able to evoke serendipity more often than others.
12. Creative people are not afraid of failures
Creative people realize that the energy that creates great ideas also creates errors. They know that failure is not really the opposite of success. In fact, both failure and success are on the same side of the spectrum because both are the result of an attempt made. Creative people look at failure as a stopover on way to success, just a step away from it.