Six Steps Of Creativity

Step One is CAPTURING the idea. This is preserving a new idea as the creative idea occurs to you, and preserving this new idea without judging it. If you judge it you may discard the idea before you have really explored it. The odd thing is that when the brain is being creative it is so focused on that process that it sometimes fails to turn on the memory center. That’s why writing stuff down is critical. In the CAPTURING stage of creativity, being non-judgmental about the ideas that pop up.

Step Two is CHALLENGING the mind. Give yourself tough problems to solve.

It is surprising what a man can do when he has to, and how little most men will do when they don't have to. ~Walter Linn

There is an old saying, when things get tough the tough get going (going toward solutions, not going to avoid the tough stuff.) When things are difficult for us different parts of yourself, differing behaviors start to compete with one another and the tension and interconnectedness that arises from this challenge create new solutions and new, different behaviors.

It is in the interconnecting of behaviors and decisions that creativity is born. This is the reason for welcoming different viewpoints and perspectives within the organization and within the leadership structure.

Step Three is BROADENING the idea. The more diverse your knowledge is, the more interesting your interconnections will be. You can actually boost your creativity simply by learning interesting new things. It is not worthless to study music if you are a scientist, or biology is you are a poet. You just don’t know which stuff you are learning is going to be useful later, nor can you know when this off subject stuff is going to spark a creative act. The more you look, the more you see, the more you know the more creative you can become. When you fail to branch out and explore new and diverse ideas, stagnation sets in like gangrene.

I don't believe in intuition. When you get sudden flashes of perception, it is just the brain working faster than usual. But you've been getting ready to know it for a long time, and when it comes, you feel you've known it always. ~Katherine Anne Porter

Step Four is MULI-SOLUTIONAL, or that there is always more than one right answer. A deceptively simple observation, and extraordinarily powerful. If we stop after we find the right answer we may never find the best answer. The right answer may work with some situations, while others require totally different solutions. Haven't we learned that one size does not fit all; there are no silver bullets; and that learning and creativity beget diversity?

It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all. ~Edward De Bono

Step Five: Don’t Fear Failure.

Why? 1) We must not fear failure because it will keep you from trying.

A failure is a man who has blundered but is not capable of cashing in on the experience. ~Elbert Hubbard

The surest way to 100% failure is to not do anything. The novel will never be completed if it is not started.

2) We must not fear failure because failure is a pod and the seeds of success are found inside. The Thomas Edison quote fits great here:

I didn't fail. I just found 1000 ways how not to make a lightbulb.'~Thomas Edison

Step Six: Clarify Success. Vincent Van Gogh only sold one painting in his entire life, but few would say he was a creative failure. He was certainly a failure if success meant he enjoyed fame and riches during his life time. Few would say Emily Dickenson was a creative failure because she failed to publish in her life time, and had no recognition as a poet while alive. Having the wrong idea of success can become a block to creativity. If success means, fame, or money, then the efforts to develop your skills will seem worthless.

The ideals which have lighted me on my way and time after time given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. . . . The ordinary objects of human endeavour -- property, outward success, luxury -- have always seemed to me contemptible. ~Albert Einstein