Thomas Edison, “Creativity is 99% perspiration and one percent inspiration.” You notice there is a reference to actual work in there. A lot of people have a mistaken idea of what creativity is. People assume an artist is creative because they are an artist and because of the subject area that they are interested in, and that’s not true! People view artists as creative because they are in the habit of being creative, but it’s not their subject area that makes them creative. The shift that people need to make is that it’s not what you think, it’s how you think.
Creativity does not happen in vacuum. It is usually fostered by something that’s already there and already swimming around in your head or is already in use in the marketplace somewhere. That is where the best creative ideas come from. Improving on something that is already there is creativity at its best. What an awesome definition! Brian Tracy, a leading authority on personal and business success, defines creativity as simply an improvement. He also believes an improvement only needs to be 10% new or different to launch you to fame and riches. Think about that. Take something that already exists, change it 10%, and you have a great business idea. That’s basically what he’s telling you. Many great fortunes were started with an idea for an improvement. For instance, the light bulb was not actually invented by Thomas Edison. He did not create the idea out of thin air. He improved an idea that was actually about 50 years old. Imagine that! People had been working on that idea for decades, and he came along and made that final improvement that catapulted him to fame and fortune and changed the way that we live.
It has been suggested that people think of 3 to 4 good ideas while they are commuting and sitting in traffic, ideas that could turn into a great business. Isn’t that something?! They just don’t happen to take action on it because they don’t believe that the idea is good enough. Creativity does not happen in a vacuum, and creativity is made visible by taking action.
The other big misconception is that creativity is some flash of inspiration. That is a very common belief, a light bulb that turns on. It‘s really the culmination of a lot of information gathering, and letting it sit around in your brain. You spend time tossing the information around. The information goes through a process of flowing through your thoughts. That flash of inspiration looks like it’s some kind of momentary thing but it’s really the culmination of minutes, hours, even years of incubation.
Here’s an interesting little anecdote and this is from Keith Sawyer, who is an Associate Professor of Education and Psychology at Washington University in St. Louis. In 1990, NASA scientists were trying to fix distorted lenses in the Hubble telescope. The telescope was already in orbit. They decided that they wanted to put small mirrors inside the telescope to correct the image, but how were they going to get all of those little mirrors in that small space.
Well, one of the engineers was taking a shower in his hotel in Germany and noticed a shower head that was on an adjustable rod. Eureka! He realized they could use a folding arm to place those mirrors in the telescope. So there was the flash of inspiration and yet he had all the information. They’d been working on the problem, and that flash happened as a result of being open to everything in his environment. That’s a good explanation of creativity!
By Lucretia Torva. I am a freelance artist painting murals, portraits and faux finishes in the Southwest. I have a Master of Fine Art from the University of Illinois. I have taught college level art courses, helping hundreds of people tap into their creative abilities. I managed a department of artists for a production art company. Successfully freelancing for last 7 years, I have been selling my artwork for the last 25 years. Go to: http://www.creativepowergenius.com , and get on my mailing list!
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