Cultivating Creativity

The author of Eat, Pray, Love has spent her life in devotion to creativity.

"Here's what most of us know about creativity: We know that you aren't born with it, and that it can be learned; we know that people can be at their most in group setting; we know that the expression of creativity isn't exclusive to the arts; and we know that you shouldn't wait around for inspiration to strike.

But do we know that rewarding creative behaviour can stunt motivation? Do we know the creative brain depends on content just as much as it depends on imagination? Or that expecting one right answer all the time will actually prevent us from finding the right answer?"

Does a company culture heavy on measurement stifle creativity at the same time? Liz Ryan explains.

"A revolution in education...is on its way. Besides the fact that child-centered approaches–such as the one I witnessed in Ecuador and others similar to the Montessori model–have been in existence for centuries, the increasing pace of innovation has brought with it a greater awareness of the need for creative studies programs. For this reason, there are a handful of initiatives out there trying to get the ball rolling, such as Buffalo State College’s International Center for Studies in Creativity, CreativeLIVE, and Adobe’s ConnectED initiative.

And this is only the beginning. The push for greater creative freedom within both classrooms and boardrooms is leading all types of learners to seek out ways to tap into their dormant creativity. Far from a talent possessed only by exceptional painters and composers, creativity is an innate capacity within every person–whether this refers to the ability to take stunning pictures, cook delicious meals, design innovative experiments, or find new ways to solve old problems."

by Jeff DeGraff

Summary by Committed Sardine blog

“University professor Jeff DeGraff talks about the power of creativity in the following post on Linkedin. Only now are creativity and design methods being taught in some colleges. Apple, the world's most valuable corporation, is essentially a product and service design company. It turns out that creativity does indeed pay—who knew? Low-level analytical tasks are now either off-shored or performed by inexpensive software applications. Creativity has moved from a distraction to the main event. We have waited too long and cut too much to believe that ordinary creativity will be enough to move us once again to the front of the competitive class. Reinstating our old creative ways is not enough—we now need to be creative about being creative. ”

by Rick Nauert

"...a neuroscientist and a team of researchers have developed a quick but reliable test that can measure a person’s creativity from single spoken words.

"Researchers say the “noun-verb” test is so simple it can be done by virtually anyone anywhere."

by Maria Popova

“Allow yourself the uncomfortable luxury of changing your mind,” I offered in one of my 7 lessons from 7 years of Brain Pickings. Indeed, nothing stunts growth more powerfully than our attachment to the familiar, our blind adherence to predetermined plans, and our inability to, as Rilke famously put it, “live the questions.” Keats termed the willingness to embrace uncertainty, live with mystery, and make peace with ambiguity“negative capability” and argued that it’s essential to the creative process; Anaïs Nin believed thatinviting the unknown helps us live more richly, and even psychologists confirm that embracing uncertainty is essential to creativity. And yet we cling so vigorously to our comfort zones, our plans, our knowns — why?

"That’s the pattern Dani Shapiro seeks to decondition in Still Writing (public library) — her magnificent memoir, which previously gave us her wisdom on the pleasures and perils of the creative life. "

by Joshua Rothman

"This watchful, inner kind of creativity is not about making things but about experiencing life in a creative way; it’s a way of asserting your own presence amidst the much larger world of nature, and of finding significance in that wider world. By contrast, our current sense of creativity is almost entirely bound up with the making of stuff. If you have a creative imagination but don’t make anything, we regard that as a problem—we say that you’re “blocked.”

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"How did creativity transform from a way of being to a way of doing? The answer, essentially, is that it became a scientific subject, rather than a philosophical one. In 1950, a psychologist named J. P. Guilford kickstarted that transition with an influential speech to the American Psychological Association. Guilford’s specialty was psychometrics: during the Second World War, he helped the Air Force design tests to identify which recruits had the kinds of intelligence necessary to fly airplanes. Unsurprisingly, when it came to identifying creative people, Guilford found that you couldn’t measure the auxiliary light of the soul. You had to measure something more concrete, like the production of ideas."

I love Ted Talks, a series of short, powerful talks, all less than 18 minutes long, on a variety of topics that are always informational and often inspirational. If you are feeling sluggish or uninspired one day, take a few minutes to watch or listen to a Ted Talk and it will most certainly rev…

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a writer, artist or hobbyist, this article is for anyone looking new ways to get their creativity flowing again.

Need a little landing page inspiration to spark your creativity? Then feast your eyes on 17 of the most beautiful - and compelling - landing pages from across the web.

by Melanie Pinola

"Mind mapping is one of the best ways to capture your thoughts and bring them to life in visual form. Beyond just note-taking, though, mind maps can help you become more creative, remember more, and solve problems more effectively."

by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic

"The key difference between creativity and innovation is execution: the capacity to turn an idea into a successful service, product or venture. If, as William James noted, “truth is something that happens to an idea”, entrepreneurship is the process by which creative ideas become useful innovations. Given that entrepreneurship involves human agency – it depends on the decisions and behaviors of certain people – a logical approach for understanding the essence of innovation is to study the core characteristics of entrepreneurial people, that is, individuals who are a driving force of innovation, irrespective of whether they are self-employed, business founders, or employees. The research highlights several key characteristics (in addition to creativity):"

by Sean Blanda

"Sustained creativity doesn’t come from a flash of brilliance or a single afternoon of inspiration. It comes from a consistent routine that serves as the bedrock for getting things done. At 99U we’ve spoken with dozens of entrepreneurs, researchers, and creatives about their unique routines. Below are some of our favorites."

by Gregory Ciotti

"When it comes to creativity, one of our biggest concerns is usually how we can be more creative, or how to come up with better ideas. Research in this area is all over the place, but I've gathered some of the most practical studies out there to help you utilize specific techniques that can boost your creativity."

Here are 365 Creative Writing Prompts to help inspire you to write every single day! Use them for journaling, story starters, poetry, and more!