4 Traits That Will Make You More Creative
What creativity is and 4 ways to improve it
For the first 23 years of my life, I thought of creativity as something that some people had and others didn’t.
I never once considered myself creative and as a result, always looked in admiration for all those that had the creative genius in them.
In my 24th year, however, things changed and I noticed that creativity is not something given to some and denied to others.
I noticed that creativity is subjective.
By subjective, I mean that creativity is influenced or perceived based on someone’s personal feelings, tastes, and opinions.
Creativity is also a spectrum on which we all are and we move up and down that spectrum with how we engage in creative acts and the interest we hold in doing these things.
Whether you believe you are creative or not, you are right.
I have therefore decided to address the subjective nature of creativity in this article and I know that this can help anyone that does feel creative or that does not think they have anything creative in their minds.
The spectrum of creativity
The first subjective nature of creativity is its spectrum.
This means that we all have a varying degree of creativity across different subjects and topics. I may be very good at basketball but poor at playing the trumpet…
The degree to which our creativity varies across any given subject is entirely dependent on the interest and work we put into developing it.
If this could help you better understand, let me elaborate.
There are countless degrees of creativity but for the sake of simplicity, imagine a line from 0 to 10 where you have “0” being the absolute level of no creativity at all and “10” being the level of all the creativity that can ever happen.
When you think of creativity that way, there is no doubt that you cannot identify with either being at 0 or 10.
If you identify with 0, then that means there is no creation going on in your life. It means you cannot think of ways to get out of any problems you have.
0 means you are lifeless and have nothing you can contribute to the universe however simple an idea may be.
This is however not true for anyone not even the creatures on the sea bed.
I can guarantee that you have had an idea, intuitive, or logical that you have applied in your life and has worked out. It may have been as simple as applying for a job and getting that job. This too is creative action.
Looking at it that way, you realize that you have all along been creative in some areas of your life and have not been creative in others.
Now let us consider level 10.
If you are at this level, it means you are in God mode. You know everything and are aware of all ideas in existence whether intuitive, logical or anything else. Your talents are infinite and you are the definition of life itself.
Chances are that if you are here on earth reading this, you are not at this level either.
But you are somewhere in between the two poles of creativity.
What most people consider creative is generally in the world of arts.
But all the work we do however mundane requires a certain level of creativity to get it done.
Hence if you have ever done any form of work, or if you have engaged in any form of idea generation be it a dream or thought, you are somewhere on the spectrum of creativity.
How this is important to you
Having understood this, if you desire to attain any form of creative endeavor especially in those areas such as the arts that you think you do not have the talents for, then you have to be willing to engage in mental activity that will move you up the spectrum of creativity.
You can train your brain to be more creative and learn the subjects which hold your interest.
That is why you need to engage in creative tasks that you care about to move you up the scale on the spectrum of creativity.
People’s perceptions of your creativity
The second aspect of the subjective nature of creativity is what people consider creative or not.
You may have seen those paintings that look like someone just splashed paint on a canvas and they sell for thousands of dollars.
This goes to show that creative expressions of our work mean something different to every person it is presented to.
To one, you work many mean nothing and be totally lifeless and uncreative while to another person, it may be really meaningful.
When I write, for example, some of my pieces mean so much to some people who end up leaving thoughtful comments and emails whereas other people do not even spend more than 10 seconds on the same post.
The problem is, when it comes to this kind of creative subjectivity, we tend to focus mostly on the people that find our work useless.
This is not only unhelpful, but it causes depression in our energies and makes us feel like our work is worthless and we totally ignore the few people who find it useful.
How to stay creative when you feel awful
There are ways that I use to constantly stay creative even when I have these doubts coming up in my work.
These are the ways I go about it.
1. Do your work for one person
Besides you, try to do your work as if you are trying to communicate with one person.
One of the reasons why most people lose their creative interest is that they try to do work that can appeal to anyone and they end up overwhelmed and it hurts their creative imagination.
When it comes to writing for example and I am writing an article like this one, I tend to hold an idea like I am having a conversation with one of my friends.
I see myself as if answering a question that has been asked by one of them
This helps me to stay on track and also helps me avoid the trap of putting so much information in a piece to please everybody and most importantly, it keeps me focused and engages my creativity without getting overwhelmed.
How to do this
Just think of a person you care about and see yourself as doing this work for them. Try to phrase the statements in a way that you would if you were speaking to them.
This will keep you on track and will also help you retain the authenticity of your personality in your work.
If you are doing work in other creative fields such as art or research, try to think of one problem at a time. Do not try to address all problems at the same time.
In visual art, for example, my first task is to focus on perspective first, then proportions, I go on to the anatomy of the subject, then the values, color, and lighting in that order.
Doing this helps me have maximum attention to each aspect of the drawing which makes my work look the way I want it to.
2. Merge interesting insights from other people’s work with your own
Merging things you like from other people with your own work helps you evolve as a creative individual.
Through this, you create a new form of work that is extremely good.
In improv, they do this where you add “Yes and….” to whatever the other person is saying. This helps them make their creative imaginations build onto each other and they often come up with amazing narratives.
I always drew digitally but when I started drawing traditionally in pencil, I decided to merge my work. I start with pencil work and once the portrait is done, I sometimes take it for post-processing in software like photoshop.
This not only makes my work much better but it also gives me a new point to which I can strive in making my traditional pieces better.
How you can do this.
Try to find work that you like from other aspects of your work or in other people’s work and merge it with your own.
If you for example see an amazing writer, try to find out what makes that writer amazing and then try to add that aspect in your own work and make it your own.
It will breathe new life into your work and drive you higher in the spectrum of creativity.
3. Step away from your work
Taking a break when you are in the middle of something is very important.
Doing this refreshes your mind to look at things with new perspectives.
Visual artists for example will flip their canvases, take a few steps back, cover it for a day and get back the next day or so many other forms.
I cannot tell you how many times I have done something only to come back later and look at it in disgust.
Taking a break from a few minutes to a few days will revitalize your energy and you will be in a much better situation to work on your project when you return to it.
4. Consistency
“Consistency is the hallmark of the unimaginative.” ― Oscar Wilde
Consistency is the one tool you are going to need if you want to improve in any creative field you love.
You will never be able to control how people feel about your work, you will never be able to control what they think of it but you will be able to control how consistent you are with it and the overall improvement that comes with being consistent.
We all have what it takes to be successful in areas we are interested in. Putting things in perspective helps us understand that creativity is subjective and we can also apply the four mentioned strategies to help us become more creative.
