Definition
Creativity is the ability to go beyond the usual pattern, look at the world from different points of view, generate qualitatively new ideas and implement them. Creativity is closely related to creativity and imagination, but this does not mean that it is only applicable to the arts.
Creativity is one of the main qualities that determine a person’s success in the modern world. It increases a person’s adaptive characteristics, that is, his ability to adapt to constantly changing conditions.
The word “creativity” comes from the English creativity, which means “creation”. A creative person constantly creates something new: objects, methods, concepts, approaches. In this way, he enriches our world and contributes to evolutionary development.
Creative abilities are based on 2 components of the psyche: intellect and imagination.
Intelligence allows a person to receive, analyze and process information coming from the surrounding world. He looks for cause-and-effect relationships between objects and phenomena, forecasts possible scenarios for the development of events, assesses prospects, etc.
Imagination takes into account the data obtained through the intellect and goes beyond its standard application. It is engaged in the search for innovative solutions, breaking outdated patterns and stereotypes.
To be a creative person means to be able to go beyond the standard perception of the world and generate a unique and never before used solution to a problem. Such people are revolutionaries and engines of progress. Without them, humanity would be marking time all the time.
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What is the creative class and does it exist in Russia?
The creative class in Europe and America is usually called people who design and create new ideas, images, and products. These are designers, advertising specialists, marketers, and so on. The global task of the so-called creative class is to change the world, make it more convenient and adapt it to the needs of the population. In a less global sense - to give an attractive appearance to products, introduce any innovations related to everyday comfort, add functionality to household items and equipment. In Russia there is no creative class as such. Here these people are in the minority, since society currently needs creative developments less than European or American ones. This is due to the peculiarities of culture and mentality. However, we can say for sure that the creative direction of activity in Russia is developing. New niches are being found and created in the service market where creative specialists are required. It is difficult to predict whether Russia will catch up with Europe in this sense, but there is no doubt that the creative class will develop in Russia as well.
Basic Components of Creativity
Creativity is a complex quality that includes several indicators. They were identified by the famous creativity expert, American psychologist Ellis Paul Torrance. To determine whether you are a creative person, consider to what extent the following personality characteristics apply to you.
- Flexibility
Flexibility allows you to adjust your plans as you solve a problem if something suddenly goes wrong. For a flexible person there are no hopeless situations. He can adapt to any conditions.
- Fluency
Ability to quickly generate a large number of ideas. While some people think painfully and try to squeeze out at least a couple of original ideas, a person distinguished by the fluency of his mind churns them out like on an assembly line. He succeeds in this thanks to the absence of excessive internal censorship. He does not subject his ideas to analysis at the stage of their generation.
- Originality
The ability to look at an object or phenomenon from an unusual point of view. Originality allows you to go beyond standard templates and stereotypes, producing something fundamentally new. A necessary condition for the development of originality is inner freedom and courage. Without them, it is impossible to challenge conventional wisdom.
- Elaboration
This is the ability to bring your innovative ideas to mind. Without this quality, all generated ideas will most likely end up in the trash bin. Because they are often divorced from reality and unable to compete with traditional ways of solving problems.
- Circuit resistance
This is what Torrance called constant openness to new experiences, the ability not to get hung up on any one way to solve a problem and to use the maximum number of options.
Fashion for creativity
Currently, every second resume in the “additional information” column indicates a quality – creativity. What is a creative person? Is it so important to be creative? Yes, many specialties require making innovative decisions, the ability to think outside the box and present oneself or a product in a non-trivial way. But at the same time, there are enough specialties that do not require a creative approach. In everyday life, the meaning of this feature is even more blurred. With the fashion for creativity, many people want to appear creative and inventive even when communicating with their friends.
A non-creative person is not a person without imagination, unable to think beyond stereotyped constructions. Creativity is, rather, an integral quality for some areas of professional activity, rather than vitally necessary in everyday life. A person does not have to be creative, but it is useful to develop creative abilities at any age.
How is creativity different from creativity?
Creativity is a special type of activity that is aimed at creating something new. Creativity is often associated with art, music, painting, sculpture, poetry, although it is not limited to them.
Creativity is a special personality type that determines in people a predisposition to creative activity. It includes natural inclinations, acquired skills, desire and readiness to create, a set of character traits that determine the success and viability of generated ideas.
I recommend reading the article about the concept of personality in psychology. It will help you better understand yourself and your abilities.
A creative person is... How do you know?
The main feature of a creative personality, without a doubt, is unconventional thinking and ways of solving practical and life problems.
Such people always propose and use unique ways of doing things, rather than following the beaten path. Creativity is a distinctive feature of all successful businessmen whose names are published in Forbes lists. So, a creative person is a self-sufficient person.
The quality of life of such people is always an order of magnitude higher, but the point here is not only about material well-being; creative individuals always spend their time more interestingly and have more fun, are able to enjoy every day, and find the funny and surprising in simple things.
How to develop creativity: tips and exercises
I offer you simple tips and exercises that will help you develop creativity and move to a new level of perception of reality.
Be adventurous
I’m not talking about the kind of excitement that forces a person to spend all his money in a casino. We are talking about positive excitement, which helps to treat life as an exciting quest. A person with this type of passion perceives life with interest and curiosity, accepts all its challenges, and does not give in to obstacles. For him, any problem is an opportunity to test his strength.
You need to love the process of finding solutions to problems and find the beauty in it. Do not become despondent from hopelessness, but experience drive and pleasant excitement from the opportunity to take on a challenge. It is this attitude that will help unleash your creativity, which will grow from every meeting with problems.
Tame your inner critic
The inner critic is the main killer of original, non-standard ideas, coupled with laziness and procrastination. If you want to develop creativity, you need to learn to turn it off, or at least make it less restrictive.
Remember: any new idea may seem absurd at first. This is how our brain works! He is an incorrigible conservative. He always tries to follow the path of least resistance and save energy and time.
At first, just ignore his grumpy grumbling at your every attempt to do something non-standard. Over time, the brain will be convinced that your ideas are not so bad and have a right to life, and it will grumble much less.
Look for multiple ways to solve problems
Never limit yourself to a single solution to problems, but try to find at least 2-3. This advice applies not only to some intellectual tasks, but also to everyday everyday ones.
For example, you need to arrange the furniture in the room so that it is comfortable and aesthetically pleasing. Even when you find the ideal option, from your point of view, do not rush to implement it. Try to come up with a few more so you have more to choose from.
This habit will be an excellent springboard for the development of creativity. Each time the decisions will be more adequate and thoughtful. Your brain will free itself from the shackles of criticality, and you will begin to trust it more.
Look for the unusual in ordinary things
Learn to always look at the world with fresh eyes. It's like you're a little kid and you're just getting to know him. Notice details that were previously hidden from your view, look behind the screen of familiar things and look for little secrets in them that few people know about.
Don't let routine consume you and turn you into a robot. Take your eyes off the screen right now and look around you. Stop your gaze on a specific object and carefully examine it. What interesting things can you say about him? Maybe it has an unusual fancy shape or an interesting color? Or does it remind you of some exotic animal? Show sincere interest and a little imagination - you will definitely find something that catches your eye.
Expand your horizons
It is very useful to fill the brain with new information. Knowledge is a kind of food for creativity. To make something qualitatively new, you need to have the necessary material. No matter how revolutionary the ideas and solutions may be, they are based on previously accumulated experience, which must be taken into account.
So start being interested in something new. This may be information directly related to your field of activity, or it may simply be knowledge that interests you. Read books, watch educational programs, communicate with smart, erudite people. Fill your intellectual vessel with knowledge, and after a while it will begin to gush with new ideas.
Exercise “Favorite Song”
Each of us has a favorite song or melody. Your task is to remember it and describe it. Only the description should not be quite ordinary. At first, try to use only visual images. What color is your favorite song? If several colors are intertwined in it, try to recreate the entire picture. Think about what it looks like. Maybe to a cold mountain landscape covered in snow? Or a still life of dry autumn leaves, imbued with nostalgia for summer?
When you have a clear and vivid visual picture, add kinesthetic sensations. How does your favorite song feel on your skin? Like salty sea drops flowing down? Or like an icy wind that penetrates to the bones? Or maybe like the soft touch of your favorite cat’s fluffy tail?
Turn on your imagination to the maximum and enjoy a cocktail of feelings.
Exercise “Screenwriter”
Start watching a movie that you haven't watched before. When you reach the halfway point, stop the broadcast and try to come up with several options for developing the plot. Think about what will happen to the characters, whether the ending will be happy or sad.
I offer you a small cheat sheet of what options you can use. So, come up with:
- the most realistic plot;
- funny plot;
- tragic plot;
- plot in the style of a horror film;
- the most absurd and meaningless plot.
And then watch the film and compare your options with the original.
Exercise “Incomprehensible photographs”
Type the phrase “obscure photos” into a search engine and select a few of the strangest images. Try to come up with a logical and plausible explanation for what you see in the picture. It's good if you have several options.
Exercise “Rewind”
Learn to build logical chains not only in the forward direction, but also in the reverse direction. For example, you are dealing with a specific situation. Think about what events, moves and actions could lead to it.
You can use a chessboard for training. Arrange the pieces in a chaotic order, and then try to “rewind” the game back and imagine what moves could lead to this arrangement.
You can also use the pictures from the previous exercise and practice with them.
Exercise “Abbreviations”
Write down a few words of 3-5 letters. Now imagine that these are abbreviations for which you need to find a decoding. Here are some examples:
- NOS – scientifically based advice;
- BOX – fighting squad of red gophers;
- HALL – notes from an anonymous lecturer.
Exercise “Defocusing”
Creative thinking does not tolerate any violence or coercion. This area is closely associated with spontaneity and inspiration, so direct methods of influencing it do not work. It happens that you need to come up with a creative idea here and now, but the brain, as luck would have it, resists. In this case, you cannot put pressure on him, but, on the contrary, you need to try to let him go.
How it's done? Take a comfortable, relaxed position and begin to perceive signals from all your senses at the same time. Listen to the sounds, smell the smells, look around. The brain will try to focus on one modality of sensations - do not give it this opportunity.
After some time, he will become unfocused and reach a state close to trance. Your task is to stay in it for as long as possible. At this moment, a window into the unconscious opens - a real treasure trove of original revolutionary ideas.
Find even more exercises for developing creative thinking on our blog.
What is creativity
Although the word “creative” is borrowed and smacks of pretentiousness and even vulgarity a little, its essence is positive. Creativity is a kind of invention, the implementation of which pays off many times over, and not only in money.
Measuring everything in money is the most favorite mistake of moneybags. Creativity is like an oxygen pillow for the sick, like a sip of water in the desert, like a day of declaration of love to the person to whom you have decided to devote your life. Creativity, like a drunken cherry, invigorates and calms at the same time. He's fine. It's bad without him.
It was the way of thinking, built on a monolithic foundation of creative bricks, that gave man a wheel, a stone axe, a flint, a mill, electricity, a tractor, a car and a spaceship. No one was left behind.
Coming up with something is one thing. Implementation is another thing. And to come up with and implement it with sparkle and enthusiasm - that’s creativity. Touch it with your fingertips, taste it. Press it to your body, touch it with your cheek, evaluate its dimensions.
The entire world that exists around us was created thanks to creative, life-loving human thought. Humanity would die out without creativity.
A person decided to move faster - he needed to design a vehicle. To do this, you need to draw up a project and get a prototype. Then they build a plant: not just anywhere, but where it is more convenient and profitable, where there are minerals and human resources, etc.
And so in all spheres of life: in economics, culture, art and everywhere, everywhere, everywhere. This requires bright heads and love for life.
Love of life is not about eating buns on the couch. Love of life is the understanding that there will be no second chance and you must live with the belief that you are loved and in demand. This means that you are responsible for the bright future of your descendants.
Put the beer bottle back in its place. Turn on your brain. Opportunities are around each of us. What can you teach your own children if you yourself have never tried to change anything?
Right now someone is warming their belly in the sauna, and someone is launching spaceships. Some create great literature, while others pompously criticize without understanding the essence.
Sometimes you hear: “We were at a great corporate party. That’s okay, very creative.” And what will happen to these people after many years? As a rule, nothing good: a ruined botanical existence and complete oblivion.
Get it into your head: you are talented. Pick up a book. Every moment, educate yourself correctly, eliminate the opportunist and lackey from your body and soul.
Each of us can make a choice. To become happy you need to work hard. Creativity is given as providence to ascetics who stride widely across virgin soil and breathe deeply.
Examples of a creative approach
To help you understand how creativity works in everyday life and in business, I will give a few illustrative examples.
Tube of paste
In the mid-20th century, the well-known toothpaste company Colgate was looking for ways to increase profits. The market was saturated, the turnover reached millions of dollars, it seemed that all methods had already been exhausted.
Many round tables and brainstorming sessions were held, where it was proposed to increase investments in the advertising campaign, absorb small competitors, etc. All this advice did not suit the company’s management.
As a result, one ordinary production employee came up with a brilliant idea: to increase the diameter of the tube neck. Which is what was done. This reduced the use of one tube of paste from two weeks to one and brought the company an additional 20% profit.
Sneakers close up
Puma paid footballer Pele to start tying his sneakers minutes before the 1970 World Cup final between Brazil and Italy.
This episode, naturally, was captured by television cameras, and the whole world saw that the legendary football player was playing in Puma sneakers. This trick provided the company with unprecedented popularity and success.
Bromine at 27 cents
American entrepreneur Herbert Dow came up with a cheap way to produce bromine and founded his company called Dow Chemical. Soon his products were sold in all American states at a price of 36 cents per pound. However, Herbert had no opportunity to expand the business, since the entire world market was then controlled by the German cartel, which sold its products at a price of 49 cents per pound.
While American manufacturers stayed away from the European market, the German chemical giant stayed out of America - that was the unspoken agreement. But Herbert decided to take a risk and sent the first batch of his goods to England, which sold out with a bang. After that, he managed to establish regular deliveries.
Everything was going well until threats from representatives of the German cartel began to arrive. Dau ignored them and continued his risky undertaking. And the Germans quickly moved from words to actions. German bromine soon appeared on the American market at a price of 12 cents per pound. The cartel set out to destroy Dau's business.
But the American turned out to be more cunning. He completely stopped his production in the US and began secretly buying cheap German bromine. Dow packaged it in his company's label and sent it for sale in Europe at a price of 27 cents per pound. This is how he managed to gain a huge market share in Europe and break the monopoly of the German cartel. Consumers, by the way, only benefited from this.
Resourceful neighbor
One day I came across a funny story on the Internet. A young man shared a room in a student dormitory with a slovenly and unclean neighbor. He could not clean for weeks, not wash the dishes after himself, etc. In general, he seriously darkened life with his presence. No threats or persuasion had any effect on him.
Then the guy came up with an ingenious way to solve the problem. He registered on behalf of a girl on a dating site, which his neighbor often hung out on. Posted a beautiful photo and struck up a conversation with an unsuspecting slob. After some time, the neighbor invited his “new acquaintance” home, to which she agreed. That’s when the neighbor pulled himself together and literally licked the room until it shined.
About time planning
This principle is available to everyone, but only a few use it. Its essence comes down to the fact that creative people work at a time when their brain is most active, for example, early in the morning or late in the evening. From the point of view of esoteric psychology, this is also the time of maximum activity of the unconscious, and therefore the period of maximum disclosure of creative abilities.
In addition, it is a known fact that a creative person is a person who strives for solitude. They are not always alone, but they definitely appreciate solitude and use this time effectively. Some creative people create masterpieces alone with themselves, while others simply “fly in the clouds,” which, as we now know, is also not useless. In solitude, people are able to understand themselves, their feelings, sensations as much as possible and release them.
Nevertheless, creative people are capable of losing the sense of time, they are carried away by the process, they are interested in what they are doing. A creative person is obsessed with an idea and may not notice external circumstances.
Creativity in disguise
The next speaker especially emphasizes such a feature of creativity as non-obviousness. Sometimes a person himself doesn’t even realize how creative he is.
Anna Likintseva HR Manager ITECH.group
Does the term creativity extend to people who are not directly related to texts or visuals? Absolutely yes. Why?! Because you can’t survive in the IT field without creativity, just like without a sense of humor. Any employee needs to have creativity, since we have problems that cannot be solved without an extraordinary approach (I’ll tell you a secret - these problems arise every day). A person who is used to doing work according to instructions most likely will not be able to achieve success, for example, in the position of account manager. In my opinion, even an accountant needs a little creativity sometimes. In my opinion, creative employees are not in short supply. The main thing is to properly configure their search. If you look only for creativity in a future employee, then such a candidate will most likely turn out to be useless. You need to look for a combination of various qualities with creativity. Then success is guaranteed. Sometimes future employees themselves are not aware of their creativity. Most often, the most valuable candidates are those who did not write from the first line of their resume that they are the most creative of creative creatives. You need to look among successful managers, marketers, and PR specialists, although creativity can also hide in an accountant. And this, of course, is not a complete list of professions in which you can find a creative person.
Where did this concept come from?
Many different studies have always been conducted to test IQ; there are many different tests and techniques in this regard, and the results are measured in points.
And it would seem that those who have the highest level of intelligence have the highest chance of achieving success in life.
However, it is not.
Thanks to research, it has been revealed that success in life, solving complex problems, finding new ideas, is weakly related to high intelligence, that is, a high IQ does not guarantee success.
It also happened in life that people who had a high level of intelligence did not always achieve success, but people with a lower level of intelligence achieved much greater success.
It was then that researchers created such a concept as creativity.
Let me give you one example.
One day, an incident occurred that clearly demonstrates the power of creative thinking.
A ketchup company decided to increase its revenue. The standard solution in such a situation was to increase advertising costs, which, according to analysts, would lead to an increase in profitability by 4-5%. This is quite a bit and such growth was far from the tasks that the company faced.
The board of directors, as they say, began brainstorming, they were looking for solutions, but could not come up with anything new.
However, one engineer proposed a seemingly simple, but essentially ingenious solution.
His suggestion was to simply increase the size of the opening on the bottle.
The logic was simple: the larger the outlet, the more ketchup people will waste, the faster the ketchup will run out, and the person will go to the store to buy a new one.
This solution did not require an increase in advertising costs, but by applying it in practice, they received an increase in revenue of up to 40%.
This is one of the examples of a creative approach, when we move away from standard and template options and find something that is simple and ingenious at the same time.
Obstacles to the development of creative thinking in humans.
If you judge a fish by its ability to climb trees, then it will live its whole life believing its stupidity
Albert Einstein
The desire to be like everyone else, not to stand out, to be like others.
This approach forms a template perception and the neural connections responsible for creating new options different from those that already exist weaken. This problem comes from childhood, when children are taught to be like everyone else.
Or when a child's ideas were crowded out by peers or rejected by parents. Therefore, no one wants to be a black sheep, stands out especially among others, and here the desire to be like the rest appears.
Censorship. Internal criticism of your ideas.
In this case, it is difficult for a person to take his ideas seriously, since his internal censor suppresses them. This also comes from childhood, when people are raised too harshly by authoritarian parents who begin to forbid them everything.
Gradually, this becomes a habit and many internal prohibitions appear and an internal censor is formed, which begins to prohibit everything. Happens unconsciously.
Impatience. The desire to solve the problem as quickly as possible.
Many creative solutions do not come instantly, they take some time; when a person is accustomed to quickly solving problems, it is difficult for him to be creative.
Difficulty in abandoning habitual methods and approaches.
They say that habit is second nature. And our mind actively supports such a system, habits become the norm, they become a way of thinking.
And when we are faced with a question for which we need to find new ideas, we begin to lean towards solutions that are similar to each other, towards patterns, towards our usual experience.
This tendency does not allow us to find new ideas, since they are beyond templates, they are where we have no experience.
Why is it important?
The development of modern civilization creates completely new demands on humans. The gradual introduction of artificial intelligence makes the future very uncertain for those who are not able to think creatively.
According to some estimates, up to 60% of professions will not be in demand; robots will be used instead of people. Only an area that requires creative solutions will not be able to fully replace artificial intelligence.
Therefore, now not only a good education is becoming important, but also the ability for productive, creative thinking, this will determine success.
Well, the practical application is that you will be able to solve a variety of problems and see what was previously inaccessible to you. Success, business, solving complex issues, all this will become your new level.
And here you don’t need to think about whether I need creative thinking or not, it’s like thinking about whether I need success in life or not. You simply must achieve success and there is nothing to doubt about it, but you just need to act and rely on your development and intellectual growth.
