Creativity seems mysterious and unpredictable, striking like lightning when we least expect it. But it turns out that the creative process has patterns that are recognizable and can be observed and learned by practicing certain practices and mind-sets. Acknowledging these patterns helps to turn creativity from something that appears rare and magical into something that we can develop and practise on a more regular basis. Whether you’re troubleshooting a workplace problem or developing an artistic practice, you can use the creative process to find and implement new solutions to the everyday challenges you face.
Four Stages of Creativity Thinking
There are four stages of creativity have been identified by psychologists. The first phase is the preparation phase in which you are absorbing the problem or challenge, collecting information, and generating ideas. And then there is incubation, where you let your subconscious act upon the information while you go about your business. The illumination stage takes the form of the “aha moment,” when solutions take shape, often in a surprising way. And last but not the least, validation is the process of testing, iterating and executing your innovative ideas.
Knowing the stages can help you temper your expectations and streamline your creative process. Not every meeting will yield a brilliant idea — and that’s perfectly O.K. It’s essential, even, if the process is to work.
Ecosystems Of Creativity
There are some places and states of mind that many creative people know to be conducive to thinking creatively:
• Psychological safety: The freedom to entertain foolish ideas without fear of censure or ridicule • Diverse inputs: Multitudes of unique experiences, perspectives and knowledge domains • Uncommitted time: Time without a specific goal or deadline to just explore • Physical movement: Walking, exercising, or changing environments to trigger new thoughts • Constraints: In fact, a lack of constraints often leads to more creative insights than freedom • Cross-pollination: Blending ideas from entirely different fields or disciplines
Creativity loves diversity and surprise associations. Analyzing patterns in sports betting data can lead to sudden creative insights relevant to entirely unrelated fields, as the way of thinking gets applied to something new.
Overcoming Creative Blocks
We all have times when the creative juices just aren’t flowing. Perfectionism, a fear of failure, mental exhaustion, and overthinking are all a few of the tall barriers. You can counter these blocks by change of environment, distracting activities or simply a different perspective on the issue.
Carve out time dedicated to share your creative juices. Sometimes the pressure to be innovative is the greatest impediment to actual innovation. Consistent creative habits, such as journaling, sketching and holding brainstorming meetings, exercise your creative muscles even when you’re not in the mood.
Just bear in mind that much creativity is about linking ideas that already exist in new ways rather than coming up with something entirely new. Let yourself mix and remix the work of others and evolve the things you already know.
Wrapping Up
The creative process isn’t a mystery gifted only to the special few — it’s a skill that can be learned, practiced and refined. By honoring the natural progression of creativity, taking proper care and setting up structures to break through blocking, you will be able to demystify creativity, and make it a more frequent and available part of your problem solving toolkit. Keep in mind that creativity calls for inspiration and discipline, dreaming and doing. The best creative projects always balance thinking and imagination with making and execution to bring an idea to life – sometimes that just takes a little bit of grinding and refining.
