Chapter 3 Exploring the Creative Mindset In This Chapter ▶ Accepting your creative nature ▶ Becoming conscious of your consciousness ▶ Looking at states of creativity ▶ Understanding creative differences re you creative? This isn’t a trick question. If you think you’re not, this Ais unfortunate, because creativity is a universal resource, like language. You learned to speak at an early age because you had a natural facility, and you began to absorb words, then join them up, and pretty soon you could string sentences together. And while you were learning to speak, you were exploring the world in other ways: drawing, finding out how things worked, and how you could get what you wanted. All these are creative activities. If you don’t think you’re creative, it’s because somewhere along the way you became disengaged from the creative experience and acquired a belief system that defined creativity as something for other people. You can develop a cre- ative mindset. An excellent starting point is to recognise the creativity in your own environment then to expand your vision to wider horizons. Creativity comes in all shapes and sizes, and its manifestations take many different forms. Regardless of what you may be inclined to think, plenty of evidence suggests that all people are, in fact, creative in their chosen occupa- tions and their daily lives. (c) 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 50 Part I: Laying the Foundations: Understanding Creativity Being Creative – All the Time If you already understand that creativity is part and parcel of everyone’s daily life, you’re better equipped to spot creative thinking in action. In gen- eral, it helps to nurture a positive and receptive attitude to evidence of cre- ative thinking. Creativity is an inbuilt response to many kinds of challenges. When a situ- ation demands it, most people are more than capable of pulling a creative rabbit out of the hat. But even if you can’t be continually creative at first, you can ensure that you make yourself aware of it and observe the creativity around you. Develop a habit of noticing the little things that stimulate your imagination. Every time you think ‘That’s clever!’ or ‘How did they do that?’ follow up by exploring your observations a bit more thoroughly. Many artists cultivate this technique as a way of keeping their vision sharp. It’s part of a wider pattern of vigilance and being curious about everything. Realising that you can’t not be creative If cold hard logic ruled the world, creative expression would have very lim- ited opportunity for appearance. Buildings would be functional, work would be endlessly dull, and leisure time would be very, very quiet. Fortunately, creativity has a tendency to burst through even the strongest barriers, and it crops up in the most unexpected places. You have creativity in your blood, even if you haven’t consciously explored it yet. Creative thinking manifests itself every time you encounter an unfamil- iar problem. You automatically enter an interrogative mode: ‘What’s this all about?’ You search your mental filing system for similar situations, and you begin to formulate hypotheses and test them: ‘It looks like one of those I dealt with before. Let’s try this. Did that work? What next?’ Next time you encounter a problem, try to step back and watch your mind at work. Note the kind of questions you ask. Consider the processes you engage as you move to the solution. Notice how you feel when you realise you’ve cracked it. As you explore creative thinking in an everyday context, whether it’s solving a cryptic crossword or assembling some flat-pack furniture, notice the emo- tions that accompany the stages of the activity, from problem to solution. (c) 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Chapter 3: Exploring the Creative Mindset 51 Evolutionary eating Creative thinking even affects the food you eat. used to adorn public buildings. Noted archi- Many commonplace products have taken time tect Sir Christopher Wren nearly placed to evolve to their current status: them on St Paul’s Cathedral when he rebuilt it after the Great Fire of London in 1666. ✓ When people first imported potatoes from the Americas, they ate only the leaves – ✓ Soya has acquired many different applica- they thought the tubers from the soil were tions from its original function as a simple poisonous, and so discarded them. source of protein to its current use in dozens of forms, from sauce to milk to meat ✓ Pineapples were once so rare and exotic substitute. Each new direction was the that only the wealthiest could afford them, result of thinking creatively. and people used them as decoration instead of food. Their unique shape was Exhibiting everyday creativity Every day, you and those around you perform dozens of actions, large and small, which demonstrate creative thinking. You may find a better way to juggle your shopping bags and open the front door at the same time. You may discover a shortcut in a task you thought would take a long time. Or you may find a previously undiscovered route to a familiar destination. All these little improvements in daily life reflect your creative mind at work. And if this is happening at the most basic level, imagine what you may discover when your mind is actively engaged in seeking creative solutions. It’s salutary to consider everyday processes like these that must have taken a long time to achieve their current state. Likewise, many now-familiar products haven’t always existed in their present form, such as the humble ballpoint pen which gradually evolved from the quill pen over several generations. In daily life, notice the next time you find a new function for an old product, or a colleague does. Consider anything from using a bottle as a vase to creating funky handbags from old clothing. Then think up another new function. Knowing creativity when you see it Sometimes creativity is out in the open for all to see, and everyone recog- nises it. You may see a great film, read a stunning book or hear an exciting new song. These examples are all conspicuous creativity. But you can find less obvious evidence of creativity if you make the effort to look for it. (c) 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 52 Part I: Laying the Foundations: Understanding Creativity Sometimes creativity is hidden from view and has to be unearthed. For example, most graffiti is an eyesore, poorly executed tags scribbled in public places for nuisance value. However, on occasion some diamonds in the rough stand out by virtue of superior thought and execution. Indeed, the American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat was discovered through his graffiti, and in the UK most people now know the work of Banksy, who uses graffiti to make incisive political statements. Next time you encounter something unusual, whether it’s a wall painting, a customised car, or the individual style worn by a teenager, don’t just dismiss it, but look beyond the surface at what’s being communicated. You may just surprise yourself. Having the creative touch In the world of art and antiques, all kinds of experts earn their livelihood through their deep knowledge of their subject. Most of the time they’re very good at what they do, identifying and dating even the most obscure artefacts in their specialist fields. However, the issue that separates the best from the rest is the ability to spot fraud. Galleries and collectors alike fear that on careful examination, a price- less piece may turn out to be a fake. In fact, this has happened many times. Specialists have even exposed as fraudulent copies works that have hung in national galleries for years. A small group of experts can tell, at just a glance, whether something is real or a fraud. In his book Blink, Malcolm Gladwell calls this form of rapid cog- nition thin-slicing. It seems that deep knowledge of a subject allows some individuals to tune in to the essence of a challenge with only the briefest exposure. Gladwell reports this phenomenon in a number of fields including medicine, when doctors are able to make accurate diagnoses with minimal information. Another manifestation of the creative touch is the talent some artists have for making good marks, where every line they draw or paint seems uniquely beautiful. The disciplines of drawing and painting are difficult to master and maintain at a high level, and most artists produce their fair share of second- rate output. Artists offer a wry compliment in the presence of genius, and grudgingly admit about the handful of truly special individuals in every gen- eration that they ‘couldn’t make a bad mark’. Picasso was one of this rare breed whose every artistic endeavour was superb. If you visit the Picasso Museum in Barcelona you can see the rapid sketches of doves Picasso made at the age of five, which caused his father – himself a skilled professional artist – to put down his brushes in deference to genius. (c) 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Chapter 3: Exploring the Creative Mindset 53 Knowing the Moment versus Knowing the Outcome Creative thinking often has an unpredictable outcome. Indeed, sometimes the aim of thinking creatively is to end up in a new, unknown place. One well-known example of the unpredictability of the creative urge is the song ‘Yesterday’, one of the most-recorded and best-selling songs of all time. Apparently the melody came to Paul McCartney in a dream, and when he awoke, he thought it was quite good.