Creativity: The Variety Pack Edition
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Let’s start with a couple of facts on creativity …
While there are many definitions of what creativity is, it’s rather elusive in how we measure it. It’s subjective, personal and difficult to define when we’ve experienced it. But in hopes of giving some context, a quick definition summary of creativity is an ability to produce or bring something into existence that’s both original and valuable to someone.
Secondly, neuroscientists have proven numerous benefits to creativity by studying our working memory, ability to abstract, plan and demonstrate cognitive flexibility. In those studies, creativity has been known to relieve stress, give you bursts of energy, help you maintain emotional balance, increase empathy and tolerance levels towards others and increase brain plasticity, which gives us the ability to rewire brain functions and experience growth.
My next thought then is why and when does creativity seemingly stop being encouraged? My guess is right around the same time play becomes “inappropriate.” When you’re a child, it seems like everywhere you turn you have paints and colors, new toys to figure out, and adventure books that send your imagination running. You make up stories and wacky characters, sing and dance, and frankly just have fun being you. Maybe I was just a goofy kid, maybe my nieces are goofy too, but likely I’m not too far off from what you remember or experienced during childhood. It was a time of endless opportunity and invitation to try something new, create something out of nothing and play your way into learning something you might eventually love. As we age, where does that excitement and variety go? Well for me and a lot of other people lucky enough to work in a creative field, that excitement for variety doesn’t go very far.
As creatives, we thrive on variety, gathering information, and live to question things. We piece things together, reimagine what’s considered possible, and reframe what we know until something just clicks. It’s a nurtured way of thinking that simply becomes a part of our toolkit. We’ve trained our brains to never stop thinking, to constantly be running programs in the background as we go through life, which at times can be both a blessing and a curse. But when and how do we keep feeding the machine that feeds us? The answer is all the time and through endless variety.
There are ways to bring creativity back, you just have to look for it.
Here are 3 ways to introduce, use, and leverage variety to recharge your creativity:
Try new things, go different places and explore new topics. Traveling is one of the best ways to create new paths with what you already know. When you’re somewhere abroad, you’re like a sponge, taking in all your surroundings, new smells, new language maybe, new foods, etc. It’s a great way to physically immerse yourself in the variety of something new. However, you can travel mentally too through books and/or learning new skills. Either way, you’re recharging your creative battery and opening up new opportunities for inspiration and innovation.
Have a hobby. Do you like cooking, woodworking, building motorcycles, going to medieval festivals, cosplay, birdwatching, surfing, rock climbing, gardening, karate, cheesemaking, painting, writing, playing music, lego building, dancing, stamp collecting, coffee roasting, etc. etc. Whatever you’re into (keep it legal), do something creative for you outside of what you do. Your hobbies forge new creative paths, have the opportunity to bridge creative thought, and make you uniquely attractive to others.
Consult with “The Committee of Sleep.” Our dreams are collections of both our memories and our imaginations. As we sleep, our subconscious has the freedom to explore the realm of possibility, gifting our waking brains with stories, ideas and new insights. In her book, “The Committee of Sleep,” Harvard Psychologist Deirdre Barrett, Ph.D. discusses the importance of focused thought before bed. Before you sleep, try thinking of/focusing on the problem. Each time you wake and have a dream memory, write it down. The solution could very well be in the interpretation of the dream.
Everyone is capable of being creative. We can all tap into our memories and life experiences to shape what we don’t know into something familiar. We only need to devote time to it, nurture it and feed it. Producing or bringing something into existence that someone values is a gift and we can all do it; we just need to find the right balance of variety in our creativity.
Sources: Connecting the Dots: Your Brain and Creativity and The Committee of Sleep: How Artists, Scientists, and Athletes Use Their Dreams for Creative Problem Solving
