3 Steps to Deeper Creativity (2 min read)

Written by Millionaire’s Digest Team Member: Austin Wiggins

Founder & Owner of: Writing by Ender

Millionaire’s Digest Team, Contributor, Books, Writing Writer and Author of the book Bonds that Bind

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When one pictures creativity the stereotype is often an artist or writer. Though these professions have creativity in common, they aren’t the only ones who can take advantage of this skill (pay special note to skill, rather than talent). People in business, lawyers, mathematicians, scientists, doctors and many others can reap the major benefits of creativity. After all, creativity is simply the ability to think outside of the box, and the ability to combine dissimilar thoughts. When expressed this way, the inherent importance of creativity is near-palpable. This article serves as a guide to deepening, or even jump-starting, your creativity.

Step One: Change Your Mindset

Echoing back to calling creativity a skill, it is imperative that you alter your mindset. Creativity is more than an innate talent. It is an all-together achievable skill you can hone. People have come to accept that experts who are adept in a certain field have some unattainable talent. There is a book that addresses just that called The Talent Code. It helps dispel many false ideas about talent.

Hard work is required but it’s only through effort that you can develop skill and proficiency. View creativity as an attainable skill, one that takes work but can be refined through substantial play as well.

Step Two: Consume Creative Ideas

A pretty logical step, but one that’s often breezed by. It’s important that you devour creative thoughts. Creativity demands a frame of reference. You need to know what has been done and what hasn’t. You need a decent understanding of your field as well as other fields to integrate them into a holistically unique product. This is one of the goals of creativity. Creatives are all putting out a product of some sort: Writing, art, music, an eloquent speech, an invention or a business proposal.

A writer should not only read a lot but study other subjects deeply as well. Likewise to the businessman, who should comprehend both the business in which they operate and beyond.

The type of consumption I’m suggesting isn’t a shallow reading. What I’m suggesting within your consumption of creative ideas, is to weave a spider web. Learning something new doesn’t help if it doesn’t tie to something relevant in your own web. So when you learn something, find ways to connect it to what you already know and do it in ways beyond your first thought.

Step Three: Produce and Seek Feedback

Creativity is thought and the purpose of thought is action. It would be wasteful to have gotten to step two without reaching out to this step. Luckily, this step is the easiest to understand. In whatever way you deem fit for yourself, it is now time to create. Write, paint, invent, innovate, whatever it takes to synthesize the creative ideas you’ve been absorbing.

But don’t stop there! Feedback completes the cycle. Learn what works and what’s broken about the creative ideas you presented. Opening yourself to feedback is often terrifying but you’ll soon see how vital it becomes. It will lead to a period of growth you’ve thought unattainable.

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Article Credits: Austin Wiggins

Millionaire’s Digest Team, Contributor

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