Cultivating Creativity

Creativity has always been treated as a kind of personality trait, some people have it in large amounts, and some people don’t. There’s a more modern school of thought though, that suggests that creativity is a choice. We might be drawn by our personalities or environment into more creative pursuits, or indeed pushed away from them, but ultimately, we can cultivate and improve our own creativity. The not so distant future of creativity is potentially very exciting too; A team of US scientists at the Georgetown Laboratory for Relational Cognition has noted that blood flow to the frontopolar cortex of the brain increases when people are engaged in creative activities. By stimulating this part of the brain by ‘zapping’ it, they found that creativity can actually be boosted. Making this kind of “tailored creativity” available for the general public is their long term aim, but in the meantime, we’ll just have to stick to the creativity-boosting methods we know.

The first simple method to improving one’s creativity is to treat it like a muscle, i.e. use it! Creativity can be practiced, just like any discipline. The more time you spend trying to think creatively and practice creative activities, or indeed just allowing your mind to wander where it wants to go, the more creative you’ll become. In this sense, it’s just like running; the more you run, the better you’ll get at running! Pay attention to the “random” thoughts and ideas that occur to you, and even take a note of them, as even one of them could be a great idea! Once you’ve put yourself in a mindset whereby you want to be creative, there are few things you can do to amplify your creative productivity. It could be as simple as temporarily changing your environment: Take a quick walk outside, or go to a cafe. Exercise is also a great way of allowing your thoughts to settle.

Many professional creatives insist that a quick burst of exercise allows their thoughts to settle, and allows good ideas to emerge! It’s also important to diversify the things you take an interest in. By broadening the kind of information you consume, you give yourself a better chance of thinking in a more original, divergent way. By carrying out one or more of these changes, you’ll take a step closer to being able to harness your creativity!