Monday, August 31, 2009

A Guest Post on Creativity

Now, this is a first for Aa..ha! [Thinking Inside the Blog] :-)

Some one has written in offering to put up a special guest post here. I simply do not have any reason to refuse the offer however much I may consider this blog to be my territory - read a loony-bin of sorts. And especially so because the post happens to be on one of my favourite topics - creativity! :-) Donna has written a lovely post on how to encourage creativity in others and her every thought resonates with me! Emphasis mine!

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How to Encourage Creativity in Others


The work of the creative and curious has consistently led society to innovation and progress. Guglielmo Marconi invented the radiotelegraph system after tinkering with Heinrich Hertz’s radio wave discovery. Andy Warhol’s paintings and prints of celebrities and Coke bottles led to the popularization of pop art.
Unfortunately, creativity has become too linked with an elite few instead of encouraged in the masses. Not everyone knows how to express creativity, but everyone has the capacity to be creative. Just think of children and their imaginative qualities: an empty refrigerator box can become a space ship, a stick a sword, and a bed sheet a superhero’s cape. However, somewhere between childhood and adulthood, uninhibited creativity becomes taboo as people become more obsessed with fitting in than standing out. Many people are afraid to express their creativity out of fear of being deemed childish or weird, but as creative thinking leads to better problem solving, it is truly in the best interest of society to lift the unspoken ban on originality.

The first step to accomplishing this is to be encouraging. Team leaders and teachers should make it known that inventiveness is expected. After all, it is easier to do things the way it’s always been done than to come up with something new and exciting, so creative thought must be encouraged for it to happen.

Creativity should also be accepted to alleviate the insecurity many feel about expressing their “weird” ideas. Naturally, not all creative thinkers will contribute valuable and feasible ideas, but the impossible and fanciful thinkers should not be punished, ridiculed, or ignored. Their ideas may be laughable at the time, but with the advance of technology and social growth, those ideas may suddenly become viable. Traditional animators may have disregarded those who suggested that computers would someday do most of their work, but now computer animation has become the norm.

All too often, innovators often find themselves butting heads with those resistant to change, and they shouldn’t. Originality should be easy to bring to the public and new inventions and movements should not be shot down before it has had a chance to prove itself. If the world is ready, the movement will proper. If not, it will simply die out. Creativity should be subject to the natural course of judgment and application without the premature critical bludgeoning from traditionalists.

To maximize the creative potential of the masses, creativity must be freed of its association of being childish and bizarre. Only then can we hope to unlock the trove of brilliant ideas that lies within each person.

This post was contributed by Donna Scott, who writes about the online bachelor's degree. She welcomes your feedback at DonnaScott9929 yahoo.com

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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Creativity - When the mind is blank and attentive creation is done. Otherwise, I call it Discovery because we are influenced in someway or other whats happening around.
We discover not create.
God - The only creator.

Nimmy said...

Hobo: I think the two of us have had this discussion earlier on wherein I tried to tell you what being creative means according to the human definition. :-)
In terms of language, English clearly differentiates between the words create and discover. Discovery does not involve any value add. You discover something that already exists in its full form. But you might combine two existing things to create something new. It is another matter that the divine power within you is what probably helps you create - you need not attribute it to your "ego".

Anyway, curious to hear what Donna thinks! :-)

Anonymous said...

Very Good post on creativity.

Thanks,
karim - Positive thinking

asimov said...

In this era of Google search creativity is dying a slow death. Even for our saree designs( south Indians wear) we go to computor for designs. Original creators of such designs( you can come across many such village folks in around tamilnadu) should be encoraged. Any way its a good post.