If you don’t sit in a café all day sipping at frappuccinos, does that mean you’re not a creative person?
Or every time you look at a blank computer screen, sheet of paper, or painting canvas, and don’t come up with a brilliant work of art, does that mean you’re not the creative type?
And what about when you have a project that you need to work on and you can’t come up with any original idea for it, does that mean you’re not creative?
You bet it does.
But - just because you can’t think up creative ideas all of the time - that doesn’t mean you don’t have the potential to be creative. In-fact, you have the potential to become a creative genius. You just need to understand how to use your creative potential (because, despite what you may believe, you have a lot of capacity for creativity).
Everyone has creative potential. From scientists discovering a cure for some lethal disease, school teachers thinking up a lesson for their next class, or you trying to find a way to fill up that empty sheet of paper or computer screen, we all use our creativity to solve problems. Everyday of our life.
When you get up in the morning and decide what clothes to wear, you are using your creativity to choose an outfit for that day. When you drive, ride your bike, or walk to work or school you use your creativity for choosing a route to take. When you decide on what to eat for lunch, when you organize your closet, when you avoid that annoying co-worker, and even when you decide what to say to your friends and family, you are using your creativity.
In order to really harness your creative capabilities (and not limit your creativity to solving mild, everyday problems) you need to first accept the fact that you have the potential to be more creative, you need to let go of limitations, open your mind to ideas you never would have accepted before, and stop worrying about making mistakes.
When you are feeling uncreative, remember what American author Mary Lou Cook once said: “Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.”
You have a lot of creative potential. The only thing stopping you from being truly creative now, is yourself.
Original photo by the brilliant photographer Sherman Tan.