Being creative isn’t just something you are, it is what you do that makes you creative. The person who sits at home thinking up all of these wonderful ideas isn’t anywhere near as creative as the person who goes out and makes something happen, even if the result isn’t the most unique or useful.
The process of creation usually begins with a series of seemingly useless failures. Ideas that seemed great in our heads become nothing but half-finished manifestations of what we thought was the next greatest thing since sliced bread. It can be frustrating, and downright disappointing to see less than what you think is your best.
However, research has shown that it’s this process that is necessary for you to get the final result you will consider worthy of your creativity.
Based on work done in the field of Artificial Intelligence, the best way to come up with a finished creative product is to do numerous iterations that build on itself to create something valuable. Additionally, the less you focus on only getting to your end goal, the more likely it is that you will come to it.
This is highly counterintuitive, though I have now grown to appreciate the idea, as well as its limitations.
Obviously, in certain cases, trying to get from point A to point B is best accomplished by knowing where the end is in relation to the beginning, and working directly towards it. No one suggests that the best way to get an engineering degree is to take random classes and hope that you will have sufficient credits at the end to qualify.
However, in more creative approaches, sometimes banging your head against the wall while pushing towards your defined goal isn’t necessarily the most efficient way to accomplish it. In AI research, they found that by giving a robot the ability to try all sorts of different movements, instead of focusing solely on becoming better at walking, the robot actually hit on some key points that it would have missed otherwise.
The same could be said about invention for example. Or writing. Or painting. Or really anything creative. Trying out new ideas, styles, or techniques that may not be directly related to what you think you need can give you tons of creative inspiration. And by mixing the quest for creativity with regular practice, your abilities become greatly enhanced and the end product will be that much better.
I think part of the confusion lies in the word “create” itself, since this word can be used to mean simply “to bring something into existence” (e.g., in the way babies are created by their parents), without actually being inventive or original (e.g., babies have “happened” the same basic way for time immemorial). In this sense, we can create everything from a color combination to a salad without ever having to have had a unique idea or combination of ideas. This type of “creation” (i.e., simply making or doing) is typically best after having an idea of “how to get to point B” (e.g., obtaining an engineering degree, following a recipe for salad, using software or sites like Kuler to choose a color combination, or learning about “the birds and the bees”).
However, the word “create” can also be used to mean “to bring something new or unique into existence.” Yes, every “new” idea sparks to some degree from ideas that preceded it. But without getting into philosophical debate, this is the type of “creativity” where it is beneficial to live the process rather than being overly concerned with the end goal.
Good thoughts, Ryan.
Great post here, Ryan. I loved your last line – “And by mixing the quest for creativity with regular practice, your abilities become greatly enhanced and the end product will be that much better.” It really is a quest. Where most times we just see the end goal and only want that, it is the quest that sparks new ideas and makes things better.