I’m sure you’ve heard people say they aren’t creative. “I’m not creative, I don’t paint.” There are even people who say they were creative as children but now they’re adults and “don’t play make-believe anymore.” Or they’re only creative when “inspiration hits” and they can’t duplicate it. Do you agree with them? Are you ready to throw in the towel and give up any hope of creative inspiration? Then STOP it! Here are some popular creativity myths and how to destroy them.
Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes and having fun.
Mary Lou Cook
I can Only be Creative When Inspiration Strikes
“I’m waiting for inspiration to strike,” said every procrastinating artist, writer, inventor, etc. It’s as if someone is waiting for a “divine” smack to the head and all of a sudden a bestselling book pops out. Or that million-dollar painting.
It doesn’t work that way. Inspiration is like making a turkey with a pop-out timer. You clean it, season it, and you even baste it. When it all comes together at the right temperature…out pops the timer. Or in your case, creativity strikes. You can’t actually make it all come together without feeding it and being ready at the right time.
But you know what you’re doing while you’re waiting for the turkey to be ready? Making side dishes, stuffing, and desserts. You haven’t stopped working while waiting for the timer. Dinner would be ruined if you didn’t make the other things while the turkey was cooking.
This is how creativity works. You have an idea for a project, but you don’t quite know how you want it to read or look. You research the information you might need, or you buy the paints, or you get the parts, or whatever else you’re going to need. Then you might work on some preliminary drawings, or flesh out some characters, or get a focus group to provide feedback on your idea. Maybe you even create a proposal or presentation for your boss.
That is all the seasoning and the side-dishes. You’re working on your projecting by priming and prepping your tool chest and doing all the preliminary work that is needed, including creating side-work, so that you’ll be prepared for that creative lightning strike. That divine spark.
I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o’clock sharp.
W. Somerset Maugham
Only Artists and Writers are Creative
I call bullshit. Everyone is creative. But most people have forgotten how or don’t even realize they’re being creative. Sure it’s easy to look at a painting and be awed by the artist’s creativity. Or read a book and feel like you’re transported into it by the writer’s creative world. But do you ever look at the work you do every day and think that you’re being creative?
Did you ever wonder about the creativity of inventors like Alexander Graham Bell, or Benjamin Franklin, or the creator of basketball James Naismith? They were not artists or musicians or writers (ok, Ben was a writer, he was also famous for inventing the lightning rod, bifocal glasses, and the Franklin Stove, among other things.) But they were able to see a need and create something new to fill that need. That’s creativity.
The ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination.
Dictionary.com
You’re being creative anytime you come up with a unique solution. Ever need to hammer in a nail but didn’t have a hammer? Did that stop you or did you find a rock or some other tool that would do the same job? You’re being creative at work anytime you find a unique solution to fix a problem.
Ever go outside the box to solve a customer’s problem? That’s creativity at work. Ever design a pretty spreadsheet because ugly ones are boring to look at? That’s creativity at work.
Only Right -Brained People are Creative
This myth kind of goes hand in hand with the above one. Did you ever believe this one? Do you believe it right now? Shame on you. If the telescope wasn’t invented, how would we have learned about the heavens? How about space travel? If the first plane wasn’t invented, then how would we get to a jet or a rocket? Creativity inspired these inventors to design and make something that didn’t exist before.
If you don’t believe that an engineer can be creative then I challenge you to watch Apollo 13. During the crisis, NASA engineers had to figure out how to remove the dangerous levels of co2 in the Lunar module using the canisters that were designed for the command module. It was a square peg into a round hole moment and the NASA engineers could only use equipment that the astronauts had with them in the Lunar module. That scene plays out with all the intensity the life or death moment deserves. And it shows how creative these engineers, these left-brained, scientific thinkers can be.
Every great advance in science has issued from a new audacity of imagination.
John Dewey
I Can’t be Creative Until…
I can’t be creative until the kids are grown…I have more money…I have an office…I have more time…
Do you hear that? It’s my bullshit meter going off again. There truly is no perfect place or time to create. People have written or painted or invented, etc. while in the most perfect settings and the worst.
Van Gogh painted Irises while living in the Saint-Rémy Asylum. Steven King wrote his first book on a make-shift desk located between a washer and a dryer. J.K. Rowling wrote her first Harry Potter book in cafes while she was a single mother living on welfare. And NASA engineers were in a small room with only the tools found in a lunar module.
What you might consider a perfect setting, someone else might consider the worst. The idea of writing in a cafe with all that noise makes me shudder. But put me in a quiet corner? Love it.
There is no perfect time for creativity either. Under pressure. With no pressure. Both times are right. At 5:00 in the morning or 8:00 at night. It’s what works best for you and your situation. Can you only find 15 minutes a day to work on your project? Well, that’s 1.75 hours more per week than if you didn’t work on it at all.
When you find yourself saying I can’t be creative until…then ask yourself why. And keep asking why until you realize that it is just an excuse and not a truth.
Great things are not done by impulse, but a series of small things brought together.
Vincent Van Gogh
What other myths about creativity do you know about? What ones did you use to believe and how did you get around it?
Oh my goodness this is all SO true! I suffered from all of this BS for years until I stumbled upon Julia Cameron about 10 years ago. I only used my creativity in ‘safe’ ways, only doing what I was ‘good’ at. But Julia’s teachings opened my eyes and the brakes were off. My entire life is about creativity and I now run workshops introducing people who ‘can’t’ to a world where they CAN! It’s so uplifting to watch people splashing paint around and being overjoyed at their results. Wonderful post Jennifer – I hope people who believe they ‘aren’t creative’ will heed your words and jump into creativity with paints, words, cameras, pencils or whatever they have to hand. ?
I love Julia Cameron and Natalie Goldberg. Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones was very freeing for me. And Cameron’s morning pages got me to just right shit out.
Such a great post! Thanks for calling out these myths! Visiting from MSTL.
Yes, we can make a lot of excuses for ourselves, can’t we? I’m the Queen of procrastination and wasting time. I call my own bullshit on that one.
I agree Jennifer, we are all creative, though maybe in different ways. I enjoy sculpting and writing. By the way, I am reading your book and really enjoying it. I especially like the part where you describe the different learning styles. sharing this post to FB
Thanks for stopping by, Christina. I’m glad that you’re enjoying the book. If I’m not writing, I find that I like crafting and even making soap from scratch. I even go back to trying to crochet. It comes out awful…but there is something soothing about it.
Jennifer, I think people don’t give themselves credit for being creative because they don’t recognize the simple things they do every day as being special. We don’t have to paint a master piece or write a beautiful sonnet to call ourselves creative. How about starting with arranging a vase of flowers?
Yes. Everyone is creative and it comes out in different ways. My mother could bake up a storm. Her cakes, pies, and cookies were sought after by all of her family. Her pie dough was especially appreciated and everyone would ask about it, they thought it was some special recipe. It wasn’t, it was the Betty Crocker recipe, but she had perfected it to a flaky masterpiece that even my chef husband couldn’t replicate. It was her thing.
Another myth for me is… what you are creating needs to be “perfect”. Yeah, I know – crazy, hmm?…. but it stops me from starting often! I learned a while back that my “form of creativity” was synthesis, connection, and frameworks. Not ideas out of the blue, or problem solution creativity. I also enjoy being creative in cooking, although only for hubby as he’ll eat almost anything I create and tell me why it’s not perfect…. I’m learning there to do without being perfect. Maybe it will roll-over to other aspects of creativity!
Oh, yes. Perfection used to stop me in my tracks. I was trying to edit while creating. It wasn’t until I started doing Julie Cameron’s morning pages that I learned to just write without stopping, without editing.
I think I’ve used all of these excuses Jennifer (and Pat’s one above about perfection!) I’m learning now that creativity comes in different shapes and forms, it can be writing a blog, trying a new craft to do with a child, knitting, leadlighting, colouring-in, and so many other little activities that I’d never have thought of years ago when it was all about “artists” rather than “creativity” – it’s nice to have discovered it before it was too late!
Thanks for linking up with us at MLSTL and I’ve shared on my SM ?
I’ve always been fascinated by creativity and how it comes out. My father’s father was an artist-a painter, even worked for Tiffany at one point in his life. My brother, son, and niece all got that particular creative skill. But my father didn’t. Instead, he became a chef and was known for his cake decorating skills way before it became a “thing” on TV. His flowers, especially roses, were perfection. For the bridal showers of all his daughters and nieces, he decorated the cake to match the invitation that went out. Everyone looked forward to seeing “Uncle Joe’s” creations.
Everyone can be creative. Too many people have been told that they aren’t, or labelled as something else, or have had efforts as a child laughed at or denigrated. Unfortunately these comments stick. It’s all about play and not at all about perfection.
So true. I put away my writing for years because someone criticized me personally as opposed to my words. But in truth, it didn’t stop my creativity. I turned to crafting and soapmaking because my creativity had to get out somehow!
Hi Jennifer, I love the analogy of preparing a turkey, and it is SO true! It really is what I do when I’m working on a project and the inspiration just isn’t coming. I move on to other, smaller pieces of the overall until my mind opens up and I can go back to the main area. We are never too old to learn and be creative!
Those “side dishes” are so important…lol. For some people, it might be washing the dishes or even going for a walk. For others, it might be working on a different piece connected to their work or even going off into a completely different craft.
I love the way you call bullshit on these myths Jennifer! I think I’ve used them all at one stage or another too. I like to say that my blog is my creative world these days and I thoroughly enjoy seeing what the mind can produce. I know I’m getting better at acknowledging these creative activities as I get older. I have pinned for #mlstl
Thanks for stopping by, Deb. And I must say, your creativity extends beyond your blog. You wrote a book and you’ve been taking beautiful photographs, too!
That’s lovely of you to remind me Jennifer, we sometimes don’t see it in ourselves do we? Thank you!
I always get frustrated when I hear someone say, “I’m not creative” or “I’m not an artist.” So many are scared of those terms like its means they’re tooting their own horn too much. I think a lot of it is inhibition. Either you can put it aside or you can’t and that seems to make a difference.
Or people think creativity is just painting or writing. But not looking at how organizing a closet is creative or figuring out the best traffic flow to get your family going where they need to be in a timely manner, or even figuring out how to fit a round peg into a square hole.
It can be difficult to get around these sometimes as they can be such convenient scapegoats for us getting in our own way for various reasons.
Yes, convenient. But not worth it.
Indeed
Thank you ! I needed a kick in the ass today.
Glad I could be there for you! 🙂
Working through The Artist’s Way taught me a lot about my own creativity, Jen. However, it’s so easy to give in to taking the ‘easy’ way out. It’s those daily steps we must take to make creativity a habit, right? Thanks for the reminder!
Wonderful article! Beautifully put together and well spoken!
I grew up in a working artist’s studio, later having my own, so part of my task was to give my students “permission” to explore their creative sides and to find their own voice. Even now, years afterwards I encourage and help co-workers to explore their creativity, giving tips to help them.
As a lifelong artist and now writer, I’ve learned to create permanent spaces for my creativity to live and breathe! My art studio in my small 1 bedroom apartment is in my living room (front room) where I have my paints and brushes in attractive baskets on my ottoman and my large canvasses (one at a time) on an old brass display easel which looks fabulous with its weathered patina. I work in Acrylics now as I love the ease I can work with this medium. I work in thin layers, glazing colors and building up tones over a Prussian blue background I pre-paint, so the quick drying aspect works to my advantage. I don’t squeeze out gobs of all sorts of colors and then stress over working fast before they dry! I work with 1 or 2 colors at a time, using small quantities. (This might be a method for some of your readers to feel confident with this medium.)
Even if you don’t want to go full-Monty with painting, there’s so many ways to let your creative flag fly! I used to carry tiny notebooks in my purse to write down my thoughts, then I discovered the notes app on my phone, where I could share content to my email, which in turn allows me to copy/paste into a Word document. This is the most discreet way to write on the go, because everyone has their faces in their phones and no one will bat an eye if you sit tapping away on a break from work when the thoughts are still fresh and bright!
Don’t wait for a perfect time, the perfect time is NOW!! Scared of not being good enough? Take a workshop to get creative juices flowing and learn a new technique! Don’t worry if it feels rough around the edges, that’s normal! With more practice you’ll find your voice and rhythm where your work will shine!
You can do this! Have fun and follow your joy!
Peace,
Tamara
https://tamarakulish.com/
https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/tamara-kulish/collections/tamaras+paintings+and+artwork
Thank you for stopping by, Tamara! It sounds like you have a wonderful spot to create, I love the idea of an old brass easel. I carry a notebook wherever I go. I like the feeling of writing pen to paper and have never gotten into using one of the apps. I start first in a notebook. And I save all my notebooks because there’s an idea in there somewhere that needs to see the light of day.
There’s a lot of fear about creativity. There’s nothing sadder than someone who draws a pretty picture or makes a lovely meal and when you say how creative they are, they can’t accept that. “I’m not creative,” they say effusively as if it’s too lofty a compliment. Being inhibited is the greatest challenge to the ‘letting go’ of creativity.
So true. Some people, no matter how creative, will deny it. But everyone is creative whether you dabble in the arts or the sciences.
I’ve always work in creative fields so I find it hard to imagine that someone would not think they are creative in some way. Even the most analytical cautious person has creativity somewhere in their brain.