NOV 12th 1-2-3: What Is A Creative?
1: What is a Creative? ( 3 minute read )
Behind the scenes of writing these entries we have our feedback group, and within this group a certain question has popped up a few times.
“What is a creative exactly?”
Some of these individuals within our feedback groups have told us they don’t necessarily consider themselves a ‘creative’, and so they read and give us feedback from that lens.
After reading they’ll come back and mention how the topics we have covered in past entries has actually been really inspiring or helpful to them within their respective fields of work.
Some could say that may be in part due to the topics we have covered being somewhat general, but I see it a bit differently.
Before I get to what I’ve noticed, let’s do our due diligence and go over a couple dictionary definitions.
The word ‘create’ is defined by the Collins Dictionary as ‘to bring (something) into existence’ or ‘to create something means to cause it to happen or exist.’
The word ‘creative’ is defined by the Collins Dictionary as ‘creating or being able to create’, or ‘having or showing imagination and artistic or intellectual inventiveness’.
Now on to what I’ve noticed.
Pretty broad definitions if you ask me, and if you ask me where I’ve found some of the most creative people in my life I’d probably answer with the most unsatisfactory answer there is.
“It depends.”
I’d answer with that because it’s the most truthful answer I could give.
I’ve found some incredibly creative people in my time working as a Sales Associate for Home Depot’s plumbing department, who had some of the most thought provokingly simple yet effective solutions to our many customer’s problems.
I’ve also met some of incredibly creative people in my time working in the warehouse for Best Buy’s shipping and order fulfillment department, who just knew all the intelligent and inventive little tricks to create efficiencies throughout the entire warehouse.
The point being that, yes there are definitely people I’d define as a ‘creative’ within fields of art, but there are people I’d likewise define as a ‘creative’ within every field I’ve had the opportunity to work in as well.
I believe creativity is a human trait. It’s within every single person to some extent or another. We yearn to innovate and imagine.
Though I will say, there is definitely a difference in creative awareness and skill between those who decide to be creative, and those who don’t.
It’s a choice.
Henry Ford had a great quote that emphasizes the effect attitude has on success and failure.
“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you are right”
-Henry Ford, American industrialist and business magnate
But for a creative I believe its more of a,
“Whether you believe you are a creative, or believe you are not —you are right.”
I have seen it time and time again, those who at one point don’t believe themselves to be creative, and then they decide to be one and their creative awareness and raw skill skyrocket.
We as humans are made to imagine and dream, and in our sometimes frequent moments of boredom we turn to art as a source of stimuli.
Art and design is everywhere. Just look at anything in your current surrounding and you’ll probably notice deliberate design decisions within it to make it more ‘pleasing to the eyes’.
Take any object within your room, big or small, and recognize how someone must have done two things to bring it into being.
They wrote a about that thing and its function.
They drew a mockup drawing of what it would look like and how it would work.
The creation of even the most mundane objects require art.
So I ask you,
Are you a creative?
2: Creative Prompts From Us (ex. Write a short story, a poem, a song, or draw a quick illustration of these! Let your imagination run free.)
I. A camera that can photograph the true image of a person’s soul. What does it see? What does it reveal?
II. What is your favorite body of work from when you were a child? What do you still like about it as an adult? How can you use this to create something new?
3: Inspirational Quotes From Others
I. “People create stories create people; or rather stories create people create stories.”
-Chinua Achebe, Nigerian Novelist and Poet
II. “Creativity is not a talent; it’s a way of operating.”
- John Cleese, Actor and Comedian
III. “Millions of men have lived to fight, build palaces and boundaries, shape destinies and societies; but the compelling force of all times has been the force of originality and creation profoundly affecting the roots of human spirit.”
-Ansel Adams, American Photographer and Environmentalist
Thank you for reading!