Creativity isn’t something reserved for gifted individuals, and it has little to do with talent.
It is a skill — like shooting a basketball or throwing a dart — and it can be learned by anyone, regardless of inherent ability. It’s wrong to think of it as exclusive to artists and poets.
I’m a business reporter, for example, and I write about economics for a living. It is sometimes formulaic, and usually riddled with data. Not quite a role that fits anyone’s creative stereotype.
Yet my new book, Life Between Moments: New York Stories, just notched a #1 bestseller ranking across multiple categories on Amazon, including Literary Fiction Short Stories.
I shake my head at how flimsy my first attempt at fiction was from a couple years ago. The characters were made of straw and the plot wasn’t believable. I was incapable of penning a description without an adverb.
But diligence goes a long way (you can grab my bestselling book here).
Most people misunderstand creativity as something reserved for a select and talented few, but this couldn’t be further from reality.
I don’t harbor an innate gift for storytelling any more than someone else. But I have always believed in the power of consistent, genuine effort. I set out with the belief that I could become more creative just by showing up — and my new book leads me to conclude my hypothesis was true.
Sheer volume of practice, to many social scientists (remember the 10,000 hour rule Malcolm Gladwell popularized in Outliers?) is often what determines the difference between good and great.
In my fiction training, on no single day did I make a tremendous output. My progress stemmed instead from my unwillingness to miss a day.
My book now become a success not because of any innate creativity, but my determination to accrue hours practicing my craft.
Intentional action can be powerful, and lead to a steep upward trajectory. When applied to creativity, in particular, the results can be extraordinary because they subvert expectations.
The very best work we produce happens when we contribute something that is new, and that makes an improvement upon something old.
In other words, the most fulfilling stuff we can pursue is creative work.
Creativity is more important than ever
Almost every professional today is called upon to conjure an original idea on a regular basis.
Creativity happens in spaces as small as a pithy tweet, or as dynamic as a corporate marketing campaign or a mathematical algorithm or line of computer code.
Whatever the medium, practicing creativity is about sharpening your axe and finding your voice. The aim must be that, when you’re invariably called upon for a creative task, you don’t second-guess yourself or defer to someone you believe is inherently more creative.
I don’t harp on creativity because I’m a writer, but because everyone can radically improve at the work they do when they put effort into improving creativity.
And that means everyone has a chance to become more proud of the work they do — so long as you’re willing to slog through the work it takes to get there.
Don’t wait for permission. It’s not about relying on artists or designers or musicians to share their creativity with the world, but practicing until you realize you have just as much to contribute.
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I used these ideas to write a bestselling book in a year while working full-time as a journalist. Learn more on Amazon.
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