Creativity can be the act of bringing something new into this world. Or it can be the uniqueness of each person that sets them apart from others. In the first instance, you may be creating something with your hands like painting a picture, or with your mind like writing a book. Even though in this case to create is to bring forth, you can’t help but stamp all your creations with your uniqueness. Your picture won’t be like anyone else’s and neither will your book.
So in the act of creation, we are impressing the object with our creativity. We see this aspect of ourselves developing at a very young age. Do you remember your first creative endeavors? Did you build cities with your Lego blocks? Did you make up songs in your head? How did you express your creativity? And was it encouraged, supported, and appreciated? Or was it suppressed by ignorant teachers and critical parents?
Schools typically are set up for each student to conform to the rules and do everything the same as all the other students. I remember a girl in my 7th grade class who used pink to paint the sky, only to have the teacher say, “Skies are blue!” Well, we know paintings are interpretations of how the artist sees the world, so it’s a strong probability that girl never picked up a paint brush again.
And parents, unwittingly, may want one child to be like the others, failing to nurture their differences. “Why can’t you be more like your brother,” is a common phrase in many homes.
If you find yourself lacking in creativity, whether on the job or in your personal life, maybe it’s because you never had a safe outlet for it–either in the past or the present. At work when you come up with innovative ideas, you may have superiors who prefer the status quo. If that leaves you frustrated, you may choose to suppress your creative side and just go with the flow. But if you’re a bit of a rebel, you can continue to express your ideas and hope that someday someone will see your genius. Or you can leave the “security” of a job, and start your own business.
Entrepreneurs are most often a highly creative lot. That’s usually one of the main reasons they start a business, to express their creative ideas, to build something that is uniquely them. And here is one way you can use your creativity to carve out your niche in life. If you look at some of the great inventors, you’ll see that their creative urges propelled them forward even in the face of setbacks. Ben Franklin, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford are all great examples.
In your personal life, you often express your creativity through hobbies and leisure activities. Whether it’s gardening, decorating, or sports, you do each in your own special way. You also carve out your niche in your personal life through your creative expression, which is visible in everything you do. How you dress, how you think, how you cook, how you talk. It’s all the little distinctions that make you who you are. Without it, you would be like everyone else and that would make for a boring world.
You are the creator of your world. You bring forth something into the world every day whether tangible or intangible. If you feel at all stuck or stifled in living a life filled with creative expression and creative pursuits, it’s time for you to take action.
Here are a few ways to tap into your latent creativity:
- Spend some quiet time to get in touch with how you would like to carve out your unique niche
- Take adult school classes or read biographies to get inspired
- Have a brainstorming session with other creative friends
- Join a special interest group
- Talk to a life coach to help you find out where you shine
The world is waiting for you to emerge as your special self!
This article was written by David B. Bohl – Husband, Father, Friend, Lifestyle Coach, Author, Entrepreneur, and creator of Slow Down FAST. For more info visit his blog at Slow Down Fast blog.
Image by Lakshmi Prabhala.
I agree with you. Many people don’t even know how creative they are. We at Veda Informatics provide content services. Lot of times we hire people who have good domain knowledge; most of these people initially believe they cannot write. It takes a lot of effort to help them come out of their shell and express themselves freely.
Yep, I truly believe creativity contributes a lot to success and I also beleive anyone can be creative in their own way. I never knew I was creative until I joined slogan contests and won, blogged and got praises. Now I simply enjoy brainstorming and whenever someone rejects my idea, I try not to take it personally. Afterall, there’s so many other ideas my mind can come up with. However, one important thing I’ve learnt is never let an idea go to waste, never suppress it. After all, I’ve got nothing to lose.
I was very fortunate as a child and had parents who were very supportive of all my creative attempts (music, drama, dance) and I can say I’m a writer now because of their support.
It did take me a long time, however to decide to make this a career because both my parents use their creativity only as a hobby (my mother still insists that she’s merely technical and not creative).
Fortunately, in 2003 I started my own business and then in 2006 took the next step and started writing full time.
Cheers,
Alex
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Give your creative side time, permit it to make mistakes.
Sometimes we give up and decide we are not creative too soon. Even creative people have to hone their skills.
Great article! I like how you distinguish between the two types of creativity. Here’s an article that I recently wrote that provides additional ideas on tapping into one’s creativity:
7 Great Ways To Rekindle Your Creativity
I had my “artistic” and “writing” creativity crunched out of me during my high school years. One of my art teachers told me I was a very mediocre talent who was just marking time and wasting her time. This story changed at a parent teacher night when this teacher told my parents I wasn’t really applying myself – this lead to me tuning out and just doing the bare minimum for my high school years. I also had a parental figure who crunched it out of me as well when I was a teenager.
My oldest son hasn’t had “artistic” creativity crunched out of him yet – primary school is so fresh and new still. What’s awkward for me is that whenever we spend time together and he wants to do some “craft” I feel a high degree of anxiety.
One thing I find ironical is that I used to enjoy going to art galleries when I was single and greatly admiring what I saw. yet I believe that I don’t have any “artistic” creativity.
Thanks for a thought provoking article and maybe in my middle years I should step out of my comfort zone and see what I have to offer.
[...] From David Bohl at Pick the Brain: Using Creativity to Carve Out Your Niche in Life [...]
Hey i just wanted to say this article is life changing…in a sense. While reading this i stopped halfway in the middle just to go paint, now being someone who hasn’t really had the oppurtunity nor pull to really paint it turned out pretty good. Having no idea what i was painting i just sort of picked a color and went for it. I just got back from a little excursion in Europe and its all that’s been on my mind and became my painting. I glad i found this article, im still in high school so there’s still hope for me!!! ThanX to this article and everyone dropping your constructive comments!
Spending time with kids in creative pursuits is also great. Their enthusiasm is infectious, as is their nonsensical, no-limits approach.
I’m lucky enough to lead a process art class with young ones, and getting my hands dirty with them always leaves me brimming with inspiration that goes far beyond the current project.
Yaa! creativity require to bring something new in the world but we should also require to run along with the present life so balance acordingly. If we spend more time in creativity than we may not have to time do what require to do at present, so create something like that which help become our good present things, which help both our present things as well as our creativity in it.
Wonderful article. We are all creative but often don’t take the time to remember that. Thanks!
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