WHAT IS CREATIVITY?

APRIL 2, 2023

How many of you can draw? How many do you think would say they could draw if I asked a high school class? Less the 10%. How many if I were to ask a preschool class? 100%. When we were in preschool we knew we were creators.

How many of you come from a creative family? I think of my grandfather, who rarely spoke. I sat under his carpenter’s table and played with the wood curls that came from his plane. I followed him through the grape arbor he created as he built houses for him and grandma on their property. Houses that became homes for others. I helped him tend to the koi pond that he built and cut roses that he grew from cuttings from a nearby park. He was creative.

So, what is creativity?

There are two parts to creation. There is the initial idea. The one you wake up with or originate while taking a shower. We’ll call this “the spark”. Then there is the second part, the one that takes time and effort. The persistence and perspiration that makes the creative idea come alive. This is what Eric Wahl calls “the grind”. My book is about that part of the equation.

I read a book by Josh Waitzen called “The Art of Learning. Josh was a prodigy chess champion and then a world class martial arts champion. What starts and promotes creativity, is, according to Josh Waitzen  is an openness to learning. You need to have a “beginner’s mind.” Not a beginner who learns passively but one who is eager to learn and remains open to  many possibilities. As a result, this person learns more and more efficiently. Imagine that you are involved in an expedition to uncharted land. Your progress is governed by discoveries, not distances covered. Your most important tools are observation and resourcefulness. You might have certain expectations or hopes, but there remains a mystery about this journey. What drives you is what might be. When you have no clarity, you must look for the next spark. This can only happen if you practice.

In my book, I talk about the need to do art every day.