In his book Creativity, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi gives examples of people with remarkable creativity. Mozart was an example. He displayed exceptional skills as a child. In contrast, Mihaly speaks of Einstein, Tolstoy, and many others who didn't show early signs of unusual talent. Their creativity developed in time. What is the conclusion? Everyone has the potential to be creative. Our creativity has the potential if trained to grow like a muscle.
Ask why things are happening the way they are happening. That will help you cultivate curiosity that, in turn, will lead you to your passion.
Are you not sure what your passion is? Tip: Look into your childhood. What did you enjoy doing? What where you naturally inclined to do? That might be a clue to what your passion is.
Cultivate humility. Do not be afraid to look foolish and fail. As children, we broke the rules and drew outside the box because we were fearless, we were humble.
...before glory there is humility.
- Proverbs 18:12
Your values will serve you as a guide to help you avoid unrecoverable failure. Unrecoverable failure is harm to you and others. It is when you can't get back up. That is a bad use of your creativity. If you learn something from a failure, that is good.
Learn new skills—experience as many domains as possible.
Seek the beautiful and the inspiring in art, books, architecture, and nature. Travel and engage with new people. Study different cultures, customs, and ideas. This will help you expand your perspective and see the world differently. Exposure to new experiences nourishes the imagination, providing it with new material with which to work.
Seek for inspiration in spirituality, history, and science. The more information we take in, the more material we'll have for forming new, creative ideas.
As you journal daily, you find patterns in your thinking that might reveal a new idea.
When you go through tragedy, pain, or joy, express it.
When walking, be observant of your surroundings; when talking to someone, listen and be engaged in that conversation.
According to psychologist Dean Keith Simonson, what makes genius creatives so brilliant isn't reliably great work — it's high productivity. Take action and have a positive attitude. Have an "I will do this" attitude!
Sources and suggested reading:
Wired to Create by Scott Barry Kaufman & Carolyn Gregoire
Creativity by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Creative Confidence by Tom and David Kelley