Creativity Courses

Since creativity is such an important skill for today's workplace several courses on this topic have been made available for free on MOOC platforms across the world. Personally I've taken a course on creativity on Coursera which is called Creativity, Innovation and Change, one organized by Tina Seelig on Novoed called Creativity: Music to My Ears and I've also found one on edX called Creative Thinking: Techniques and Tools for Success. There's also one I'm taking right now on the importance of play in our everyday lives on FutureLearn. What I found out in these courses is that creatives can be split into two groups: you have the adapters who take an idea and modify it to fit the needs of someone else and you have the innovators who can come up with new, fresh ideas out of the blue. I've also learned about brainstorming, SCAMPER as creativity techniques and ways in which I can declutter my brain to think more creatively (tip: writing helps). There has also been a course called Reinvent Yourself: Unleash Your Creativity, a course which taught me about the strength of our beliefs and ways in which we can adapt them to fit our creative goals.

So if you are curious and ready to delve into an interesting part of your thinking give these courses a try. 

Take Seven: Books On Creativity

So I've already told you that I have a background in reading and taking online courses on the topic of creativity. This is going to be an article with some recommendations of books you should read in order to get a sense of the topic. 

First up: 

I've read it a couple of years ago and loved it. It presents a series of experiments connected to creativity and some activities to help up get your creative juices flowing. Although I find it funny that the author was accused of plagiarism later on I still think you should give this book a try. Think of it as an intro to the creative process. 

I found this book while surfing the web for something connected to ideas. And this was it. It's more of a portable course on creative thinking made by some experts on creativity from the Netherlands. It's easy to read and if you want you can adapt it, turn it into a workshop on the topic of creativity. It's packed with information meaning exercises meant to boost your creative abilities and inspiring quotes. Well done to those who wrote it. 

Another read from another expert on creativity. It contains a lot of creativity techniques which you can easily use to foster creative thinking. Did you know that you make use of your dreams to come up with bright ideas? Or that creative people have positive attitudes and see potential in everything? Have you ever tried to replace your negative thoughts with positive, logical ones? This book contains such info and much more. 

I've read a little bit of it recently but I think it should be on this list because it's a book on creative and some surprising truths about them. I for one had no idea that when it comes to risks original people prefer to take calculated ones. Easy to read and understand, well documented and a great intro to the process of bringing your ideas to life. 

This one is all about creatives and their character traits. It documents the creative mind and it gives its readers a sneak peak into the lives of creatives. Should you think of yourself as a creative this book will tell you if its all in your head or not. 

I've read this one back in 2011. It presents a technique for implementing your ideas, one that does not involve procrastination or waiting for the perfect moment to start your work. It's well written and really hands on so if you're looking for a practical book on creativity this is it. 

I've only started to read Big Magic and I like to think of it as a self-help book on the topic of creativity. It contains all the ingredients needed to live a full, creative life, starting with courage which I know I lack. I'm enjoying the style in which it is written as well as the comfortable feeling of being understood by a fellow creative that this book gives off. 

So there you have it. Some of the best books on the topic of creativity. I hope you enjoy reading them. 

Images Source: Google Images

Take Six: In Defence of Creative Thinking

So what is creative thinking you might ask. Well, it's a way of looking differently at a problem and coming up with unorthodox solutions to it. It's not thinking outside the box, it's thinking like there is no box in the first place. It's making surprising connections between unrelated fields, it's experimenting with bold ideas, it's combining pre-existing knowledge to make something new. 

Why should you learn about creative thinking? Creative thinking is one of the most sought after skills in today's society. I've noticed the myriad of online courses on this subject, I've taken some of these courses, I've read some books on the subject and they all made it clear to me that in a society that's ever changing like the one we live in now creativity is a skill that can be learned and mastered, a skill that can change the world and can save some of us from dire situations. 

More info on creative thinking please. Sure thing. There are two so-called "stages" to creative thinking: divergent thinking and convergent thinking. Divergent thinking is when you sit down, let your mind wander and you come up with a lot of ideas to solve an issue. Convergent thinking is when you take those ideas, analyze them and choose the best ones. There's also the concept of lateral thinking which was introduced by Edward de Bono, another expert on creativity. Again the same thing. Thinking in a non-linear way to come up with novel, unexpected solutions to problems. 

How can you become more creative? Easy. Some people took the time to come up with a thing called creativity techniques that when learned can help you foster a climate of creativity both at home and your workplace. They are easy to implement and I'm going to have articles on this blog dedicated to each of them. I'm thinking ten articles with ten different creativity techniques will be enough to start with. 

Recap. Creative thinking is thinking in such a way as to bring something new to the table. It's one great skill to have to set you apart from the competition in your personal or professional life. You can learn it and then bask in all the glory. And there are affordable ways to do so. 

Cheers. 

Take Five: Ways to Stay Creative

Take Four: On Resistance

I first came across the concept of resistance a couple of years ago. I saw a comment on Facebook of one of the participants in a conference called Solution 2010, a conference on social entrepreneurship. At first I didn't know what it was but after some digging on my part I found out it was a kind of force that stands between us and leading a creative life. The concept was introduced by Steven Pressfield in his book The War of Art. Resistance usually takes the form of an inner critic, fear and anxiety. Let's put it this way. For example you want to write a book but inner voices start telling you that you're not a writer, you have no talent, you have no time and your family won't agree to your creative endeavour. From my experience resistance has taken the form of my inner critic. I went through stages in my life when I deleted the stuff that I created based on the feeling that it just wasn't good enough. I've also had times when I started projects just to leave them flying around in cyberspace. 

Resistance in my life also took the form of fear, mostly fear of the unknown and public opinion. What exactly can you fear? Elizabeth Gilbert identifies in her book Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear a couple of other fears. Here they are: 

"You’re afraid you have no talent. You’re afraid you’ll be rejected or criticized or ridiculed or misunderstood or—worst of all—ignored.You’re afraid there’s no market for your creativity, and therefore no point in pursuing it. You’re afraid somebody else already did it better. You’re afraid everybody else already did it better. You’re afraid somebody will steal your ideas, so it’s safer to keep them hidden forever in the dark. You’re afraid you won’t be taken seriously. You’re afraid your work isn’t politically, emotionally, or artistically important enough to change anyone’s life.You’re afraid your dreams are embarrassing. You’re afraid that someday you’ll look back on your creative endeavors as having been a giant waste of time, effort, and money. You’re afraid you don’t have the right kind of discipline. You’re afraid you don’t have the right kind of workspace, or financial freedom, or empty hours in which to focus on invention or exploration. You’re afraid you don’t have the right kind of training or degree. You’re afraid you’re too fat. (I don’t know what this has to do with creativity, exactly, but experience has taught me that most of us are afraid we’re too fat, so let’s just put that on the anxiety list, for good measure.) You’re afraid of being exposed as a hack, or a fool, or a dilettante, or a narcissist. You’re afraid of upsetting your family with what you may reveal. You’re afraid of what your peers and coworkers will say if you express your personal truth aloud. You’re afraid of unleashing your innermost demons, and you really don’t want to encounter your innermost demons. You’re afraid your best work is behind you. You’re afraid you never had any best work to begin with. You’re afraid you neglected your creativity for so long that now you can never get it back. You’re afraid you’re too old to start. You’re afraid you’re too young to start. You’re afraid because something went well in your life once, so obviously nothing can ever go well again.You’re afraid because nothing has ever gone well in your life, so why bother trying? You’re afraid of being a onehit wonder.You’re afraid of being a no hit wonder . . .”

Wow, lots of fears, right? So how do you deal with resistance? Well, Steven tells us to turn pro. In other words show up everyday and get to work. Nevermind the inner critic, just get stuff done.  Yes. Sweat and tears and a bountiful reward. Another way to short-circuit your inner critic is the five second rule. Whenever you don't feel like doing the work you count to five and that makes to want to jump into action. Pretty simple, I know. 

So there you have it. Resistance. Now you know what it is and how to stop it from meddling with your creativity. 

Take Three: Creative Types

There’s this thing called the Big Five personality test. It measures personality according to five different factors. I’ve taken the test and my result indicated I am high on a trait called openness to experience. People who embody this trait are playful, believe in the importance of art, are open to different ideas and can make unexpected connections. 

So I began to think about the creatives in my life and their personalities. What I found is that they all seem to be kids who refuse to grow up. Some of them are arrogant, some of them are modest. All of them are hard-working and ambitious. They all have a life’s purpose which is to make the world a better place through their work. They are fond of self-expression. As far as their emotional stability is concerned, well, we all need a drama queen in our lives every once in a while. 

These people are smart and naive at the same time, they are hermits and social butterflies at the same time and they are emotionally intelligent. They combine play with discipline, they are hyperactive although they also need a lot of rest. It seems they don’t have only one personality but are a multitude of people in one body. They also combine imagination with a strong sense of reality. They take calculated risks and they escape rigid gender role stereotyping. I, for one, am prone to dressing like a man because it gives me a sense of doing something out of the ordinary. What they all have in common is their passion for their work, their dedication to their craft and a strong set of values. Idealists to the core, they are both rebellious and conservative with a sensitive soul. 

I also scouted the web for articles that told their story, Of course I found some great resources but the best article is this one here. Sure, we shouldn't pidgeon hole creatives but I think this article in helpful in presenting their character traits. 

Cheers. 

Take Two: What Is Creativity?

This post is dedicated to answering some of the questions you have on creativity. To me creativity is coming up with new, useful ideas and implementing them. However, as I, too, am a novice I'll leave you with a talk by Sir Ken Robinson, an expert on creativity. I'm sure he'll know how to present things in such a way that you'll understand what the deal with creativity is. Enjoy.