Creativity

This is my first "Journal" for my a class I'm taking called Creativity and its Cultivation.

Creativity... what is it? Does everyone have it? Does everyone want it? Is it really all that useful? The answer to all those questions is “yes.” Well, it’s not the answer to the first question, obviously, but that’s not the point. Or is it?
Okay, so what is creativity? Dictionary.com has a pretty good definition:

Creativity (noun)
1. The state or quality of being creative.
2. The ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination: the need for creativity in modern industry; creativity in the performing arts.
3. The process by which one utilizes creative ability: Extensive reading stimulated his creativity.

I like the second definition best, it’s not very creative of them to use the word to be defined in its definition, is it... but I digress.

Creativity is then ability to “transcend traditional ideas,” to go beyond what is customary, break convention and be brilliant. What constitutes as brilliant may be different for everyone, but it is definitely the goal, the desired end result, the treasure at the end of creativity trail.

Now, does everyone one have creativity? And if they don’t, are they capable of attaining it? I think: YES! Everyone one has some form of creativity or another. Twyla Tharp, a choreographer, offers advice to about creativity and the creative process in an article written by the Harvard Business Review in 2008. Yup, a CHOREOGRAPHER had an article written about in a BUSINESS magazine. Now, would you associate creativity more with choreography or with business? Yeah, I’d usually pick business to. NOT! I’d totally pick dance! Typical creativity (although I hate anything that is always associated with something typical) is associated with capital-a-Art, whether it be dance, paint, music, etc. I agree with Tharp, or the editors of Harvard Business Review or whoever is responsible for having the Tharp article in the magazine. The art of dance and the art of business are more similar than people think. They both utilize immense creativity: they just do it differently. Whether you are a business person, a mathematician, a writer, a chemist or a dancer, you need creativity to get you through the times you get “stuck” in your work. All those science-y type people need MASSIVE creativity to create new formulas, work through old ones and make the world a better, safer, more science-y place. Those who are in the capital-a-Art fields have the stigma of being dubbed creative whether they are successful or not. This is also why I think everyone WANTS some sort of creativity (jeeze, how many more times can I shove the word “creativity” in this? Let’s see!). Everyone wants to be successful and, in my books, the two are synonymous.

So I took this CREAX Creativity-Self Assessment test thing and I found that my “creativity index” is 69.22 whereas the typical creativity index is 62.47. I have no idea what to make of this. The number seems low, in my opinion, even if it’s above the typical number. Does that mean that I’m not that creative? I’m super creative? I’m barely above average? I wish the website provided a better explanation for the result, it only explains the categories it includes in its assessment. I have no idea what it means and if I did, I don’t think I’d put much stock in it. I really dislike those types of tests and I don’t think something like creativity can be tested for or measured.

Do you want to take the test? Take it HERE and let me know your results.