Creativity Quest
1 March, 2022
We all know that it is good to be creative, but at the same time many of us also believe that a person is born either being creative or not being creative. Although for some people it may be easier to be creative than for others, science has already proven that we can learn to be creative. That is why we at Happiness Accelerator have created this 31-day Creativity Quest for you. In March 2022 taking the Quest will lead you to being able to apply more creativity in your daily life, in your work and of course in challenging situations too.
When we first think about creative people, names of great artists and scientists come to our minds. Of course not everyone can be Joanne Rowling, but there is also “everyday creativity” that we can learn to show and use, for example by solving a problem in a new way or taking a new route home. What makes the real difference between creative and not that creative people is the commitment of the first group to try new solutions.
Let’s start by understanding what creativity is. According to prof. Ryan Niemiec and prof. Robert McGrath, Authors of the book “The Power of Character Strengths” (2019) “creativity is thinking of new ways to do things. It involves producing ideas or behaviors that are original. However, originality is not enough: whatever is created, whether an idea or a product, must also be useful or adaptable.” In view of this, creative people need to be able to apply both divergent and convergent thinking at the appropriate time. The first step to being creative is applying divergent thinking, which means to be able to generate many different ideas about how to solve a problem. Convergent thinking is the next step, it is about being able to evaluate which of the ideas is most appropriate, to be able to make the best choice.
Guess what, research also shows that the more educated we become the less creative we get. Given a creativity test preschool kids score 95%, while university graduates only 25%. Obviously with time and education we learn to put more and more barriers to our divergent thinking. Now let’s unlearn some of the barriers. Are you ready for the quest?
Start by testing your creativity: Write down as many as possible uses of a paper clip. Count them and remember. Enjoy the daily Creativity Boosters in the Happiness Accelerator app for the whole of March and do the test again at the end of the month, to measure your progress.
