How Creativity Works, & How to Do It

By Leo Babauta I’m continually trying to create new things, from new blog posts, to books and courses and novels, to new ventures. And as I create these things, I’ve been watching my creation process, hoping to learn about how it works. For most creators, I think it’s just this Black Box of Creativity, where cool things come out but it’s not clear what you need to put in, or what the hell happens inside the black box. It’s a mystery. Except it doesn’t have to be. Creativity is a powerful tool to help anyone, from the parent trying to find new things to inspire his kids, to the small businessperson looking for a new direction, to the writer or artist stuck or feeling uninspired. So in this post, I’ll briefly explain how creativity works (as I’ve observed it), and then share some tips on how to do it. How Creativity Works When you come up with a new idea, where does it come from? Does it just come out of the blue? Are you a genius that has created something from nothing, godlike and mysterious in your ways? No. It’s not a completely new idea — it’s something new created from one or more old things. Creativity is the taking of old ideas, and remixing them in new ways that is individual to the creator. The raw materials are out there for anyone to use — look at the ideas all around you, in the online world and in the real world as you walk around each day. There are millions and billions of these ide...
Source: Zen Habits - Category: Life Coaches Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs