When I see a headline with the word "creative" in it, I usually open it up and read it. Sadly, it usually doesn't have anything to do with creativity. It's usually just another article on the creative process. Now if it was truly a creative process, the steps wouldn't be outlined in stone (which in most of these articles it is). You can't outline a creative process.
What? You can't teach someone the creative process?
The creative process is something that lives deep within the soul. I do believe that everyone has this within themselves, it's just that most don't realize it or just don't know how to tap into it.
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Two articles came to my attention recently from Entrepreneur online. The first "5 Ways to Boost Your Creative Power" really had little to do with the process. It was a step by step by step guide on how to make your ideas into a reality. But the steps weren't creative. This was a think tank article. Do this and you'll get this. I'm sorry, but that's not how the process works.
The second article, "Five Creativity Exercises to Find Your Passion", had more hope. It at least provided ideas on how to get your creative juices flowing. But still, it left me with a feeling of what's next?
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I have a problem with creativity gurus. It's not that the creative process can't be taught. I do believe it can be taught (or at least the ideas to work out a process can be taught). But this isn't a cut and dry situation. Creativity works differently with each and every person who indulges in the process. It's something that has to be brought to the forefront. It's not a simple step by step system that works for everyone.
Let's take a look at mind mapping. While that process may work for some, it doesn't work for everyone. I'm a prime example of that. All I end up doing is drawing lines and writing words in a sketch book. I can't, from the beginning of this process, get to an end. I can never find a resolution with mind mapping.
So how does one find a creative process that works for them? I really don't know that there's an answer to that. I'm one of those creatives that follows the Nike slogan - Just Do It. It doesn't mean I don't have a process, it just means that I don't spend a lot of time figuring out the process. Or it could mean that the process is so deeply ingrained in my psyche that I don't think about it.
For me, the creative process has more to do with awareness than it does with teaching. It has to do with listening to what that inner voice (the one way deep down) is telling you, and ignoring the other inner voice (the one on the surface) that keeps telling you why you can't.
