Curious Friday : 💡The process of Creativity, Nelson Mandela on the power of greatness, How to win without talent or luck.
Episode - 04
Today at a Glance :
One Quote : Nelson Mandela on greatness and rising up at times of failures.
One Article : The process of creativity and how to develop this power within you.
One Tweet : Sahil on how to win without talent or luck.
One Quote :
“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” ~ Nelson Mandela.
Oh! Wow, that feels so connected.
Failures are not the end point but it’s the starting point of our learning and success. So, to succeed in life it’s most important to fail every time and in failing every time it’s more important to rise again when we fall.
One more (BONUS) to start the early morning with boost :
“As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.”
One Article :
In 1666, the most Influential Scientist in history made a discovery - Gravity. You know whom I am writing about.
Sir Isaac Newton, was sitting in his garden, when he found an apple fell off on the ground. It made him think, “Why should that apple always descend perpendicularly to the ground,” “Why should it not go sideways, or upwards, but constantly to the earth’s center? This Question and desire for an answer made him passionate enough to make the discovery of Gravity, without which we couldn’t even think of the space Explorations - I think.
So, why is it that Newton, Einstein, Edison, and many other great Scientists still were creative Thinkers at their middle-age, and why not us? Why is that our Creative Thinking keeps on Diminishing as we pass our age of 40s or even 30s.
Actually, Newton wasn’t the only one gritting the idea for the concept of Gravity, but he was the only one to find that.
Creative thinking, you see, is not an event but actually a process for all of us. There are some conditions and maybe some consequences that drive creativity among people and some conditions hinder it.
So let’s dive deeper into this topic .
Creative thinking - a Destiny or a Development ?
It’s the most Important Question that we need an answer to. Is creative thinking actually a Destiny - that comes after some specific time or is it a development that develops with some perseverance , hard work and grit ?
In the 1960s, a creative performance researcher named George Land conducted a study of 1,600 five-year-olds and 98 percent of the children scored in the “highly creative” range. Dr. Land re-tested each subject during five year increments. When the same children were 10-years-old, only 30 percent scored in the highly creative range. This number dropped to 12 percent by age 15 and just 2 percent by age 25. As the children grew into adults they effectively had the creativity trained out of them. In the words of Dr. Land, “non-creative behavior is learned.”
So, it turned out that Creative Thinking is definitely a process - that can be attained with the help of extreme perseverance, grit and hard work. This is also not to say that creativity is 100 percent learned.
But, certainly, some people are primed to be more creative than others - maybe because of their parents or their grandparents who were more creative at their time. Does genetics also have a role in maintaining and building creativity among people - I don't know the answer to it. But I know that creativity can easily be learned with practise and good thinking. However, nearly every person is born with an extraordinary creative thinking and skills and the majority of our creative thinking is trainable. That’s why deliberate practice and hard work can make your creative thinking much more sustainable and authentic.
Intelligence and Creative Thinking
There’s a lot of misconception that you need to be very genius and Intelligent in order to be more creative. Look at Bill Gates , Musk , Bezos, Larry Page and other tech billionaires who are creative and intelligent , just because they were geniuses - that’s completely wrong. You can still be the most creative and intelligent person even if you are not in the top 1% of people. How? By unleashing your creative Potential - I call it Threshold Theory.
This theory, basically, tells us that being in the top 1 percent of intelligence has no correlation with being fantastically creative. Instead, you simply have to be smart (not a genius) and then work hard, practise deliberately and put it in your reps.
Researchers from the 2013 study found that - “it’s only when our Threshold Intelligence is met, personality factors become much more predictive for creativity.”
How to be more Creative :
Now, here is the most important and fun ride. Assuming that you are willing to do lots of hard work, perseverance and grit and ready to face your inner fears, let’s look at some practical strategies that will make you more creative.
Constrain Yourself : Carefully designed constraints are one of your best tools for sparking creative thinking. Dr. Seuss wrote his most famous book when he limited himself to 50 words. Soccer players develop more elaborate skill sets when they play on smaller fields. Designers can use a 3-inch by 5-inch canvas to create better large scale designs. The more we limit ourselves, the more resourceful we become.
Write more : For nearly a month, I have been writing my blogs and newsletters daily, consistently and deliberately to make this my habit. My goal is to stretch this wonderful exercise/habit of writing daily for more than 3 years. Then, only I will find myself at some point of success. Use this principle of daily writing to increase your creative thinking even if you have no intention of writing for others.
Broaden your Knowledge : Broaden your knowledge over entertainment. Seek for some better truth and information. This way your creative thinking will be in better form and you’ll get more ideas to do whatever you want. In the words of psychologist Robert Epstein, “You'll do better in psychology and life if you broaden your knowledge.”
Sleep longer : There was an interesting research done by University of Pennsylvania, which revealed the incredible impact of sleep on mental performance. The main finding was this: Sleep debt is cumulative and if you get 6 hours of sleep per night for two weeks straight, your mental and physical performance declines to the same level as if you had stayed awake for 48 hours straight. Like all cognitive functions, creative thinking is significantly impaired by sleep deprivation. So sleep better to think better.
Enjoy nature and sunshine : I found this method to be most useful as it aligns me to connect with nature and sunshine as when I am in need of it to boost my creative thinking and ideas. Whenever I am short of ideas for my blogs or articles, I leave all my paper-work and laptop to follow nature and deep sunshine. After walking for a few hours in greenery and nature, some ideas begin to bombard in my mind. Research from the study also shows that spending time in nature and increasing your exposure to sunlight can lead to higher levels of creativity.
Embrace positive thinking : Positive thinking can lead to significant improvements in creative thinking. Why? Positive psychology research has revealed that we tend to think more broadly when we are happy. This concept, which is known as the Broaden and Build Theory, makes it easier for us to make creative connections between ideas. Conversely, sadness and depression seems to lead to more restrictive and limited thinking.
Ship your content : The honest truth is that creativity is just hard work. The single best thing you can do is choose a pace you can sustain and ship content on a consistent basis. Commit to the process and create on a schedule. The only way creativity becomes a reality is by shipping your daily content.
One Tweet :
In the above tweet, my favorite friend Sahil tweets about how to win in this competitive world with lots of Endurance and patience but without talent or luck. The most powerful thread I’ve ever read. Lot’s pf Enjoy!
That’s it for today’s newsletter. I hope that you have found my content very helpful and valuable.
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