When we define creativity as getting out of the box, we mean the ability to come up with new, different and innovative ideas to solve problems.
We are born creative
Are we ? Or it’s a skill some acquire by time or experience. A shocking longitudinal-research conducted by NASA’s scientists revealed that more than 98% of children are born creative geniuses, they are born without that box. Only 12% of them remain creative by the age of 15 years old, which drops to 2% after the age of 18.
What happens and Why?! They found out that the education system, the society and the parents start to build-up the sides of the box gradually in the children’s minds, by forcing them to make judgements, testing & evaluation. Our brain has two kinds of thinking. Both use different parts of the brain and function differently and not simultaneously; One is called “Divergent thinking” that’s the imagination, used for generating new possibilities. The other is called “Convergent thinking” that’s when we’re making a judgement, a decision, when we’re criticizing, or evaluating. Both types of thinking can’t work at the same time, the thing that we ask our children to do.
through life, we become more cautious, more aware of social rejection and for a lot of us, we have turned down our ability to be creative. But it's never too late to start tapping into those creative genes we all had as children.
First step is to know what the society did to our brain? what those inhibitors are?
- Standardization
- Complication
- Limiting Believes
- Accommodation
- Limited Input
- Lack of Focusing