What to do when you think you’re not creative
“I don’t have a creative bone in my body".
“I’m so creative I don’t have time to get all my ideas into the word.”
Which statement do you identify with most?
If you’re like 98% of adults it will be the first one. And that’s a shame because expressing creative thoughts is one of the things that makes us human.
When were you last confidently creative?
Cast your mind back. When was the last time you gleefully painted a picture, wrote a poem or made up a song? You might have to go right back until you were 6 or 7 years old.
What about making up a recipe to use up some leftovers? Writing a line of code that fixes a problem? Following a train of thought down a rabbit hole? Working out how to get 4 colleagues in different time zones on the same call? These are all creative activities and you might be able to agree you’ve done something similar within the last month?
What is creativity?
Creativity is simply being curious. It’s using your thoughts, your imagination, to create something. Think of a piece of paper. Picture it in your mind. Now spend a minute thinking of as many things you can use that paper for as you can.
Come back after a minute.
How far away from “for writing on” did you get? Did you think of paper aeroplanes? An old-fashioned fan? An emergency photography reflector? That is all creative thought. It’s using your imagination to create an idea.
Where does skill come into it?
The problem many adults have is getting that creative idea out of their heads and into the world, and this is where skill or craft or practice comes into play. Being skilled at playing the piano does not make you a creative pianist. You can program pianos to play themselves perfectly but no one would say that is a creative performance – it’s just a note-perfect rendition played by a computer. But if you are an actual pianist you first need the technical skills and muscle memory before you can bring your creative interpretation of a piece of music into the world.
It the same with photography. You need the technical skills to be able to operate your camera before you can create the image you see in your head.
“I don’t have any creative ideas”
If you thought of a single use for a piece of paper, you have already had one creative idea today. If you substituted an ingredient for a recipe last week or daydreamed about what you’ll do when lockdown is over, you can’t argue you don’t have any creative ideas.
How to be more creative
Having more and more creative ideas is something you need to nurture.
1. Confidence
The first step is to cling onto the sliver of confidence you should now have. You have demonstrated you can have a single creative thought. If you can have one, you can have two. And so on.
2. Unlearning
Remember that 6 year old you - the one who didn’t think twice about picking up a paint brush and making marks on paper? Who would write a list of thoughts down as they arose and proudly announce they had written a poem? Who would see a piano and rush up to it asking to have a go? Remember that curiosity, that enthusiasm? That 6 year old is still inside you. All that has happened is that you learnt that society sees skill as being more important than raw creativity.
At some point you were told you couldn’t draw or couldn’t sing. But that wasn’t true. A more accurate statement would be that you “hadn’t yet been taught the skills society values to express your creativity through the medium of drawing or song”.
Do another quick thought exercise: what would it feel like to paint like you were 6 again? Or to burst into song because you wanted to? Or to write down how the sunset made you feel knowing that no one will see what you wrote?
To become more creative you need to give that 6 year old inside you an outlet. Enjoy being a beginner at something. Give your creative ideas an outlet knowing that nobody expects you to have a skill until you’ve learnt it.
Try these exercises:
Draw something with your eyes closed (nobody can expect you to create a masterpiece under these conditions, least of all your subconscious critic).
Close your eyes and imagine, in as much details as possible, your dream house.
Illustrate the following: a zagger, a mumflump and a smeefly.
Imagine you need to travel from London to Paris and you are not allowed to put a foot on the ground. How would you do it?
3. Skill
I hope I’ve convinced you that you are creative. All you need to do now is keep that creative flame alive by creating something every day even if it is just a daydream.
If you want to give permanent expression to your creative thoughts you’ll need to work on your chosen skill. It doesn’t happen overnight. Tell your subconscious that learning to draw or learning to use your camera is a skill that will take time, like learning to drive or learning to read. Give yourself permission to be a beginner.
Gradually you will find that your skill catches up with your creative ideas and suddenly they start to feed off each other. Your skill with a camera presents new creative opportunities. New creative ideas prompt you to learn a new technique so you can realise them.
Work on your skill and your creativity side by side. Every day pay attention when you’ve had a new idea or a daydream. Set aside time to practice with your camera, your paintbrush or your piano. Watch your creativity and creative expression increase with your confidence and practice.
Learn camera skills here
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