In the past, people were able to create new things through their work. They carved stones and wood, built houses and wrote novels, invented products and solved problems. However, now that most things are made digitally and there is no longer any physical limit to what can be created, the definition of what it means to be creative has shifted. Many people now consider themselves creative if they produce a product or service that is unique, changes an existing domain, or transforms a field. Whether or not this is a valid new definition is an open question, but there is no doubt that the ability to come up with ideas is important to creativity.
People who are highly creative tend to be more perceptive and see alternative variations of situations or outcomes. They are naturally curious and are quick to ask questions about things they don’t understand. This curiosity can also help them generate interesting solutions and ideas.
Creative people often have a rich inner life and are highly imaginative. They have a strong sense of empathy for others and are often deeply affected by events and experiences in their own lives. This can be beneficial for their work as it helps them relate to customers, as well as other colleagues. However, it can also cause them to become stuck in their own world of thoughts and feelings.
As a result, people who are highly creative may seem to be unreliable and untrustworthy. It is therefore important for them to develop a strong sense of self-worth and integrity that they can use to protect their creative outputs from external influences. Creative people are energized by challenging activities, which is why they are so willing to push through failures and criticism. This is also what makes them so good at turning negative feedback into positive growth and learning from mistakes.
Creativity is a complex process that involves both divergent and convergent thinking. Divergent thinking is the process of coming up with lots of different ideas, while convergent thinking is the ability to select and refine ideas into something that works. Creative people are generally able to balance these two modes, although they may tend to prefer one over the other at times.
Research has shown that people who are highly creative have a different brain structure than the rest of us. They have a larger right-frontal cortex, which is associated with higher levels of intelligence and the ability to think abstractly. This brain region also plays a crucial role in memory and processing information. To test this, researchers conducted an experiment that compared the brain activity of a group of creatives – including writers, actors and directors – with a control group of doctors, lawyers and financial service professionals. They found that the creatives were better at distant thinking, while the non-creatives tended to focus more on here and now events.