In 2009, researchers published a study in Harvard Business Review where they concluded that creativity is 20% inherited, and 80% learned behavior.
The brain is a muscle
Another research report showed that as long as we keep our brains active we continue to build neural pathways. The brain continues to generate new cells as long as we stimulate it which means that our creativity capabilities are something that can be trained and improved. Just like almost everything else.
Giving up
I sometimes meet people that seem to have given up on their own creativity, like if it was something that they couldn’t control. The fact that I am 183cm tall is a fact that I can’t do much about, but the ability to generate ideas is something that I have trained for my whole life. When I was a kid I didn’t do it with purpose, of course. But it was still training. When people have this view, that creativity lies in the genes, they tend to give up trying when they get older and rationality have taken over their bodies.
The illusion
It becomes a self-fulfilled prophecy that draws an imaginary line between people that believe in themselves and those who doesn’t. And that is too bad, because everyone can contribute with something unique when they use their creativity from their domains perspective. The more you know about something, the more interesting it becomes to learn more about it. And that’s when it becomes easier to be innovative, although you may not consider yourself very creative. I think that people often are creative but fail to see that they are, so they continue seeing themselves as non-creative and by that prevent their own development. I think that it is a bit said that they don’t realize their potential, that they let a word reduce their skills.
Convenience is the enemy of good
But maybe some like it that way. Convenience is deeply rooted within the human nature, and it is convenient to say that you aren’t creative since you are laying the responsibility over on others. By lowering expectations you are raising the chances of looking good when you succeed. But by doing so you are also lowering the chances of getting the opportunity to succeed.
Fear is the enemy of self-fulfillment
If you come up with a good idea it is more of a bonus which decreases the risk of having others seeing you as a failure. Since the best ideas usually come out of quantity, this means that you are becoming less creative. The fear of humiliation can make people diminish themselves, their knowledge and their creativity. Unconsciously and gradually you start to believe in what you tell others and suddenly your self-confidence has dropped a notch for real. What a fucking waste.