Creativity

Creativity is freedom with guidelines. It is approaching something unknown without fearing failure, yet knowing improvements always exist. There are no wrongs, but usually something that is more right. There is a road-map to lead you, but the path is vague as if you are zoomed out, far above the picture giving you, the navigator, only a general idea of the direction. The path is open to your interpretation and will be affected by your decisions. You will take some wrong turns along the way and most likely will double back once or twice. But these ostensible mistakes will show you something new as you come closer to your destination. No two people will navigate exactly the same, leading every person to slightly different destinations. But that is the beauty of creativity, no one is wrong. Some paths might be more abstract or more beautiful, some more thought out than others, but no path is wrong as long as you eventually arrive at your destination.

Because of this inability to fail I believe anyone can be creative, although you must choose to be, which not everyone does. Creativity comes easier to some than it does others, and not because of the common misconception that you must be crafty or artsy to be creative. A creator must be able to part with reality temporarily and ask “what if”, a question that often makes the more grounded individuals uncomfortable.

I consider myself a creative individual as I am not willing, but eager, to look past the walls of reality. However, I have often felt limited and unable to be original. While I appreciate a base foundation to build from, I often feel my creativity is stifled by superiors who have presented me with a full framed and built idea and has simply asked me to paint on the few remaining details. I experienced this feeling this summer during my internship. All twelve interns were divided into groups of four and each group assigned a specific problem that the organization was facing. At first, the assignment appeared to be a wonderful opportunity to impact a large organization in a powerful way, but as the project went on we received criticism from the higher-ups. Our original idea would have add extra costs, making it too expensive. It would have required an extra hour of work monthly, making it too time consuming. Finally, it was targeting the customer directly rather than aiming internally at the employees, which was not the desire segment in the company’s eyes. In order to receive the approval of the corporate leaders we revised our project. Our final idea focused on the employees, took only five minutes of their time, and was incorporated into an already existing meeting, making it a solution that would spur no extra costs. Our solution fell into their strict framework, but left our group with a dissatisfied feeling. Our original solution addressed the real issues of the problem and could have improved the business, while our final result was just a presentation that resulted in a pat on the back from the corporate office. The company limited our innate creativity and in turn crushed any possible monumental change we could have triggered.

While I have had copious projects and assignments like the one during my internship, I have had many that have encouraged me to explore past what I am sure of, allowing me to create something new. I had one project in particular that stands out in terms of creativity that I did while in high school.  The project was a mock Project Runway exercise. The assignment was to create an accessory, but of course had a twist that made the project more challenging. You had to do it only with the materials that were included in a “mystery bag”, with the exception of any bonding agents like glue or thread. The bag was chosen by the individual, but was sealed keeping the contents a secret until we were simultaneously allowed to open the bags, revealing the array of seemingly unusable items within. In my bag I found poster board, two kinds of fabric, ribbon, and, (the real kicker) tongs. The combination of items in each bag seemed ridiculous, yet were the resources we were given to guide our journey. The original ridiculousness of my bag forced me to reach past my comfort zone, resulting in an item I never would have imagined otherwise. My accessory came to be a tong purse that opened using the mechanism the tongs used in ordinary circumstances. I won the competition for my ability to combine all of the objects in my bag into something practical, but imaginative.

Creativity can be spurred through group collaboration, with one individual building upon the thoughts of another, or equally in the mind of one person slowly building off themselves. In either instance it starts with the absence of fear combined with guidelines meant to direct an individual or team to an end goal. Revision and constructive criticism is essential the best successes, but failure is never possible. Conventional “failures” are only opportunities to improve and move forward.