Handbook of Creativity

Creativity is a skill that we all possess, but few of us ever really learn to harness and develop it effectively. We tend to associate creativity with people like Michelangelo, Einstein, or Mozart, who despite specialising in different fields, have endlessly fascinated people throughout the centuries. They prove that it is possible to push our boundaries, to notice unusual patterns, to question things that others take for granted, or that they are simply unable to perceive, and to form connections between seemingly unrelated thoughts.

Luckily, we don’t necessarily have to go so far as to develop the theory of relativity, to become the most famous composer of all time, or to paint the entire Sistine Chapel, to be creative. There are many ways to express our creativity, even if it is only in our own mind. The way we think, for example, works by making connections between memories, events, and words, and allows us to come up with original thoughts, which are seemingly unrelated to the initial input, but somehow still encompass them all.

We can also be creative at work, by using materials that no one else has thought to use, for instance, but which enable us to achieve our objective.

The author defines creativity according to two key factors, originality and usefulness, and maintains that creativity is the ability to invent and make, or create, something that is unique, innovative, and useful for its intended purpose.

In everyday life, we mainly use our creative skills to solve problems in various situations, each of which forces us to find an answer to a specific question. Using a creative approach allows us not only to find an answer to the problem, but also to find more than one possible solution and then identify the most effective one.

Creativity, therefore, is a very useful trait, both on a personal level as well as in many other areas of life: socially, it leads to innovative scientific discoveries; artistically, it generates new schools of thought and inventions; and in the world of work, it gives rise to new sectors and jobs. The advent of the internet, for instance, has generated countless types of new jobs. This is why it is so important to study and explore creativity.