Creativity is the ability to solve problems in imaginative ways.

Everyone can be creative: chefs, accountants, teachers, musicians, children, architects, inventors, scientists, business people, doctors, parents etc.

"One’s creative process is as unique as one’s fingerprints." - Suzanne Lipsett

Creativity can be taught, learned and developed. You do not have to be extremely smart to be creative. If you take painting as an example, there are animals, like elephants and chimpanzees, that paint and people collect their artwork. Their level of intelligence is very different from the average human being.

Creativity does not require great knowledge, experience, or technique.

Anyone can brainstorm an idea about how to solve a problem — designing a better bathroom water faucet, how to teach a complicated subject in a fun way to students, the next Nobel winning prize idea for an invention, the next great novel, a cooking recipe, a movie, how to get a crying baby back to sleep etc.

Time, skill, technique, and hard work are often needed to achieve the potential of the original creative idea. We often have to break free of the known and familiar, approaching problems from a fresh perspective. Some common obstacles that must be overcome:

Habits

Habitual behavior can result a form of blindness. The physical, perceptual, and mental habits established over time, create roadblocks to creativity.

Creative Blocks

Creative blocks are barriers, obstacles or roadblocks that prevent you from expressing your creativity. You have to work on removing or working through these stumbling blocks. Block can be internal (within you) or external.

Emotional Blocks

Emotional block are emotions that can prevent your creativity from functioning. When in the grips of these emotions you are often paralyzed or 'frozen or your thinking is clouded. Emotions that can cause problems include anger, fear, anxiety, hate and even love.Sometimes these emotions are temporary states, that you can recover from but other emotional blocks are chronic states of insecurity, anxiety and fear of failure and criticism.

• You are afraid. Your fear causes you to panic and you do not do anything.
• You are excessively excited and very excited to proceed with your idea, but this can lead you to be careless and make mistakes by rushing ahead. Conversely, you have too little motivation which encourages procrastination.
• You are hyper critical, judging ideas harshly and too hasty to pass judgments on ideas without an appropriate amount of consideration.
• Sometimes being creative means that your orderly life or process of working will degenerate into chaos, and you will not be able to maintain order. This is huge problem for people who feel that they need order in their lives at all times.
• Being so close to a problem that your ego stands in the way of success. You cannot look beyond your personal theories about a solution or using the same old methods to work on an idea that requires you to change from your familiar ways of thinking or working.

Perceptual Blocks

Perception is concerned with change. How can we see the same thing in many different ways?

One very important aspect of perception is selection. What are the things that we choose to look at? Where do we direct our attention? - Edward de Bono

• You do not correctly define the problem you are trying to solve. Problem definition means looking at a lot of different factors from many different angles and the outcomes that you desire. You must know what the problem is that you are trying to solve so that your definition has clarity and you know what goals you want to accomplish.
• Choosing the Wrong Approach to solve a problem.
• You may know what the right approach for your problem is but you cannot use it.
• You are using incorrect Data or Tools
• Most people do not use their senses well; some do not seem to use them at all. This affects their understanding of a problem and also imagining a solution.

Cultural Blocks

Cultural blocks are about conforming to the status quo. It is uncomfortable to be outside the norm, to be different, to deviate from accepted ways of thinking and behaving. We learn that it's good to be correct, logical and practical; to follow rules and avoid mistakes; and that "play is for kids."Creativity requires violating all of these norms.

• Society usually teaches a bias toward rational, logical, linear thinking. You do not look at other ways to solve a problem that are not logical. There is always a search for "the" right answer. The system penalizes wrong answers. Investigating a wrong answer can provide valuable insights into what the correct answer could be.
• Stereotyping - Human beings operate on patterns. As we accumulate experience, events tend to form patterns and we come expect certain outcomes based on our own personal experience or second hand through society (family, neighbors, school, books, movies, music etc.) By applying stereotypes or using filters on a problem we are trying to make it fit into a pre-conceived notion/idea which may be completely the wrong way of looking at or solving a problem.
• You have the perception that you are supposed to be sober and serious as an adult. Grownups do not have fun. They are not childlike, playful or spontaneous. You do not believe you can have fun while trying to solve problems.
• You do not think that 'wishful thinking': day dreams, fantasies or dreams are sources of good inspiring ideas.
• You are too rigid, disliking change, the unknown, and 'other' methods of brainstorming beyond the familiar.

How to develop your creativity

• Give yourself permission to indulge your creativity.
• Do not be overly critical; suspend judgment for awhile.
• Use all of your senses.
• Find the best way of working that allows you to be the most creative.

"The best way to get a good idea is to get a lot of ideas." — Linus Pauling

When a creative idea comes to you be ready to embrace it and take action on it. Inspiration can strike at any time, or any place. Be ready. Carry a journal, voice recorder, small notebook or index card and pencil or pen at all times to jot down the ideas and observations. You will have a way to track or remember your creative thoughts when you are working on bring your ideas to fruition.