“If you want to be creative, stay in part a child, with the creativity and invention that characterizes children before they are deformed by adult society.”
- Jean Piaget, Swiss philosopher
You can learn a lot about the creative process by watching kids at play.
Kids have a seemingly endless amount of energy, a limitless imagination, a wide-eyed optimism, and a driving curiosity about the world around them. Oh, and they also know how to have fun. These are just the right ingredients for keeping your creative juices flowing in your adult life.
As an adult, you have spent years filling your brain with facts, experiences, opinions, and rules. Having all of this information in your head can either help you get ideas or hold you back. A child does not have these things to fall back on, so they have to be creative to deal with each new thing that life throws at them. You learned things as you grew up, either from books or life experiences, and you became less reliant on your creative nature.
How do I become creative like a child again?
To recapture the creative nature of a child you need to focus on the following attributes:
- Energy - If you are tired, worn out, and sluggish how will your brain be able to function?
- Imagination - Free up your mind to explore more ideas and options.
- Optimism - A positive outlook will definitely increase your chances of getting the creative sparks flying.
- Curiosity - That same drive that made you take apart a clock to see what makes it tick can be used today to poke around and see the way things work and what could be improved.
- Fun - If you actually enjoy what you are doing then the brain is more inclined to be creative. Try to recall the flexible rules that went along with kid games, such as Calvin & Hobbes’ Calvinball game.
Now that you know the creative ways of a child - try them out for yourself.
Oh, and one more thing - Tag, you’re it!