Creativity isn't some built-in character trait. You aren't born more or less creative than anyone else. To be creative, you just have to listen.⁠
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Here's how I see it: the ideas are out there, and they "want" to be brought to life. They knock on the walls of our world incessantly until they find a way in. ⁠
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We are their conduit—the doors and windows they enter through. To be creative, you just have to hold the door and work with them.⁠
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Not every idea that comes through will be a "good" idea (meaning it doesn't serve the purpose we were hoping)—but "good" has nothing to do with "creative." "Creative" just means new.⁠
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Now, this is a very @elizabeth_gilbert_writer, "Big Magic" view of creativity (Or Orson Scott Card-ian if you're a sci-fi fan). But you don't have to believe ideas are like fairies in another dimension for this to hold.⁠
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Maybe all creative ideas are born inside your head. Maybe there's a little group of synapses that fires up and births words and images out of nowhere. To be creative, you just have to let that little part of your brain do its thing.⁠
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This is where people might argue, "my creative-muscle-neural-network-thingy doesn't work that well!"⁠
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Balogna—it's up there; it's churning out new and random thoughts; you're just not listening.⁠
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Maybe you're letting other parts of your brain dominate your attention—maybe more analytical parts refuse to shut up as they judge the world around you.⁠
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Maybe you're filling all available silence with outside stimulus and drowning out the creative voice.⁠
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You're as capable of creativity as anyone else; you just aren't prioritizing it.⁠
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The ideas are there—whether floating around you or bubbling up from inside you. To be creative, you just have to create space for them. Allow some silence in your life: journal, meditate, go for a walk, do chores, and just listen. That voice you hear is the sound of creativity and it's always there—whether you're a painter or a banker.⁠
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So, if you want to be creative, be creative.⁠