In the last 45 years I have written and published over 175 books for adults and children. Sometimes that number surprises me, because I didn’t set out to be an author.
Early in my career, I realized that being a successful writer is not just about creating compelling stories. I should have been a sponge, read widely and broadened my perspective.
Embracing Apple co-founder Steve Jobs’ quote that “creativity is just connecting things,” I gave myself permission to follow my interests wherever they might lead me.
To that end, I’ve written about topics as diverse as marine biology, job interviews, teaching, creativity, baseball, archeology, American history, resume writing, tsunamis, and creatures of the night.
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In my latest book, “In search of the old,” about the longest-lived trees in the United States, I delved into the study of age and social psychology. And I still have so many ideas to look forward to.
This is four creativity principles that have served me well for over four decades.
1. There is no one ‘correct’ answer
I was a professor of education for almost 30 years.
Many of us, instructors and students alike, have been taught to believe that there is only one correct answer to every problem. That is simply not true. Rarely have we been offered the opportunity to consider the multitude of potential solutions to any intellectual challenge.
That in itself is a problem because, as inventor and author Roger von Oech says, “if you think there’s only one right answer, you’ll stop looking as soon as you find it.”
You have to give yourself space to imagine all the possibilities.
I recently invited the participants of a creative workshop I was leading to generate as many different uses for a paper clip as possible in five minutes. They came up with 57 ideas including, among others, a cheap nose ring, an ear cleaner, a lock picker, a small fishing rod, a book mark, an ant spear, a cheese cube holder and a tie clip.
Focusing on the one right answer mentality forces us into a “take no chances” mindset. But creativity is a continuous generation of options—rarely a search for solitary answers. In my writing, I am constantly looking for multiple approaches and perspectives.
2. Give yourself permission to make mistakes
The most creative people tend to have the most failures.
James Dyson created 5,126 of them unworkable prototypes before he invented the Dyson vacuum cleaner. Thomas Edison spent more than two years trying to improve his light bulb. When asked about this period of trial and error, he noticed“I got a lot of results! I know several thousand things that won’t work.”
When I wrote “In Search of Old Men,” I went through 21 separate drafts over 12 months. I was not discouraged by the mistakes that I knew would be present in those drafts. Instead, I saw it as an opportunity for change and improvement.
The process itself is part of the joy of the experience for me.
Remember that creativity is not perfection. Searching for the perfect idea severely limits your thinking as well as your expression.
3. The more curious you are, the more creative you can become
The most creative people I know are able to recall and tap into a child’s sense of wonder about the world.
Curiosity is an active consideration of the possible. It is a catalyst for questioning, and questioning makes us seek the unknown and think about the unknown. It opens our minds so that we can explore the unexamined and create the unexpected.
My last book was inspired by learning that Bristlecone Pines have lived continuously in the White Mountains of California for over 4,000 years. I had to know immediately how they managed to survive so long.
I followed scientific papers, went to experience the trees firsthand and reached out to numerous experts in dendrochronology.
When I started the process, I didn’t expect to get a book out of my research. But my curiosity has always been the foundation and driver of my creativity.
4. Believe that you have creative potential
We all have creative potential, just as we did as children. Often, our natural creativity dies down over time, unfortunately.
The most creative people I know understand that creativity is not about pleasing everyone. If you want people to approve of what you do, then you are not creative. You are simply confirming their preconceived notions about what you should do. Consequently, there is no imagination, only confirmation.
As a professional educator for more than half a century, I have come to the conclusion that creativity also has absolutely nothing to do with IQ – and that traditional schooling, quite often, forces students to remember the unimportant, remember the unnecessary and consider that insignificant. As a result, we rarely have the opportunity to create, only to recover.
True creativity means being comfortable chaos. With each book I experience writing as a journey through something I have never experienced before. It is a celebration of the unknown, and we are all capable of that.
Anthony D. Fredericks, Ed.D., is professor emeritus of education at York College of Pennsylvania. He is the author of Psychology Today’s magazine Creative insights blog and has written more than 100 nonfiction books including “From Mischief to Mischief: The Hidden Forces That Crush Your Creativity and How to Overcome Them“Two-minute habits: small habits, dynamic creativity,” and his latest “In Search of the Old: An Odyssey Among the Ancient Trees.“Follow him on LinkedIn.
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