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You Were Born to Create
Creativity is Universal
Accessing your creative mindset
In this letter:
What is creativity?
Boden’s 3 types of creativity
Next steps and resources
In this letter, I’ll show you the 3 types of creativity as defined by Margaret Boden, a pioneer in cognitive science.
Boden offers a new perspective that helps shine a practical light on creativity. And through her explorations and research, she identifies 3 distinct types.
My hope is to show you that you were born to create, and that the simplest way to get started is by accessing your creative mindset.
And, how knowing about Boden’s 3 types of creativity can help you get started.
In today’s fast-paced and modern world, the ability to problem-solve, innovate, and create has never been more important.
And, creativity is not just an asset, it’s a necessity.
It drives progress in every sphere of the human world. But, its essence remains a mystery to many.
Creativity is often seen as binary, a gift reserved for the few. Either you have creative talents, or you don’t.
But, this is far from the truth.
Like other skills or talents, everyone can be creative.
And, it can be learned and nurtured.
Let’s dive in!
What is Creativity?
Creativity is the process of imagining something and bringing it to life.
It’s the ability to produce ideas or artifacts that are novel, useful, and valuable.
Margaret Boden's framework provides a lens through which you can understand and categorize the many ways in which your creativity manifests.
By recognizing these types, you can better appreciate your creative powers.
The 3 Types of Creativity
Exploratory Creativity
Exploratory creativity is about working within a defined space of rules and conventions, but exploring new connections within them, to eventually discover new possibilities.
It’s the limitation of working within these boundaries that help your mind find new and novel ideas.
Johann Sebastian Bach pushed the boundaries of tonality in music, crafting compositions that ventured into unexplored harmonic landscapes.
Similarly, modern software algorithms, designed to generate novel patterns within specific parameters, uses this type of creativity. Exploratory creativity is the most common form, embodying the iterative process of innovation within existing frameworks.
Combinational Creativity
Combinational creativity emerges when seemingly unrelated ideas or domains intersect, manifesting entirely new concepts.
It thrives on diversity, where the blending of distinct perspectives brings innovative ideas.
The collaboration between Philip Glass, a minimalist composer, and Ravi Shankar, a master of Indian classical music, resulted in a groundbreaking union that transcended cultural and musical boundaries.
Transformational Creativity
The least common, and perhaps most revolutionary type is transformational creativity.
It involves altering or discarding the foundational rules of a domain. Transformational creators do not just explore or combine within existing paradigms; they redefine them.
Picasso's “invention” of cubism fragmented the traditional perspective of art, introducing a novel way of visualizing reality. In mathematics, the conceptualization of the square root of minus one paved the way for complex numbers, fundamentally changing the field.
These paradigm shifts challenge and expand our understanding of the possible, marking milestones in human achievement.
In Closing
Understanding Boden's 3 types of creativity shows us that creativity isn’t an exclusive gift, but a universal capability.
Whether through exploring known territories, combining disparate ideas, or transforming foundational principles, creativity is within everyone’s reach – and definitely within yours!
The realization that we are all born creators opens up a world of possibilities.
Next Steps
To harness your creative potential, take action:
Reflect on how you create: Identify which type of creativity comes naturally to you and think of ways to nurture and expand it. Then, get out of your creative comfort zone and explore the other types to push your limits.
See like a child: Children are naturally curious, asking questions when they find new ideas or seek new knowledge about the world. The more you know, the more access you’ll have to different ideas to draw inspiration from. Diversify your interests and seek out new perspectives, you’ll never know what you may find.
Challenge Conventions: Allow yourself to question and rethink the rules and assumptions in your field of interest or work. Transformational creativity often starts with a 'what if' question. For example, “what if” the rules of quantum particles could explain a new spiritual paradigm around the possibility of reincarnation? The crazier the idea sounds, the better.
Resources - Books on Creativity
If you’re looking to dive deeper into nurturing your creative abilities, these books are a great start.
“The Creative Mind: Myths and Mechanisms” by Margaret Boden - Boden's bold and provocative exploration of creativity broke new ground. She uses examples such as jazz improvisation, chess, story writing, physics, and the music of Mozart, together with computing models from the field of artificial intelligence, to uncover the nature of human creativity in the arts.
"The Creative Act: A Way of Being" by Rick Rubin - Rubin, a legendary music producer, shares his profound insights into creativity, drawing on his experiences with some of the most innovative artists across genres. This book serves as both a testament to the power of creativity and a guide for tapping into your creative potential.
"Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative" by Austin Kleon - This book is a manifesto for creativity in the today’s world. It offers practical advice on how to find inspiration and use it in your own work. It's a reminder that creativity is for everyone and that finding your voice is a process of mixing and matching disparate ideas.
"Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear" by Elizabeth Gilbert - Gilbert delves into the mysteries of the creative process, discussing the attitudes, approaches, and habits we need to live our most creative lives. She emphasizes the importance of courage, enchantment, permission, persistence, and trust in nurturing creativity.
"The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity" by Julia Cameron - A seminal book in the field of creative self-discovery, Cameron's 12-week guide helps readers recover their creativity from a variety of blocks, including limiting beliefs, fear, jealousy, guilt, and other inhibiting forces.
"Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration" by Ed Catmull with Amy Wallace - Catmull, co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios, offers an inside look at the company's innovative and widely admired culture of creativity. The book provides valuable insights into fostering a creative environment and managing creative teams.
"Imagine: How Creativity Works" by Jonah Lehrer - Lehrer explores the science of creativity, using a mix of research, case studies, and stories to illuminate how innovations come about in art, science, and business. He examines the importance of grit, the creative benefits of travel, and the necessity of embracing failure.
"Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience" by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi - Csikszentmihalyi's concept of 'flow,' a state of heightened focus and immersion in activities, is crucial for understanding the process of creative work. This book outlines how individuals can achieve this state and use it to enhance their lives and creativity.
"The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles" by Steven Pressfield - Pressfield addresses the internal obstacles to creativity, particularly the resistance that stops individuals from achieving their potential. It's a motivational call to arms for artists, writers, and anyone else who has faced the challenge of bringing their ideas to fruition.
"Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation" by Steven Johnson - Johnson takes a wide-ranging look at the environments that foster innovation, from the coral reef to the World Wide Web. He identifies seven key patterns that are the basis for the most innovative ideas.
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