individual creativity

Why are we so focused on our weaknesses?

In the business world, it’s that time of year again: time to update our personal business goals, our individual development plans, or whatever our workplaces call it. It’s also time to meet with managers to discuss our “strengths” and “areas for improvement.” I’ve always thought we’ve handled this process in an odd way. When we discuss things we’d like to improve, we’re supposed to follow them with suggestions for actions—ways

Take it from the Kids: The simplest ways to improve creativity

Some time ago, I came across a post about improving creativity called “9 simple ways to be more creative”. It has a nice graphic so I found it attractive. I got a laugh looking at how many adults think they are living up to their creative potential = 25%. So… there are 23% of adults who think they are creative but actually aren’t. Now that’s funny!! Even knowing what I

Practice as an act of Overcoming Fear

I’ve talked in another post how creativity is fear. If that’s true, and I’ve certainly been experiencing my share of creative fear lately, then practice (performance) is one of the best ways to overcome that fear.  I noticed I’m better at doing scary things at work than I am at doing scary things in my paintings. I hypothesize that when I’m working I do things I don’t want to do

Brainbidextrous: Creativity is Feeling then Doing

Brainbidextrous is a site dedicated to explaining how creativity uses both sides of the brain. The left and right sides of the brain are both used in creative work — how much, the degree to which they are used depends on the person.  Sometimes we use the term “creative” to describe only the arts (e.g. the creative arts) and people who work in those fields as creative (e.g. a Creative

The Fourth Element of Success - The "Giver" Interaction Style

Adam Grant author of Give and Take (*) says success is a combination of hard work (motivation), talent (ability), and luck (opportunity)… but there is a fourth element — how we style our interactions with others. In other words, how relate to others and collaborate with our co-workers matters: Takers – want more than they give Matchers – equally give what they get Givers – give more than they get. When takers

Will science show that children of older moms are more creative?

I’m a “older mom”. I got preggers for the first time when I was 42, and delivered my beautiful child when I was 43. My pregnancy was generously labeled “AMA”, which for all you youngsters or men or generally not-in-the-know-about-child-bearing people out there means “Advanced Maternal Age”. Nice huh? (Don’t even get me started that a year later I was called Pre-Menopausal…I had an infant at home!) But really, all

More on Creativity (Invention) and Innovation

  In my post, What is Creativity? What is Innovation? I defined the terms and discussed the differences between creativity and innovation. I was reminded of these differences in a recent post I saw from VijayKrKhurana that discusses invention and innovation which I would like to share with you. I think they are well-organize and well-written. In his presentation, he describes invention as the creation part of the innovation process.