How to Be Creative (According to Psychological Science)

Pop quiz: What can you use a brick for other than building a house? Think fast! Let’s see: Door holder, paper weight, helium balloon holder-downer, stepping stone. A very crude sundial needle?

What we just did is called the Alternate Uses Task, a psychology experimental task developed by psychologist J.P. Guilford in 1967. This was one of the earliest tools we had for measuring creativity. By asking you to come up with as many new uses for a common object as you can, it taps into not only your ability to generate ideas quickly but also whether your ideas are flexible, original, and useful.

Psychological science gives us some clues into where creativity comes from and how we can cultivate it.

But what is creativity, really? Is it a personality trait you’re born with? Or is it a skill you can develop? Do we always have some creativity flowing through us even for daily tasks, or do we get into a “creative headspace” during moments of inspiration? Nowadays, we no longer believe that creativity comes to us from the Muses of Ancient Greek mythology. Instead, psychological science gives us some clues into where creativity comes from and how we can cultivate it.

Tip #1: Don’t wait for inspiration—hunt it down

Research has shown that curiosity is associated with creativity. This makes perfect sense, because curiosity is the fuel we need to hunt down inspiration. Whether you’re a writer, scientist, dancer, architect, or programmer, you can’t get really good without standing on the shoulders of giants.

So, if you want to be a writer, read books. If you want to be an artist, look at art. If you want to invent cool gadgets, read patents that already exist. If your mind constantly steeps in other films, the good ones may rub off on you by giving you screenplay ideas of your own. The bad ones will teach you what doesn’t work so you can avoid wasting time going down the wrong avenues. You might also find that other filmmakers have all been missing something entirely, and that’s where your new idea comes in.

Tip #2: Just get started

Perfection is the enemy of progress, right? It’s the enemy of creativity too. If you wait for an idea to become fully formed, or even very good, before you start to make it a reality, you may be waiting for a very long time.

Persistence is the unglamorous side of creativity, but it’s also the only way to actually make something.

Instead, get to work. Write two crappy sentences a day in your “Crappy Writing” journal, and at some point, you’ll write the sentence to start your next...

Keep reading on Quick and Dirty Tips