Introduction
There is a common concept of left-brain and right-brain that respectively control logical thinking and creative thinking. However, it turns out that more than two parts are at work in the creative brain and that we develop creative ideas by a more sophisticated process.
We don’t come into the world with a preconceived notion. A real cognitive process is involved in producing new ideas and transforming old ideas into something new. It’s called the creative process. We all have creative potential inside of us. Somehow, in some way, we make decisions and act on them by using creativity. A lot of our daily problems need a creative solution.
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Have you ever wondered how to start your book, your song, or your creative business? Do you ever find yourself sitting in front of a blank page, unable to even begin? James Taylor is a UK-based, award-winning creativity expert and entrepreneur who has spent years trying to find answers to those questions. After refining his craft and reading nearly every academic article based around creativity and its process, he has done creative everywhere in favour of translating the answer into 5 bite-sized stages: preparation, incubation, insight, evaluation, and elaboration. These five stages will help you stretch out that creative muscle and position you for success. Creativity can, however, be increased through a combination of the creative process, which is composed of five individual steps.
1. Preparation Stage
An idea can come from anywhere. It feels like it happens spontaneously, but that’s actually very rarely the case. Most of the time, ideas come from consumption. The more you consume, the more inspiration you can draw from.
For example, if you are a musician, you are absorbing a lot of the music that is inspiring you to create this new piece. If you are an artist, you are looking at other artist’s work in the area that you are looking at creating something in. At this stage, you are trying to absorb as much information as possible because this information will go into your subconscious, where it is very important for the second stage, or second level.
2. Incubation stage
A second stage on the creative process also proposes that the same basic activities are involved in creative and routine problem solving. This is an extremely important stage because sometimes it can take days, weeks, months, or sometimes even years.
According to Taylor, “This is an extremely important stage because sometimes it can take days, weeks, months, or sometimes even years.” “Now the interesting thing about the incubation stages is that, to a certain extent, it is not really under your control how long that stage will take. It is something you cannot really rush.” This is because the incubation stage involves thoroughly working over the resources you’ve collected, examining concepts, looking at them from different angles, and experimenting with how they fit together.
3. Insight Stage
Taylor mentioned that often you might find these moments come up while doing some sort of low-level activity. Don’t worry—you won’t have to do any extreme sports for them to appear! “This is the classic ‘a-ha!’ moment, or the “eureka!’ moment. Interestingly, it’s probably the smallest part of the creative process in terms of time, but it’s the one that they make the films about… What you’ll tend to find is that you’ll have lots of series of these little insights and moments.”
A quick thing here is that they most often happen when you are doing some kind of low-level physical activity; going for a shower, driving a car, having a walk. “This is because your subconscious has basically been bubbling away, and in this insight stage you’ll realize things will start percolating to the top, bringing things to the forefront, and that’s where you’ll start getting these insights.”
4. Evaluation stage
This could be the most difficult stage for some creative. We tend to have a lot of ideas all of the time, but that doesn’t mean they are all good ideas. In this stage, you’ll have to learn to sift through them all to find the most viable option.
“There’s different ways of thinking of that. You can fast forward and ask yourself, Is this a new or novel idea, or is it just a rehashed idea that has been done before?” Taylor continued by suggesting that having a group of trusted peers or colleagues could be beneficial in this situation. Getting outside opinions might really help in deciding whether or not an idea is worth pursuing. “We have a limited amount of time in life, so you’ve got to decide what you’re going to do with your life and how you’re going to spend it.”
5. Elaboration stage
This is the most important stage of the creative process.This is the moment we take action. “Edison said, ‘1% inspiration and 99% perspiration,” this is the 99% perspiration bit. This is where you’ve had the ideas for songs, you’ve written the songs, you have the first bit, but this is the editing, the re-editing, the mixing, the marketing, getting it out there and telling the story.”
Taylor is incredibly passionate about this stage, and for good reason. You can’t just spend your time coming up with the ideas and not following through with the work. We have a responsibility to ourselves and to our creativity to show up, or we’ll end up with a pile of half-finished projects.
“Some days will be easy, and some days you’ll get more of these insights than others as well, but you’ll have to start by working towards and building in some kind of system for yourself that works around your life and what you’re out to do.”
Next time you’re seated in front of a blank page or you feel that inspiration hasn’t yet struck, remember that creativity is a process. Put yourself in new environments, immerse yourself in great work, and surround yourself with catalysts to launch yourself into your own creativity.
