Part 2

On Creativity, Part 2: Creativity Can Be Learned

Creativity is how you combine what you know (input), motivation (the willingness to work hard and prioritise), and your knowledge of creative techniques (the tools you can use in your creative work). Creativity is a way of thinking.

David Beckham stayed on the field, kicking the ball long after his friends had gone home. Picasso painted over 50,000 artworks, and Mozart composed more than 600 pieces of music. Not everything they created was brilliant, but they worked tirelessly and never gave up, and in the end, they succeeded. Today, Mozart is remembered for just a few pieces, and hardly anyone cares about the other 49,979 paintings Picasso created.

It’s said that you become what you eat, and you also become what you think and do. While the structure of the brain has barely changed in 10,000 years, we can still change how it operates. There’s something called neuroplasticity, which means that our brain can develop and improve throughout our lives. In fact, it must evolve to stay healthy. If you’re convinced that you’re not creative—or not creative enough—you can change that. You just need to rewire your brain through practice, creative exercises, and repetition.

Note! Changing the brain’s thought patterns isn’t something you can do in five minutes.

Go to Part 1 – On Creativity : Myths and Magic

Sources for more information:
Article: Why Practice Makes Perfect
Book: The Talent Code

Who you are today is the result of how you’ve trained your brain. What would happen if you decided to believe you could write a bestselling novel? It might feel difficult or silly to force yourself to believe it, but you need to keep going until your brain actually changes and turns that unfamiliar thought into a habit. Suddenly, this new way of thinking becomes the new you. As soon as you believe you can write the book, you’ll start writing it—“perception is reality.”

“Neurons form highways of information, and the more you travel them, the stronger these highways get. So, if you believe you are not creative, you are not. But that can change. You can reprogram your mind. It’s not a change that happens overnight (well, kind of), but you need time to relearn. To change, you have to practise—and actually change.”

Read more about this in the following article: The Neuroscience of Behaviour Change, or if you’re short on time, check out this 2-minute video.

What is an Idea and What is Creativity?

When you break down creativity, you often find a basic thought, also known as an idea. Maybe it’s a text you want to write, a short story, or even a novel? The idea can be large and complex or quite simple, like the story “The Manure Pit” from my book 3 Stones for the Nixie. The story is about a manure pit at a farm in rural Østfold, which I found terrifying as a child. Even though I always stayed in the car when we passed the farm, I had nightmares about falling into it, floating around in the muck, and suffocating.

Older and no longer scared of the pit, I thought, “I wonder what Stephen King would write about that pit…” And that’s how the idea for a short story was born. “What if I actually got close to that pit, and what if I…”

What I did was combine one or more memories from my childhood with inspiration from one of my favourite authors, and together they formed a story. Here, we’re getting to the core of what an idea truly is.

“A creative idea is the result of one or more thoughts meeting in your mind, creating a new thought—a creative idea. This new thought or idea is then used to create new thoughts and ideas. You don’t create ideas out of nothing, but by combining old ideas and thoughts in a new and unexpected way.”

If that’s the case, then what is creativity in relation to an idea? Attempts have been made to define this as well, and the answer isn’t always uplifting (especially not for the lazy).

“Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.” —Thomas Edison

Creativity, then, is 1% idea and inspiration, and 99% hard work. That’s why so many start creative projects but give up (hence, “I’m not creative enough”). Coming up with an idea for an article, book, or whatever is easy. But seeing it through—writing an entire book from idea to a printed copy in a reader’s hands—is a massive job. In my experience, writing the stories for my book was only a fraction of the work. Editing, changing, editing again, making mistakes, trying again (the “fuck off phase” as some call it), editing once more, and when you think the book is done, it needs to be printed, published, promoted, praised, defended, sold, given away, etc. The work never ends…

You’ve probably thought, “Oh, I’ve thought of that too,” when you see a cool product or read something clever. Unfortunately, you don’t get any credit because you didn’t act on your idea.

“The only real difference between those who do it and those who don’t is that those who did it, did it.” —Me (I think)

The Three Elements of Creativity

Knowledge: Everything you know and can learn, either by yourself or with others.

Motivation: You need to be willing to prioritise and dedicate time to your creative project. This often means sacrificing something else (turn off the TV or throw it out the window).

Skills: You work with creative techniques and understand how creativity emerges.

Look at the Creative Process

Research and Study

You have an idea for a book and begin exploring it.
Is there anything you need to learn? Gather as much information as possible related to your theme.
Follow different leads and keep your mind open early in the project. Watch YouTube videos, ask a relative, read about the subject online or in a library, and observe the world around you.

Tip: Write about something you know, and you’ve already got the first step covered. If you’re writing a biography, your life has been one long research phase.

Brainstorming and Ideas

You can use techniques like brainwriting to generate more ideas.

The “Fuck Off” Phase

This is when you start doubting whether your project is worth continuing. Is it even worth it? Someone might say something you didn’t want to hear. You feel discouraged. You doubt yourself.

Tip! Prepare to be criticised! It’s important to get feedback and not just from people who will tell you it’s great. You need to be open to criticism, feel a little hurt for 10 minutes, and then get over it. Review the criticism and consider if there’s a point to it. It’s your creation, and you decide what to do with it.Incubation Phase – Sleep On It

Take breaks and let your brain rest. Don’t be afraid to leave the project for a while—it’s not going anywhere. Remember, while you’re taking a break, your brain is still processing it in the background. This is often when you get “eureka moments.”

Tip: Set a time for when the incubation phase starts and ends. This way, you won’t worry about losing momentum or forgetting about the project. For example, you could decide that you’ll start writing again on October 1st.

Deadlines Are the Best Motivation

• Set milestones and deadlines for your project.
• Share your progress on social media and with family and friends.
• Deadlines force you to focus on the project and set aside other distractions.

Tip: Know that your creative project, like a book, will never feel finished (to you). One day, you’ll just have to let it go. Release it and let it fly. A book is never finished; it’s simply abandoned.

In the next post in this series on creativity, I’ll share practical tools you can use in your creative work.