Creativity kept at bay

Is it right or wrong? What’s the answer? The age-old questions that we have all come to believe are key for mastery. Knowing the answers or being the smartest is highly valued in society. Children from an early age are pushed down to memorise answers via rote learning methods, to build standards and assess levels. But where does creativity fit into all of this? 

Creativity is a place of total human freedom. It’s a natural state and it covers all areas of life.  We’ve all had those great moments of inspiration that pop up in our minds. But normally they stay just as ideas. When you are young, you can draw, say or do pretty much anything (apart from being rude or naughty) and the grown-ups around you will usually be pretty supportive. Then as the individuals starts growing older that support becomes less and less. This is until you sit yourself down on the first day of work and you don’t want to say anything just in case you might be wrong.

And I know…there are right and wrong answers having come from an engineering background myself. But the downside of developing a fixed mindset can be limiting when what happens next in life is at best a good guess.

This article aims to explore why the skill of Creativity should be developed and how fiction can be a tool for achieving this. 

What about the wrong answers?

Nothing in life is certain. Change is abundant. Old skills need constant up-skilling. Nations, finance, and politics all rest on a knife edge. With everything moving at a rapid pace and now with the changing landscape that AI will bring, being flexible, adaptable and creative are crucial in staying ahead.

“As the demands of the labour force continue to shift, education systems must be prepared and equipped to promptly respond to both job-specific skills and the transversal skills required to navigate new ways of working and to the renewed requirement for lifelong learning and continuous upskilling” UNESCO.

There is huge value in exploring the alternatives, the wrong answers, the bold ideas and challenging the norms. It can’t only be about getting the right answers. Humans struggle with change. Take the environment for example, we all know the issues and ways that could help to solve it. What the process is lacking, are creative ways countries could work together to achieve a common goal. Humans have the capability to achieve it, but it means seeing the answer in a different way, not just as profit/survival for “me”. Society is screaming for something different.

Creativity stuck at a red light.

So, why then don’t we value creativity more during early years? Well, creativity is highly subjective. The time it will take to assess and measure capability is unrealistic in a mainstream education system that just does not have the time or resources available. Creativity has therefore been cordoned off into the Arts or Drama subjects. We all associate being creative, with certain people/types. Yet, creativity covers all area of life from; your house layout, to how you speak, to what you dress, to how you work together with others and the list could go on.

Developing creativity, it is a skill like anything else. But’s it’s a hard path to follow on the untrodden path. There’s no map. It’s scary, and you could be wrong. Furthermore, as I mentioned at the start, society finds it easier to measure what they know. School, pass grades, qualification, jobs, houses, salary. You know where you stand when people ask, but nothing new will come of it. If I told you my empathy level was a 7 out of 10, or my imagination was a 10 of 10, people’s eyes would glaze over.

Society is screaming for new methods, ideas and people that can adapt their knowledge to the changing landscape. So how can children start developing creativity?

Read, Read, Read, Read

The human imagination is a powerful tool that we all carry, which can be used to improve the lives of individuals, organisations, countries, and the world. We create new realities with fiction, new tools with programming and new ways to see life with art and photography.

But I believe it’s possible to integrate creativity into all areas of your life and should start as soon as possible in a child’s life. Fictional stories can be a great tool for helping to develop creativity. This is how:

Imagining a different world

Being able to imagine new worlds where people are treated equally, and have better transportation, schools, bridges, and building or maybe living simpler are the building blocks for taking action. Humans have shaped the world that we know today, but what’s stopping anyone from finding new better ways and then taking action? It all starts with ideas.

Fiction is a great way of exploring new concepts, outcomes, and possibilities. Encouraging storytelling and then discussing the ideas together are exciting ways to start building an open mind to different outcomes. Read, Read, Read.

Seeing the world from different perspectives

Human creativity is being open to seeing life from different perspectives. This can build empathy and understanding. This is an important skill not only applies to work but for relationships, friendships, team sports and the list goes on.

Imagination plays a large part in seeing yourself in someone else’s shoes. It’s not just what you want to do, it’s seeing how your actions could impact you and others. Being creative is linked to skill of building empathy. It is a soft skill that is often overlooked yet it’s an important skill for society.

Exploring characters in a story and asking different questions is a great way to build empathy.

• How do they feel?
• Why are they being nasty?
• What happened if you were in their shoes?
• Could they have handled the situation differently?

Carrying out book reviews are a perfect way of doing this.

Multiple Outcomes

There are multiple ways anything can turn out. Again, building the skill of imagining/writing what these could be are great to build a rounder view of any decision/action or situation. For example, instead of focusing on one right answer when trying to solve a problem, an individual could imagine all the possible outcomes and then work backwards to find which one works best for the situation.

Pick a favourite story. Image what would happen if the there was a different ending? Was there a critical moment in the story where a different decision could have changed everything?

Imaging yourself, however, you want

We are all thrown into this world, and we quickly build a picture of who we believe we are based on the context of the situation around us. Growing up is hard and is made even harder when an individual starts to believe they are what they or others say they are. Yet, motivation story after motivation story tells us that if we can imagine it, we can become it.

Take the great Arnold Schwarzenegger. Recently I watched his documentary, where he claimed his continued vision for himself becoming a world champion weightlifter drove him to reach his goals.

This is a highly creative process and can be applied to any situation. To develop this skill, start a story about your life and just imagine, add colour, pictures etc. Asking these tyes questions:

• Can you write a story about your life where you are the hero/heroness?
• What would you love to happen?
• Where would you live?
• What would you see?
• How would you feel?
• What would happen if you can’t fail?

In continually repeating this process, it might soon all come true!

It’s Fun

Being creative is the ultimate freedom for children and adults. You can express yourself in any way you want. It’s your choice. The reason I love fiction and especially children’s fiction is that I am free to pick and choose whatever path I want. I am continuously thinking about new ideas, and characters.

Draw, paint or describe a character/ an invention and give it a name. Add colours, accessories, and toys. There is not right or wrong here and soon you might just have a start of a story.

Children need to let their minds wonder (and adults too). Give them praise for their interesting new ideas, and not just for the right answers. I believe in this so much, I want to reward them. I will offer a free signed copy of my first novel The Cat Mouse Adventure to Cheese Paradise for the best new character, invention, transport, or world (Delivery within the UK only)`. Send to info@tomwilliambooks.com. I will announce the winner on my blog at the end of the year.

The creative path

Overall, being creative offers so many skills that are often taken for granted. Anyone can do it, and I feel children should be encouraged as much as possible. Ask them questions, challenge their answers, and let them imagine different worlds, characters and watch them smile. Fictional stories are a great tool for helping as it offers so many options. It will help build a valuable skill that needed to stay ahead in this fast-moving world.

This article was written by Tom William, author of the first in the series The Cat Mouse Adventure to Cheese Paradise.