By Molly Grane - Marketing Support at Xapsis Integrated Marketing
As we are children, art and creativity seems to flow through
every part of our body. We would pick up
a crayon and create what some people are paid thousands of dollars to
produce. Watching children play, their
minds are constantly producing inventive ideas.
When I was in college, I had the pleasure of taking a
Psychology Thinking class and this is one topic that was discussed in
depth. The depletion of creativity
doesn’t start when we are in our 50’s; it starts once we start school. After finding this article on
creatingminds.org, the numbers they produced really stuck me as
surprising. They declare “at about age
5, we are using about 80% of our creative potential and by the time we reach
the age of 12, our creative output has declined to about 2% of our
potential.” Wow, the only question that
comes to mind when reading these numbers is why and how can I stop this?
As the saying goes “use it or lose it.” This statement really applies here. In school we are taught to think that one
question has one answer. Do you remember
those papers that we all had to write in school, research and write? Did you ever receive extra credit for
thinking around the topic and trying to get into more details besides the topic
that was provided? Typically, no…most
teachers push for question/answer type of teaching because the real world typically uses this type of method. Society
pushes us to be this type of thinker, but it’s up to you when to say “STOP.”
When you finally reach you’re ending ground and realize you
cannot think with those “creative juices” you used to have, it’s finally time
to retrain your brain. How do I start
this process? Start by getting back to
the basics, and do what you did as a child.
Enjoy the activities that used to make you smile. Start reading different books that you never
thought you would read, and take out those crayons that your children are
playing with on the table. Maybe you are
not the best artist, but getting back on that horse is just the first step.
“Age and Creativity.” creatingminds.org. Syque
2002-2010. 1 Aug. 2012. <www.http://creatingminds.org/articles/age.htm>.
