© Immrchris | Dreamstime.com
When a sports participant lacks confidence, a coach might advise the player to “fake it until you make it.”
In other words, if you act as though you’re confident, you’ll eventually develop real confidence. It’s a mindset.
Similarly, adopting a creative mindset can make a difference for those — about 50 percent of adults — who believe they lack the creativity gene.
It’s mainly a choice, say professors Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen and Clayton M. Christensen, authors of “The Innovator’s DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators.”
Your creativity potential
Their recent post in the Harvard Business Review, encourages readers to think differently about their potential to become disruptive innovators.
With more than 6,000 professionals, including entrepreneurs and managers, who have taken their assessments, the authors have a large research database to draw upon. They write that disruptive innovators “see themselves as creative and act that way.”
For example, Stepan Pachikov, founder of Evernote, exemplifies the skilled questioner. He started with the simple: “What kind of database will help me remember things?”
That led to a popular program that many people now rely on to recall things quickly they might otherwise forget and thereby improve their personal productivity.
The check-up
If you’d like to assess whether you’re selling yourself short on the creativity scale, the authors offer five agree-or-disagree statements to try.
For example, would you classify yourself as high in trying new ways to do things? If so, you’re an experimenter. You can view other assessment questions and how to score your results here.
Their optimistic message is to take heart if you’ve lamented that you’re not creative. By changing your approach and keeping at the hard work of change each day, you will become more creative.
You’ve got it
You may not create a new software program like Evernote but you can look at things at work or in your personal life in new ways. The process can inspire you to define yourself in new ways, as well.
And, ultimately, you’ll rethink whether you were blessed with the creativity gene.
You might also enjoy How to Increase Your Creativity Quotient.
