People have strange assumptions about originality and creativity. Some people say that every brain is different and that creativity is always a natural gift that you are born with. I don’t believe in this.
I believe that the life we are provided with is more than enough to develop our own creativity and originality.
In this sense creativity is not a superpower that you are born with, it is something that you have to develop with time, patience, hard work, strong will and most importantly a want for a selfless achievement of success.
Success here is not to be thought of as a desire to move ahead from others, rather than to move ahead from yourself. That’s when success becomes selfless. A constant struggle to become a better version of yourself.
This is your first step towards originality.
Rethink Your Definition of Success
Those who think success is all about moving ahead from others can never be original. They will waste their time looking at what others do and how to mimic them. Sometimes they may get instant success but it will not last long.
This doesn't mean that you should never look at what others do. Looking at others gives you a chance to learn from their mistakes. But you should never try to mimic them and find your own way to success.
If you overthink about other people’s success you will always be anxious about beating them. To stop anxious thoughts you should only focus on beating yourself. Having this mentality will let you push your original self to greater heights and you will become creative.
Rethink Your Definition Of Knowledge
This is where you should never restrict yourself in keeping a distance from other people. This is because everyone has their own way of looking at the things.
And knowledge is not just restricted to having known some facts and figures, it lies in understanding the way how others look at reality. It lies in how deeply you understand what they say. It lies in remembering their version of the story.
This is where you get an advantage. When you understand what others mean and what you mean, you can combine that knowledge in your brain and produce something which is always a better version of the previous thing. And that’s when you become creative.
To do this─read as many books as you can, communicate with as many people as you can, listen carefully what others have to say, spend time with your own thoughts and most importantly combine all that knowledge with your own originality.
Rethink Your Definition of Purpose
People chase so many things in life: love for someone, passion for an art or skill, success to outshine others, good salary to live life calmly and popularity for just the sake of it.
The problem is, whatever they chase they always chase more than two things at the same time. For example, people may be chasing a career just because they think it is an easy way to get success.
This feeling to become great is hard to let go off. And when time comes to make the decision of going with a job or a career move we don't think about the important things that really matter. Like: Would I love what I will do?? Am I good at what I am getting into?? We only think of our decision as a way to become rich.
When we go out to do what we decided, we are surprised at the enormous size of it, because we never answered the right questions. Then we waste our time in falling in love with the wrong dream.
Remember that creativity will only come if you really love doing something from the depth of your heart, without using it as a means to achieve something else. Never be shy of what you love, even if it is small or insignificant to others. With time you can make it into something great.
Conclusion
Sometimes in life we don't have the option to do what we really want. At that time obligations of life come in our way. But still, there is a way out.
The way out is to keep dreaming and never let your passion die an instant death. Let it keep growing even if it has a slow place. Your true struggle will at sometime provide you with an opportunity for an instant growth. Otherwise, you are only killing your creativity and hope is all that keeps everything alive.
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About Author
Vartika Kashyap is a seasoned marketing professional who is an expert in digital marketing and entrepreneurship. She’s been featured among LinkedIn’s Top Voices for the year 2016, and is also a contributor for The Next Web & Your Story. She currently heads the Marketing Department at ProofHub — a project management software for teams of all sizes. Connect with Vartika on LinkedIn, Medium and Twitter.
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