Group: G13
Professor Margaret Chan
Done By: REN Rui Yun
I Can If I Think I Can
When I first realized there was a university core course in SMU called Creative Thinking, I
couldn't help wondering: is creative thinking really something that can be learnt in class?
Being a girl from a traditional developing country, I never relate myself with the term
creativity. Since young, all I've been doing is studying diligently and doing whatever parents
or teachers told us to do. In other words, I almost took it for granted that my life was arranged
by others and what I should do is just to follow the routine and finally reach the so-called
success. For me, creative thinking is only and always something that is related to artists and
beyond understanding. Correspondingly, the outcomes of creative thinking often break out of
traditional patterns. However, after the first CT (Creative Thinking) class, I've got a totally
new perspective in looking the concept creativity: creativity actually comes in much simpler
forms such as formulating a solution to an everyday problem (Johanna E. Dickhut, 2003). As
the learning process goes, I find out and try to correct many misconceptions about creativity
in my mind. Now, I would argue that creativity has nothing to do with any of these single
words: different, random, and crazy; instead, it is a gift that everyone was born with and can
gain after birth as well.
Firstly, creativity is not all about different, random, and crazy. In the article "Be Creative – or
die", the author Christopher Dreher (2001) defines three types of creativity: technological
creativity, economic creativity, and cultural and artistic creativity. None of those kinds of
creativities can be achieved by simply imaging and thinking of crazy ideas, especially for the
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economic creativity, which requires the ability to turning ideas into real businesses. Hence,
creativity thinking is actually a process of systematic thinking. Sometimes we have to think
out of the box to create novel ideas that is different from others in order to be outstanding, but
simply being different is neither the purpose nor the connotation of creativity. The question is
"what is the value that can be gained from this idea?" In other words, to be creative, one must
harness the multidimensional aspects of creativity (Christopher Drehe, 2001) and generate
values to the society.
Secondly, creativity is a gift that everyone was born with. I didn't think I'm a creative person
until I first saw Kirton's (1976) adaptation-innovation distinction theory. According to Gerard
J. Puccio (1999), "two individuals that possess an equal level of creativity may exhibit their
creativity in two very different ways". Regarding to this point, Kirton separated people into
two categories: adaptor and innovator. Easily, I find myself an adaptor, who is defined by
precision, reliability, efficiency, discipline, and conformity. It was that moment that I realized
everyone was born with creativity, and it's only the styles of representing creativity that
differs among people.
Thirdly, creativity is a quality that can be easily built up and increased by learning and using
it. The first time I really learnt to be creative is when I used both vertical thinking and lateral
thinking to generate ideas about my visual map. It is indeed powerful when I combined those
two thinking skills, where vertical thinking is about the best solutions and lateral thinking is
about novel and different. After I came up with the idea about the basic purpose (vertical
thinking) of my visual map, I started to think about how to display my thought in a creative
way (lateral thinking). I am never a person who is good at painting, but when I finally looked
at my visual map, I thought I've done quite a good job: expressing my understanding of
creative thinking in a novel way with very simple figures.
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All in all, creativity is not far from me, and it is just the way how I behave in everyday life.
As Brian Tracy (2001) has said," the best definition of creativity is, simply, 'improvement.'
You don't have to be a rocket scientist or an artist in order to be creative. All you have to do
is develop the ability to improve your situation, wherever you are and whatever you are
doing." In other words, I can be creative if I think I can!
(719 words)
Bibliography
Brain, Tracy. (2001). A guide for creative thinking. Solar Energy
Charity, Retrieved from GoPublishYourself .
Gerard J., Puccio. (1999). Two dimensions of creativity: level and
style. BuffaloState, doi: AJD 12/02.
Johanna E. Dickhut . (2003). A brief review of creativity. Personality Papers .
