Dear friends!

Adekunle shares some very poignant views on being a creative.Just as I found them helpful, I am sure you would.  Don't forget to like. Comment. Share.

It's always my pleasure sharing this space with you.

OjisiEmezie 

It has been widely proven that self-discovery; capacity building and creativity are the basic tools for youth empowerment. Empowerment as the key to achieving the concept of entrepreneurship is a phenomenon agreed to be the lasting solution to unemployment amongst youths all over the world. It's therefore necessary we understand the concept of creativity as the central deciding factor in this whole process.

Creativity is the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, steps, patterns, relationships or the likes in other to build meaningful and beneficial new ideas. It's basically about originality, imagination and progressive success. It's a phenomenon whereby something new and in some ways, valuable is created. Virtually all disciplines and fields are attached from economics, technology, theology, sociology, philosophy and education to cognitive science and others.

To explain the concepts and aspects of creativity, I have put together the following 4Ps;

Creative Person

Is much about the intellectual habits of you and me as a creative entity/being. It involves the characteristic features capable of describing you as an individual  ready to make an invention or build an idea to empower yourself. Such features may include openness, levels of ideation, autonomy, expertise, explanatory behaviours and so on.

Creative Process

This involves the thought mechanisms and techniques for creative thinking and success. It's the procedure employed to put the ideas into forms good for the actual building. Guilford and Wallas have got theories of creative process (read up with Google as source).

Creative Place

The surrounding circumstances, the particular  environment, the limiting/enabling atmosphere and the location/situation a creative person found him/herself that does a lot to determine if the creativity process flourishes well to bring out acceptable and meaningful desired outcome (s). It may include the government regulations plus availability of needed resources and opportunities.

Creative Product

Is the yardstick with which creativity is measured as it describes and tell the real outcome of the creative thinking and process. It's either an abstract and concrete material/substance and/or service that goes to the society and attracts reward (and sometimes award).

It's therefore important for you be a creative person that has the best creative place to go through needed creative process for a useful and meaningful creative product that will get you empowered.

Creativity may however be done in different forms. The common classifications are as follows;

*Replication; you can confirm the authenticity and value of the field, then reproduce with necessary permission and authority.

*Redefinition; you may attempt to review the field and make additions/subtractions for a better application and new ideas.

*Redirection; taking the field productively forward but with different target result using entirely different approach wand direction.

* Re initiation; starting over all again by going through a completely new creative process.

*Integration; combining two/more diverse ways using multiple creative processes all to make a single idea more useful.

Five basic rules of creativity;

a. Keep the seed in the ground; don't unleash your plan/ideas quickly especially when it's incomplete and/or untested. This helps creativity to blossom.

b. Reward failure; praise yourself when necessary but most importantly rebuke yourself when needed. The best reward of failure is to try again and harder.

c. Take more breaks; have breaks from the norms, relax when necessary (I didn't say relent), create evaluating mind that segment ideas.

d. Think like a child; maturity or growth seems to elude us the chance to be artistic and creative. Don't be too big to think/act.

e. Watch more comedy; don't get angry or upset easily as it disturbs the creative person in you. Interact, socialize and get to laugh!

Conclusion...

Educate and build yourself. Discover that thing you can do conveniently and comfortably that is capable of making you better. Even employers are increasingly valuing creative skills. The ability to think outside the box is highly sought after.

The creativity traits/skills needed to discover yourself and get better include ideation, motivation, confidence, good approach and reasonably acceptable personality.

Make use of the following 4Is that will help you build your creative profile;

-Incubate; build up an idea, cook up something, nurture talent!

-Imagine; think of how the ideas can be achieved, see it as possible, visualize a future along it!

-Improve; act on it, take the next required step, contribute to the built ideas, take your talent to the  

 level of glory!

-Invest; put in a bit of risk by subjecting your resources to its actualisation. Tolerate and Endure till the story really turn to glory!

As a youth, you can only be much more empowered if you are creative!

 

Ibraheem Adekunle Adedigba) is a budding writer and social critic. He has a great analytic mind and commits most of his time to developing young people and talents. Contact him via 08037811854 or  akogunomooyo@gmail.com