{"id":28714,"date":"2025-02-27T12:47:02","date_gmt":"2025-02-27T12:47:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lightsyndicateacademy.com\/the-four-steps-of-creativity\/"},"modified":"2025-02-27T12:47:02","modified_gmt":"2025-02-27T12:47:02","slug":"the-four-steps-of-creativity-366","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lightsyndicateacademy.com\/en\/the-four-steps-of-creativity-366\/","title":{"rendered":"The Four Steps of Creativity"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have been busy working on my creativity, I have been in Preparation and Incubation while waiting for Illumination and am about to start Implementation.Ira Glass on the Creative Processfrom www.getoutthebox.orgThe truth is almost everyone has creative potential.<\/strong> What separates good creatives (or dormant creatives that get lucky) is that they\u2019ve learned how to walk through the creative process. The irony is that most of them don\u2019t know that there is a documented process, yet they\u2019ve developed habits and processes that allow them to walk through the process. On some brute level, they understand the process, though they don\u2019t know how the process works.<\/em>
A large part of the problem is that there is an air of mystery and mysticism around the creative process. Because people assume and reinforce the idea that some have creative potential and others don\u2019t, those that do harness their potential and work through the process become all the more \u201cdifferent.\u201d And because so few of us see that leveraging our creativity is inextricably linked to how we make money, we let our creative process devolve into a daily crap shoot.
So, let\u2019s take a few minutes and demystify the creative process.The Four Steps of Creativity
We\u2019ve known for a long time that the creative process can be broken down into four distinct processes, most of which can be fostered and augmented. The processes are:Preparation
Incubation
Illumination
Implementation
<\/strong>I\u2019ll spend some time on each step.PREPARATION
This is the first phase of what most call work. A writer, for example, prepares either by writing, reading, or revising earlier work. A musician plays scales, chords, or songs\u2026a painter messes with paints or visits an art gallery\u2026an entrepreneur researches problems to solve\u2026.a programmer plays with code.We, photographers, must do all the above, visit museums, read books, and play with A .I , and most of all research and shoot. \u00a0 In each example, the creative is going through relatively mundane processes.
The reason I say most call this phase \u201cwork\u201d is because these processes may or may not be inherently enjoyable<\/strong>. They\u2019re also fairly mundane and tedious, but the creative has learned that this process is necessary to plant the seeds that lead to\u2026 I love this part, it\u2019s where the fun begins for me. INCUBATION
This would be the mystical process if there were one because you often don\u2019t know that you\u2019re percolating an idea, or if you do know you\u2019re working on one, you don\u2019t know when it\u2019s going to come out<\/em>. It\u2019s at this phase that your conscious and subconscious minds are working on the idea, making new connections, separating unnecessary ideas, and grabbing for other ideas.
This is the phase that most people mess up the most with distractions and the hustle and bustle of daily lives. Modern life, with its many beeps, buzzes, and distractions has a strong tendency to grab the attention of both our subconscious and unconscious minds, and as a result, the creative process stops and is instead replaced by more immediate concerns.
However, from this phase comes\u2026ILLUMINATION
This is the \u201cEureka\u201d moment that many of us spend our days questing after. When it hits, the creative urge is so incredibly strong that we lose track of what else is happening. The driving impulse is to get whatever is going on in our head down into whatever medium it\u2019s intended to go.
The most frustrating thing for me is that the \u201cillumination\u201d moments happen at the most inopportune times.<\/strong> They invariably happen when I\u2019m in the shower when I\u2019m driving by myself, when I\u2019m working out, or when I\u2019m sitting in mind-numbing meetings that I can\u2019t get out of. Of course, the bad part is as I said above: the impulse is to get the idea out as soon as possible, so it\u2019s not at all uncommon for me to stop showering, driving, or working out and run to the nearest notepad \u2013 and, in meetings, I start purging immediately anyway. I\u2019ve yet to gain enough clout to excuse myself from the meetings, but I\u2019m working on it.
I was speaking to a friend a few weeks ago, and I told her I was frustrated because I was pregnant with ideas and didn\u2019t have time to get them out. Keeping with the analogy, when a Eureka! Moment hits, it\u2019s much like labor \u2013 you\u2019re done with incubating, and it\u2019s time for\u2026IMPLEMENTATION
This phase is the one in which the idea you\u2019ve been preparing and incubating sees the light of day. It\u2019s when that written piece comes out, when that song flows, when that canvas reveals its painting, and so on. It\u2019s also when a good creative starts to evaluate the idea and determine whether it\u2019s good or not \u2013 but only after<\/em> they have enough to see where it\u2019s going.
Most of the creatives I know or work with get really frustrated with others at this phase. Other people only see the creation at the end \u2013 they don\u2019t recognize or care much about the process that generated that idea. This is especially true with some supervisors and bosses or clients who expect the end product on a certain schedule \u2013 the process does not work that way<\/u>. Creatives know that for every good idea, there are at least a few that don\u2019t work out, but they can\u2019t know ahead of time what\u2019s going to work out and what won\u2019t.
The creative process begins with work and ends with work. The take-away point here is that creativity is not just percolating and Eureka \u2013 it\u2019s percolating and Eureka sandwiched between work. Debugging Your Creative Process
Understanding the creative process helps you start figuring out where your bugs are. My contention here is that everyone is capable of creative thought and originality<\/strong>, but some people are more creative because they\u2019ve learned either how to let their process work or how to augment the creative process. Everyone else short-circuits their creative process.
\u00a0Intelligence and creativity are loosely related \u2013 some really intelligent people are not very creative, and some creative people aren\u2019t all that intelligent in the way that we standardly view intelligence. Creativity favors intelligence, but that has almost everything to do with two facts: 1) the more intelligent creative can prepare more quickly and more broadly than the less intelligent creative, and 2) the more intelligent creative generally has managed to secure employment that allows here more autonomy of her schedule.
In case you want numbers, most psychologists conclude that people with an IQ of 120 or above have plenty of potentials to pursue creative thinking and lifestyles \u2013 under that, they\u2019ll struggle. There\u2019s also very little correlation between education and intelligence, so don\u2019t think you can\u2019t be creative because you didn\u2019t go to college or grad school \u2013 some of the smartest people I know never attended college. Look at Steve\u00a0 Jobs, for example.
In my experience and work with others, the two areas most people mess up their creative process are the first two steps<\/strong>. Part of preparation is working on things that interest you, and most people haven\u2019t really sat down and figured out what interests and motivates them. This is especially true since our culture both exalts creatives and hates them at the same time, and a lot of people haven\u2019t found their creative outlet. They either think they\u2019re not creative or that creative pursuits are a waste of time.
Another area of preparation where many people go wrong is by not being aware of how social the creative process is. Few great ideas come from a person sitting and thinking by herself \u2013 true, that\u2019s part of the incubation phase, but the seeds are planted in the preparation phase. Talking to people interested in the same things you are or who are just plain creative helps you become more creative, and this explains why creatives tend to be attracted to areas with a high density of other creatives.
Also, as I discussed above, many people don\u2019t let their ideas incubate. Creatives throughout history have always spoken against working for someone else because doing so has a tendency to stop your own incubation process \u2013 when your boss tells you to change directions on a project or reassigns tasks, your incubation process is stunted. Additionally, when you don\u2019t understand that your well-being (and employment) depend on your ability to leverage your creativity, you\u2019re less likely to take this important part of the process seriously. Hint: that you work for someone else has little to do with your creativity or the fact that you are employed due to your creativity.
With these two phases of the process short-circuited, it\u2019s no wonder why people aren\u2019t manifesting their creativity.<\/strong> It\u2019s not because they don\u2019t have the capacity to be creative, and it has everything to do with their creative process being buggy. Fixing the creative process is not that hard to do, and I\u2019ll talk more about it in future posts. Here\u2019s something I want you to keep in mind, and it\u2019s why I\u2019m so adamant about your understanding your creative process and that your livelihood depends on your leveraging your creativity: all it takes is one or two good ideas, well-executed, for you to live the life of greatness. Most of the influential creatives throughout history \u2013 including present ones \u2013 started with one really good idea. The rest of their life was spent either working on that idea or living off of the fruit of that idea. You may be incubating that great idea, or you may be one step away from it, and I want you to get it out so we all can enjoy it.I ask that you suggest new themes and future topics.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have been busy working on my creativity, I have been in Preparation and Incubation while waiting for Illumination and am about to start Implementation.Ira Glass on the Creative Processfrom www.getoutthebox.orgThe truth is almost everyone has creative potential. What separates good creatives (or dormant creatives that get lucky) is that they\u2019ve learned how to walk […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"order-bump-settings":[],"_wpfnl_thankyou_order_overview":"on","_wpfnl_thankyou_order_details":"on","_wpfnl_thankyou_billing_details":"on","_wpfnl_thankyou_shipping_details":"on","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-product-shoots"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightsyndicateacademy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightsyndicateacademy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightsyndicateacademy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightsyndicateacademy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightsyndicateacademy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lightsyndicateacademy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28714\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lightsyndicateacademy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightsyndicateacademy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lightsyndicateacademy.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}