Attitudes for Creativity
On this page 4 headings
Start here A painter who sold almost nothing in his lifetime, yet painted every single day. A clerk who wrote one letter that changed his life. What did they have in common? The right attitude.
An attitude is a mental frame for looking at something. You might have a great attitude for talking to people but a poor one for hard work. Here is what you need for creativity.
Six willingness attitudes
| Attitude | What it means |
|---|---|
| 1. Willingness to be creative | Wanting to be creative. When a problem appears, be the first to raise your hand. Don’t say, “Just tell me how to do it.” |
| 2. Willingness to fail | Creativity is not an exam. You might choose the wrong problem, the wrong idea, or implement badly. That’s okay. Not every creative effort ends in success. |
| 3. Willingness to be wrong | “I tried it, but I was wrong. What’s your view?” Then pick up the better view. |
| 4. Willingness to see other perspectives | Comes naturally once you accept you might be wrong. |
| 5. Willingness to iterate | Go back and forth between steps. If ideas don’t come, go back and redefine the problem. If you can’t implement, go back to your ideas. The steps are not a one-way road. |
| 6. Willingness to fall in love with problems | Care for the problem, don’t just tolerate it. |
Also needed:
- Patience, or willingness to tolerate delay. Ideas often come later, while you walk or eat.
- Perseverance: keep going.
- Reading about your problem.
- Collaboration: working with others.
Everyday example Your app project idea fails in the first test. Willingness to fail means you don’t quit. Willingness to iterate means you go back, collect more user feedback, redefine the problem, and try a new idea.
Take inspiration from three creative people
| Person | What we learn |
|---|---|
| Vincent van Gogh (Dutch painter) | Encouraged by his brother Theo, he painted from morning to night. He sold almost nothing in his lifetime and lived on his brother’s support, but kept painting anyway: famous works like the Sunflowers series. Today his paintings are worth a fortune. Lesson: passion, not money, drove his creativity. Read Lust for Life (a novel about his life by Irving Stone). |
| Mahatma Gandhi | Creativity everywhere: the idea of satyagraha, the Salt March, even his simple clothes and the way he spoke. He used creativity to bring people behind a purpose. |
| Srinivasa Ramanujan | A clerk at the Madras Port Trust, poor, but doing maths all the time and organising it neatly. He wrote a famous letter to the English professor G. H. Hardy: “Dear Sir, I beg to introduce myself to you as a clerk in the Accounts Department of the Port Trust Office at Madras…” He pointed to his best result in a way that made Hardy want to read the papers. Hardy brought him to England. Lesson: do such good work that it speaks for you. |
Fact note: the professor says the letter was sent “in 1912, when he was 21–22”. Ramanujan actually sent it in January 1913, when he was 25.
The most important line: creativity is deliberate
Creativity is a deliberate activity.
Deliberate means on purpose. Creativity is not an idea that suddenly falls on your head. It is solving a problem with dedication, discipline and deliberateness.
You should be able to say exactly where you are: “I’m in the information-collecting stage”, “I’m in the ideation stage”, “I’m in the implementation stage”.
In one line: Creative people are willing to try, fail, be wrong, listen, iterate and love problems — and they create deliberately. Exam words: attitude, willingness to be creative, willingness to fail, willingness to be wrong, other perspectives, willingness to iterate, fall in love with problems, patience, perseverance, Vincent van Gogh, Mahatma Gandhi, Ramanujan, G. H. Hardy, creativity is deliberate.