Common Misconceptions about Creativity

Entrepreneurship is a complex career path that requires a specific skill set and attitude. From time management to bookkeeping, in most cases, these skills are natural talents that have been developed and nurtured over time. While the level of expertise in various sectors and fields is important for a successful entrepreneur or team of entrepreneurs, innovation, and creativity are the driving forces behind new ideas.

Entrepreneurship requires a combination of creative thinking and innovative approaches. Creativity stands for the skill or ability to use imagination and original ideas to create a new service, product, or solution. Creativity is the result of social and cultural factors and every individual impacted by those factors can reproduce the creative process.
Meanwhile, innovation stands for a method that focusses on finding solutions by improving existing products and practices. Innovation is the practical implementation of creativity.

Yet there are many myths and misconceptions about creativity.

Creativity means to create something from nothing
This is the same as saying that every entrepreneur must make an invention in order to be successful

Nothing comes out of the blue. Everything that we imagine is highly influenced by social, cultural, and other factors. Creative people tend to see things from a different point of view. They bring ideas together in a new way that no one yet managed to see through. The same rule applies to innovation. Long gone are the days of genius inventors. Entrepreneurs now focus on improving something by using what already exists. Despite the will to make a change, not everyone has the same access to knowledge, capacities, and financing, which are crucial to start a business. Hence, such a restriction doesn’t prevent creative people to offer a sustainable solution based on what they already have. This also debunks the myth that limitations harm creativity.

Creativity takes time,  and I don’t have any

Being busy all day with something doesn’t mean that one is accomplishing a specific goal. But if someone takes the time to practice creative thinking in daily activities, the process becomes methodical. Creativity requires time means that it has to be nurtured over time.

Creativity is about art
No, it isn’t. Even though many link creativity to artistic expression, it is the ability that every person has for creating new ideas that can be implemented almost in every sector related to human activity from art to science and beyond.

Inspiration or a muse can trigger creativity
Where art thou, Muse . . .
More than an inspiring muse or epiphany, creativity is a long-term process that includes ongoing learning, hard/smart work, curiosity, experimentation, determination, and zeal. All these together generate an idea that seems to come out in a flash.

I’m not the creative type or creativity is a trait of a few people born with it
How do you know that?
Hard work and commitment are more related to creativity than talent. The time spent training or working on something will shape that special skill. Being creative is fun. Don’t deny yourself this.

You can’t teach creativity
Everybody has a creative potential that can be harnessed through activities at home, at work, or at any other place.

Creativity belongs to the solitary people
You can’t do anything by yourself. Many forms of creativity depend on collaborative work. Young entrepreneurs know what this means. If they insist on doing everything by themselves, at some point they will miss the big picture for some small time-consuming task.

Creativity and innovation go hand in hand and are essential for a successful entrepreneurial mindset. You can further fuel your enthusiasm for entrepreneurial knowledge by taking the free online training provided by the Entrepreneurship Campus. If the lessons help you think about an innovative idea, you're still in time to join our competitions.