5 Creativity Myths You Probably Believe

Creativity isn’t the preserve of one side of the brain, and it isn’t a talent confined to people with a special kind of brain. If you’re human and you’ve got a brain, you’re capable of being creative.

It’s true that the two brain hemispheres do function differently, but crucially they are joined by massive bundles of nerve fibers and most mental functions involve the two hemispheres working together.

This myth encourages the belief that creativity is a passive process. It suggests you have to wait and hope that you’ll make a breakthrough.

That Eureka moment is actually the last step in a long, involved process and not the only step. For this to happen, your unconscious mind needs material to work with. You have to put in the hard work of studying and mastering your field and exposing yourself to different perspectives.

In reality, creativity is a team sport.

The lone genius myth is a stereotype and it’s unhelpful because it suggests the route to innovation is to cut oneself off from colleagues and collaboration. You need a modest amount of intelligence to be creative, but extremely high IQ is neither sufficient nor necessary for being an innovator.

When it comes to creative output, external gains don't really work. In fact, the opposite may be true.

Creativity that is driven by internal ambition and reward (the simple joy and satisfaction of doing something) tends to lead to more original and imaginative end results than work fueled by the promise of external gains, such as money or public recognition.

This is a persistent myth, that the best way to come up with ideas together is to embark on a classic brainstorming session. But people need time to work alone first, and only then should the collaborative process begin.

Group brainstorming is an effective way to share and merge people’s ideas and solutions, but it’s the wrong way to come up with ideas in the first place, and it certainly shouldn’t be the end of the creative process.