Perspectives of creativity coaches, psychologists and artists on how to develop creativity.

1. Ten Ideas On How To
Be More Creative
Perspectives of coaches, psychologists and artists
by Douglas Eby

2. "If you’re not
prepared to be
wrong, you’ll never
come up with
anything original.”
Ken Robinson
From TED presentation: Do schools kill creativity?

3. “I hope I’m becoming more eccentric. More room in
the brain.” Musician Tom Waits
Psychologist Robert Ornstein notes, “If you spend too
much time being like everybody else, you decrease your
chances of coming up with something different.”
From post: Being eccentric and creative

4. "There's zero
correlation between
being the best
talker and having
the best ideas."
Susan Cain
From her TED video "The power of introverts" - included in
my article To Be More Creative, Be An Introvert

5. "I went through a mental shift... I
realized that people like me, girls
with skin the color of chocolate,
whose kinky hair could not form
ponytails, could also exist in
literature. I started to write about
things I recognized."
Novelist Chimamanda Adichie
See her TED Talk:
Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story

6. "There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is
translated through you into action, and because there is
only one of you in all time, this expression is unique.
"And if you block it, it will never exist through any other
medium and will be lost. The world will not have it.
"It is not your business to determine how good it is, nor
how valuable, nor how it compares with other expressions."

7. "It is your business to keep it
yours clearly and directly, to keep
the channel open.
"You do not even have to believe
in yourself or your work."
Martha Graham
From post: Be More Creative: Keep the Channel Open

8. "There’s a creative side to
everyone but most people hide
their creative side due to fear.
Perhaps it’s time to take some
risks and try lots of new things."
Cognitive psychologist
Scott Barry Kaufman
From post: Scott Barry Kaufman on Kick-starting Your Creativity

9. “I find that question very
daunting: What’s your
passion? I find that almost
paralyzing, in a way.
"I find it less paralyzing to
say, What are you interested
in doing next?”
Author Daniel Pink
See post: It takes more than feeling passionate

10. “The sensitivity and the ability to go
there, to create – wherever ‘there’ may
be – is a gift and a talent. But getting
stuck there is no fun for anyone, and is
not required in order to do good work.
"If you can take good care of yourself,
and then visit there, everybody wins.”
From post: Creative People and Mental Health: Interview
with Psychologist Cheryl Arutt

11. “Anxiety is the great silencer of the
creative person… Are you creating
less often than you would like? Are
you avoiding your creative work
altogether? Do you procrastinate?
That’s anxiety.”
Author and psychologist Eric Maisel
From post: To Be More Creative Deal With Anxiety

12. “It is also good every so often to go
away and relax a little for when you
come back to your work your judgment
will be better, since to remain
constantly at work causes you to
deceive yourself.”
Leonardo da Vinci
From post: What is our rush? Freeing yourself from pressure
This need to "get away" from work and other people,
even our own overactive minds, is especially important
for introverted and/or highly sensitive people, who are
often creators and innovators.

13. talentdevelop.com
Presenter: Douglas Eby,
M.A./Psychology
Creator of the
Talent Development Resources
series of sites :

14. Get more information and inspiration
to enhance creative expression in
my newsletter :
Developing Creativity