95 percent of what we know about the brain we have learned in the last 20 years. So your beliefs about creativity were likely shaped by faulty information.

For example, many believe that only special and talented people are creative, and you have to be born that way.

Wrong.

The notion that geniuses like Shakespeare, Picasso and Mozart were “gifted” is a myth, according to a recent study from the University of Exeter. The researchers examined outstanding performance in the arts, math and sports to find out if “the widespread belief that to achieve high levels of ability a person must possess an innate potential called
talent.”

This particular study concludes that excellence is determined by five key elements:

• opportunities
• cheer up
• training
• motivation
• practice (this one, above all)

Research also indicates that few showed early signs of promise before parental encouragement, and no one reached high levels of achievement in their field without putting in thousands of hours of serious training. Consider Mozart, who trained for 16 years before producing a masterpiece of learning.

Let me tell you some more interesting facts about creativity:

– Research shows that everyone has creative abilities. The more education you have and the more diverse the background, the greater your potential for creative output.

– Additionally, it has been shown that in creativity quantity is equal to quality. In fact, the longer the list of ideas, the higher the quality of the final solution. Generally, the highest quality ideas appear at the bottom of the list.

– The average adult thinks of three to six alternatives for any given situation. The average child thinks of 60.

– Creativity is an individual process. Traditional brainstorming has been shown to be ineffective due to fear of social disapproval.

– Groups are better for idea selection than for idea generation.

All of this is interesting and illuminating, but it doesn’t necessarily get to the root of the creativity problem. I think there is one element even more important than the five mentioned above. Let me tell you a true story to illustrate what I think is the main factor in creativity.

A New York publisher was concerned about a lack of creativity among his editorial and marketing staff. He hired psychologists to try to determine what made creative employees different from everyone else. After a year of study, psychologists discovered that there was only one difference between creative and non-creative employees: belief in their creativity. Creative employees believed they were creative and non-creative employees believed they were not.

So, you are creative, I guarantee it. All you have to do is believe me. is it too much to ask?