Why does creativity and honing our talents matter?
Author: Aprajita
Aprajita, known as Sunny, is a teacher and works in our customer support team. She lives in India and loves travelling, writing, and reading.
Human evolution over the millions of years makes up a remarkably interesting story full of creativity and talent. From cave dwellers to our current lifestyles, from the discovery of fire to the development of artificial intelligence, each change was brought out by people who were creative enough to think differently and honed their talents to bring their creativity to life.
It begins with Creativity
Creativity, the driving force behind innovation, artistic expression, and the advancement of humanity, entails finding the extraordinary within the ordinary and imagining what could be while looking at what is around. While talent itself means natural endowment or ability of an individual, honing of talent, the practice of turning potential into mastery, is equally important for personal and societal advancement.
Creativity is a vital skill that encompasses a wide range of cognitive processes in all aspects of life. Divided into artistic, scientific, and everyday creativity, it allows us to create something new, synthesize information, apply knowledge, and build relationships and connections. It allows for a continuum of change as it engages and opens the mind, instilling curiosity and desire to learn through questioning. It helps us in capturing visions, ideas, and thoughts about the world, nurturing communication beyond boundaries, and building intercultural connections.
On a personal level, creativity enriches our lives through various hobbies such as music, painting, cooking, writing etc. On an organizational level, we can see that creative thinking often leads to the discovery of ingenious ways to overcome problems. SpaceX’s innovative approach to rocket recovery (reusing rocket components to reduce the cost of space travel) is a perfect example of creative thinking.
Sprinkle in Some Talent and Discipline
While creativity generates ideas and provokes thoughts, talent is needed to bring them to life. Talent is the ability to utilize the resources around us to bring out the desired result. While raw talent refers to the potential of people, nurturing and honing talent through constant practice is needed for excellence.
The discipline of honing talent requires constant, deliberate, and structured practice, perseverance, and patience to turn raw potential into expertise. We have seen examples of successful athletes stating their diligent practice as the reason behind their success, while sometimes gifted athletes fade into obscurity due to a lack of the same diligence and discipline. The process of honing talent instils an individual with confidence and competence, giving them a purpose and reinforcing their self-worth, which gradually spills into other areas of their lives. Our inherent talent is just like a diamond in the rough that needs constant bruting and polishing to take shape and shine brilliantly.
Collaboration of Creativity and Talent
While creativity and talent can be defined and described separately, they need to be nurtured together to shine successfully. Put simply, an author can imagine a magnificent story with their creativity, but they still need to hone their writing talent to express it to their reader.
For example, poets like William Wordsworth found profound beauty in the natural world and ordinary experiences. His famous poem ‘I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud’ reflects his ability to find magic in the mundane and bring his idea to life through his words.
“Ten thousand saw I at a glance
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.”
These lines are a particularly good example of the constructive collaboration of creativity and talent, producing brilliance.
For Societal Progress
Studies have shown that talent and creativity, when nurtured from an early age, lead to superior achievements and societal progress. This is visible from Julian Stanley’s Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth (SMPY) program in the 1970s, which brought out a group of highly skilled and dynamic people who are excelling in their fields. Colin Camerer and Sean Carroll are good examples of participants in this program who are not only known for their brilliance in their own fields but also for their contributions to society.
Another historical example of talent and creativity working in coordination is Leonardo da Vinci, who is not only known as one of the pioneers of the Renaissance but is also one of the most renowned artists.
Talent and creativity must be nurtured together through education and congenial environments to ensure that they thrive. Beyond subject knowledge in designed curricula, students should be inspired to be innovative. Failure is embraced as part of the creative process, while positive feedback works as a mechanism to promote resilience as part of honing talents.
Creativity and honing talents matter because they lead to innovation, bringing changes on a personal and societal level. Creativity engenders ideas while talent turns those ideas into reality. Together they enrich individuals, enhance societies, and bring out changes that lead to the advancement of humanity.
This article was written with the assistance of AI.