When studying creativity as a scientific subject, the idea is to create data that shows patterns and predictabilities we can draw on for ourselves. This is not an easy thing to do because the creative process is often subjective and emotional. Truly creative people who naturally gravitate towards creative pursuits without outside motivation often do so because it is emotionally rewarding. They enjoy the process and the outcome as well as have an affiliation for new and interesting ideas. This is where our first scientific stumbling-block manifests because emotions create subjective experience rather than objective facts. A qualitative approach is the only appropriate way to assess emotions and any attempt to quantify the answers for scientific purposes risks losing vital nuances within the data, forcing certain attitudes and conclusions without considering the differences within.  

 

Our emotions are thought to be an archaic information system, designed by evolution to present conscious experiences we can act upon from non-verbal information. Our verbal minds give us another layer of thought that overlays the emotional information and these work together. Animals without language are much more reliant on their emotions to put their mind’s ideas into conscious thought. Because of this background to the purpose of emotion, it can be effectively stated that emotions act as mind-body responses to stimuli in the mind and in the world that promotes action. Emotions therefore provide the motivation to carry out activity and creative pursuits can be included in this. It is the interaction between our linguistic or flow-chart-based mind and our chaotic and non-localised subconscious mind that results in intelligent creativity.  

 

The kind of things we are drawn to create can be determined by our mood. To be creative requires a mood, or a prolonged emotional state, and the emotional trigger for the mood is often associated with the enjoyment and excitement of bringing the imagination to life. Moods and emotions are subjective because the information about them we can express is determined by many surrounding factors and influences that span across several social dimensions. The kind of action response our moods and emotions motivate are dependent on many factors also, with various individuals and cultures experiencing things and events with different mentalities and learning. This makes the initial process of creating something new difficult to manage in a scientific way. Understanding the psychological processes that bring about creativity can also help to prepare environments and settings for the optimum creative output.  

 

Emotions don’t just govern how and what we create, and when, they are integral to the uptake of the new idea or product by the world at large. Creativity in scientific terms is important because innovation and adaptation are necessary for social and economic growth. This means that when we create something for the world to use that improves lives and makes things more enjoyable, easier, or more valuable, the idea may not be accepted for uncertain and unpredictable emotional reasons. Because emotions are subjective and related to previous experiences and personality differences, we can’t control the emotional response, or the amount of desire people express towards what we have made. What we can do is use data and insights that help us to choose presentation and methods that encourage desire and acceptance. Used in combination with value and interest, this can ensure the creative output is given the best chance to make a positive difference. However, when using data to drive our choices we can lose out on individual selling points and unique attributes that are not represented on the large number models.  

 

Creativity is notoriously difficult to predict. We cannot tell from a person’s main attributes whether they are creatively inclined or are naturally inventive and experimenting. There are patterns in society that can help us understand creative social settings however the individuals involved are as varied as the contents of any municipal building. It’s also difficult to predict the outcome of creative exploration, this is because the process involves the abstract and loosely connected subconscious mind. Not only is this unavailable to the conscious mind, it also can’t be explored with tools. One method of shortening the odds of what people create is to offer a subconscious priming. Primed creativity occurs when subconscious influences are offered that lead a creative person down one path or another. This can be accidental or purposeful, self-initiated, or initiated by an outside entity. Scientific processes rely on predictability and an understanding of the complete process. This means that the priming of creative thinking must be considered when determining the environment.  

 

The objective study of a subjective phenomenon must be able to handle the divergent thinking which results from data gathering. In most scientific arenas we are expected to think convergently, with all members agreeing on one answer for any given problem. Innovation requires new ideas and novel concepts which means convergent thinking can’t produce the result we need. When thoughts do converge, it is in the attribution of purpose. Perhaps we need a bridge or a best-selling novel. We can agree on the principle we are aiming at, the way we get there is not so clear-cut. Divergent thinking is tricky ground for scientific assessment because the quantification of the data loses coherency with the human influence. We can’t plan and replicate the divergent thinking that spans from one moment in time to another. We can only plan for it and replicate the environment in which it happens.  

 

Data driven creativity is nothing new. Before we can create something, we must understand the materials we have in a way that related to the purpose we can envisage. An appreciation for the way the world works is also vital as moving parts and predictable responses are all part of the creation of new processes and tools. Even with artistic creativity, the artist knows how their tools work and what they want to result in upon use. Artists also understand what their audience is looking for and can create for this ideal. Because creativity involves creating something new from things we already have, it often requires some form of interdisciplinary knowledge. The science of the situation is of natural importance because it is how we predict and appreciate the physical real-world effects of our work. The other subjects we need to appreciate are dependent on the field in which we are creating for and the fields in which our motivations and materials come from.  

 

When data is abundant, it can be limiting in the way it defines what should be divergent thinking. By creating convergent ideas in places where creativity allows change, data can become limiting and persuasively design friendly. Sometimes we must ignore the data when it means opening the scope of what’s possible or experimental within the process of producing the desired and convergent ideas. Creativity by nature applies unusual or uncommon ideas to known phenomena to allow a new purpose, an easier process, or a stronger ability within the original design. This means that the tried and tested results can’t provide the expression we need. The creative element is not something we can always go to previous experience for.  

 

There is a part of the creative process with intuition and spontaneity taking the lead. Apart from primed creativity, mentioned earlier, the results of these lightbulb moments are seemingly random and related to the infinite resource of experience and memory that people carry. If something is in the mind or has recently made a strong impression, this is likely to manifest somehow in the expression. The subconscious mind is the source of our instant ideas, preformed and only a verbalisation away from being explained to oneself. This part of the mind does not work in the same way as our scientifically trained and linear thought processes the conscious mind is known for. We can’t ask the subconscious to provide the working, and if we did, it’d not make a lot of sense to us. It’s like a dream that’s playing out all the time behind the waking mind.  

 

In large scale information gathering, we can create databases of intuitive and instant ideas that appear. We can take the results of this hidden process and look for patterns. It has been shown that people who have unusual ideas more often are also more likely to experience poor mental health. Serious mental health problems are thankfully rare however minor issues like an uncontrollable depressive mood, or a sense of underlying nervousness can be managed with help. When the individual is prone to uncommon thoughts then there is a stronger chance of them having challenging or unwanted thoughts. These can create difficult internal environments that can become instigators or inhibitors of creativity. Another link that can be shown is that people who have unusual or uncommon ideas are usually more intelligent. We know that expensive sports cars go wrong in the engine more often than standard family ones. Perhaps it’s the same for the brain.  

 

When solving a real-world problem, a scientific approach to creativity can be highly useful. Data-driven responses to data-driven problems often make the most sense. However, sometimes people have clever ideas that ignore the data and find new ways of doing something that solves the problem in a novel way. This artful creativity is done by using non-scientific thinking to result in a scientific response. Hunches, intuition, and experimental changes can always be applied, however sometimes someone can look through all of that and see a brand-new answer as if it was there already. This is the kind of creativity that is motivated by emotion and care, principles that are notably difficult to scientifically explore. 

 You can find out more about this fascinating subject with this book: Explaining Creativity: The Science of Human Innovation

What life means can be different for all of us, with various cultures, religions, stories, and personal backgrounds determining how we view the world, the universe, and our place in it. There are a few universal core elements of being human that connect us all. Our experience of the world may be shaped by our upbringing and our own innate perspectives, however on a deeper level we all have the same basic make-up. All of us are on the planet, we exist among one another, and we experience each other’s outward expressions of life. We’re in the web of humanity and now the internet has made the web global, we’re more connected than ever before.  
 
We are all in this together, no matter if you have a plank of wood or a beautiful yacht. We exist alongside each other and maintain our shared society. This is something each of us have in common and can attribute to a degree of purpose in our own lives. Getting on and getting by, it’s something we can all agree on. We all have our own stories, backgrounds, and deeper causes for the things we do based on psychological, learned, cultural, and creative reasons. It is the creative things we do that drive change, in little adaptations over time new concepts and ideas can be built.  
 
Because we’re connected in so many ways, it’s nearly impossible to create or be creative in complete isolation. Someone somewhere will see your idea and learn from it. They might put it into practice for themselves, especially if they share a trade or interest with you and can make instant use of it. Other times, they might simply file the knowledge away somewhere and then apply it in their own way sometime later when the concept is seen to be useful. This adaptation of concept from one arena to another is an important part of being creative. It’s not always about inventing something completely new, we can invent a new use for something we already have.  
 
When we see creativity realised in matters that interest us, we are often inspired to begin thinking creatively for ourselves. To act of witnessing something being shown to be done can help us to find the motivation to begin thinking about what we can apply for ourselves. It’s in our nature as social and learning beings to imitate and abstractly reflect what we see around us. It can even happen by accident, how many times have you misunderstood, mis-seen, or been misinformed and ended up doing something useful? Not often, but it can happen.  
 
The things we produce from the inner depths of our imagination can speak to and inform others about their own imaginations. It can become a cue for a process that results in something creative for themselves. This subliminal communication between creatives occurs naturally, as new concepts, emotional and psychological relevancies, and methods filter into the conscious awareness of those who are within their sphere of influence.  
 
Something that many of us aspire to be is personally involved in some sort of mission or adventure that solves our problems and those of others. Sometimes we do it artistically by watching dramas or being part of a band, other times we do it in our work. People with professional careers are often highly motivated to continue because of a sense of passion within their field. Other people have a much more unorthodox lifestyle to satisfy this deep need for what some might call the hero’s journey. A creative lifestyle is often the way these can manifest. People who want the excitement of bringing their ideas into reality either for themselves or for the betterment of society are often drawn to it for reasons that touch on this desire.  
 
There is a spectrum of utility and desire that most creative people can fall on with their project motivation. Most of the time, creative people fall in between the two opposites. The art of creating usefulness is important for practical reasons, the art of creating for desire is for aesthetic or emotional reasons. If emotions are to be considered a valid part of human existence, then this too can be deemed as useful. If, on the other hand, a creator designs purely for their own enjoyment without a care if others like it or can find pleasure in it, then it truly is on the desire end of the spectrum. Then people who create for utility would likely put a lot of thought into the way their creations look and feel, once the problem of engineering has been satisfied. If they simply create something for purpose without a care for how it looks or feels, then it really is on the polar end of the scale.  
 
Both needs and desires are intrinsically linked to happiness. Happiness is defined by whether we have our needs met and some of our desires in moderation. What do we desire apart from sweets and savoury treats? Most of us want to find meaning in life, akin to the hero’s journey, in which our emotional and cultural cues are satisfied with our choices and actions. It’s partly psychological, as in from the brain itself, and partly cultural, from our stories and education. What we decide to do and who we aspire to be or be like can dramatically affect our happiness and that of those around us. We all have slightly different brains, some are empathic, some are intelligent, some are mathematical, some are linguistic, some just think in jokes and colours. Without standing over one another in judgement, the people suited to finding purpose in creativity are those who enjoy learning, enjoy being challenged, and don’t mind being the outsider. It takes courage to implement new ideas and to handle the reactions of those who don’t understand them.  
 
Creativity is perfectly suited to people who love to do an activity. When we are passionate about something it can inspire us to think about it in ways that go beyond the normal thoughts people have. In these trails of ideas and concepts, we are often able to build networks across branches of thought to bring about new perspectives and understandings. Intelligent meditation on our preferred subject is how we get to grips with the larger concepts and techniques that bring about the excellence we desire. This love of our activity is what drives our thinking and the depths of our dives into understanding.  
 
What is the opposite of love? We could say it is fear, and this has been shown to stifle creativity. People who experience anxiety are not as creative; the thoughts that fuel the fear are like Black Knights not letting anyone pass. You need to channel your inner King Arthur. Pressure, stress, judgement, social apathy, rejection, call all put an end to your creativity by zapping you of your passion. Having a strong mind and a thick skin is what being a King (or Queen) is all about. If you genuinely care about the betterment of the world and the emotional well-being of everyone you inspire, your armour ought to be stronger than diamonds. If you have the willpower to learn and adapt your thinking according to the reality and not your dream, your sword can defeat any shade. The reality fuels the dream, not the other way around. You’re creating for the real world now.  
 
In the changing environment with shifts in technology, fashion, people, laws, and more, we are always being called upon to adapt our routines and techniques so that we can make the best use of what there is. We gradually change from one software to another, one set of rules to another, one style to another, and so on. It all requires a subtle creativity with every instance. Perhaps we can follow suit and simply carry on the way someone we trust is doing, however more of us are the kind of person who wants to be an individual and do things slightly differently. We might choose an alternative shop, a different colour, a novel path, we might go retro and choose to not upgrade at all and make do with the drawbacks. With every social change that happens locally and more widely, the differences between us expand as we all go about the navigation in our own way. All this information and decision making goes into what happens next as part of the global subconscious creative conversation. 
 
If we want to tap into this movement and become a moving part in the mechanics of creative culture, we must be prepared to listen to and connect with others as well as actively partake in the joint responsibilities of those around us. Connection and belonging are essential for social fulfilment and a strong aspect of our overall happiness. The culture of creativity is much akin to any other culture. When children grow up, the environment and the education instil key foundation ideas in their personalities that can help or hinder novel and unorthodox thinking. A culture of creativity is taught by inspiring learning independently and the application of new skills on one’s own initiative. It requires a skill for listening and understanding so we can draw on relevant feedback and sort the right from the misinformed. Feedback based creativity is where reality meets our dream and the two must clash. If the dream wants to be dominant, then the idea may never be socially acceptable. We should be able to set our dream to one side and let the reality of the situation move in, and then we can fill in the gaps with our worthy ideas. The ones that remain. It’s possibly the most difficult part, we generally all love our own illusions. They’ve been with us for years.  
 
Creativity is about bringing the imagination into reality, and our illusions make up a huge part of this. However, the imagination is not always compatible with the real world. We have several laws and rules that prevent certain things, and the universe has a whole lot more. Not only do we obey the laws of the land, and the world at large, but we also obey the laws of physics. Finding the gaps is where the creativity happens. What is possible in between the Newton and the Affidavit? It’s completely up to you. IF you listen to what people have to say, sort through the useful and non-useful feedback, decide for yourself how to move forward, and keep going, perhaps that would be just enough meaning for you.  
 
Most often, our best creative ideas come while we are relaxed and enjoying ourselves. A semi-hypnotic or sleepy state is when our dreams and subconscious mind can come to the surface.​ Known for being inspirational to creative thinking and novel idea forming. If you enjoy drinking good wines, here's a quality supplier that cuts out the supermarket. Alternative Fruit gets a reward when you order some. 

The world is a lot different today than it was in the past. Perhaps it was the invention of the microchip or perhaps it was the advent of mass media communication, people in general are expected to behave and think in ways that are repeatable and predictable. Our systems are created to a regime that suits the goal of its leadership and the people within it are expected to behave in the way provided. Deviation from the routine is often seen as detrimental to the process and with today’s methods and perspectives, it’s often true. Because of this homogenisation of the social construct across the planet, the subtle differences between us are not only more apparent, they are also more problematic. In a system designed for narrow and controlled and therefore most productive action, of course the people who don’t thrive in this kind of order don’t thrive at all.  
 
We are all different and the ways we do things are increasingly more the same. Compatibility across society is better than ever because everything is connected and leads on to its counterparts in the big picture. This has created a specific and guided routine that citizens must follow to get the most out of their lives. In this scenario it becomes ever more obvious than some of us are not best designed or set up to be of benefit to this kind of system. The system is not designed or set up to be of benefit to them, either. This is a problem that has become significant in several social, financial, and political levels of decision- making. Our system was designed for an industrial world, our systems of attainment are based on the same steps taken by the Victorian middle classes when it was the factory and the mill that made you wealthy and prosperous.  
 
This is the 21st Century; the factory and the mill are nearly completely automated. The homogenisation of industry was possibly the first aspect of society to be made uniform since the religious upheavals of the middle-ages. Suddenly everyone involved was expected to repeat themselves all day with very little room for intuition and initiative. It was just a matter of making the machine work. Now even this is automated and it’s usually a matter of computer input somewhere in another room. Is it any wonder that our innate character differences are amplified and problematic when we’re all expected to think in the same way? This global automation of craft and manufacture has somewhat shut out the sunlight on the diverse and divergent aspects of the population.  
 
In a way, the problems we face today are a real-life example of why human beings are not always a font of wisdom. Our seemingly good ideas are not always as good as they may appear. It takes a diverse and divergent set of minds to truly test out whether something that feels and looks good on the front is the same all the way to the back. We’ve done our best, and although there is the occasional evil genius who doesn’t care, most of humanity has valiantly strived to make a better, fairer, and easier world. The capitalisation of the ideas that make the most in regards to investment return has been the main cause of the narrowing problem. People who don’t naturally grow in the narrow path are not the problem; the path is too narrow. One the main quests for innovative culture in today’s modern world is to expand the path to allow more of us to make the most of who we really are. It will result in much less depression as we can be truer to ourselves and much less stress as we’re not forced to behave in strange and sometimes unnatural ways.  
 
Having the ability to identify the harm or the pain-point in any situation is a valuable skill. Executing the process of litigating the response is another. It’s not easy to fix problems with the tools that created it and it’s often that we have to think of novel and inventive ways to manage the real-life problem situation that’s so-far caused by necessary action. In the scope of necessary action, is it the outcome we are looking for. The process of getting there is less important. Being aware of this provides fuel to the methodology of creativity and provides reasons to look beyond the conventional in order to bridge the gap.  Innovation is always a team effort, we can have a good eye for problems and an inventive character, but getting something into the world as a valuable instrument of change and empowerment takes more than one person. It takes a community.  
 
Our post-industrial setting has shown us that our humanity is valuable for our differences and imagination. The heavy lifting, the repetitive actions, the intricate handiwork, it’s all taken care of. We don’t have value for our ability to do those things like we used to. It’s our thinking power and our decision making that gives us the edge. The modern world makes use of information networks and knowledge silos in order to make the most effective decisions. We, as people, can be sources of information and carriers of information to varying degrees and in doing so, add value to the systems. Identifying the value and placing it in the correct market is also a valuable skill. We can hold, communicate, arrange, and create information in ways that are unique and valuable to open-minded and interested systems.  
 
Using the available information with the resources given can be a difficult task. It’s clear that the value must be extracted and purified in a way that benefits the whole system so that the pain-points are always avoided. It’s not a simple matter of adding a few ingredients, everything has to be done according to the way preferred by all parties. Creating new stories and presentations for the information can help others to find new ways of using it and to identify new problems and anomalies that can be addressed, studied, and solved as necessary. The more diverse thinking and new perspectives offered to work with the available information, the more scope and thinking power the rest of us have to progress the whole picture in our own way.  
 
Invention and innovation spur from the process of critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity. It’s a repeating cycle that is maintained by the constant shifts in the wider world and the changing habits and needs of the people involved, both in the production, service, and use of the procedure or product. Collaboration can be self-guided in which we research what others have had to say and what others have already tried, or it can be group guided in which we draw in real people to work in real time with the feedback and idea forming process. A collection of both styles of collaboration is likely to be the most effective, provided you can rely on the genuine basis of what you’re told.  
 
Where people differ in views and versions of what is best for themselves and others, the creative aspect of problem-solving can be applied. Making a path that leads in both directions without leaving the field is an important part of managing diversity and difference. Rather than magnifying situations by forcing adaptation and aesthetic, it’s clear we need to make room for all types and all emotional states before we can successfully benefit them and create cohesion for the future. Critical thinking, communication, cultural understanding, and creative thinking, are all necessary skills for the modern-day as many more jobs are automated each year. Playing a vital role in this network of machinery and technology is about becoming a kind of spider, connected to it all with one mind in the centre giving it purpose. Our webs and networks connect with those of others and that’s where we have to learn to put things together. How do spiders do it? They often build their webs on something stable, like a wall, and it gives the appearance of a blanket. That stable element is our human motivation and desire for positive change.  
 
A passionate person is a motivated person, they think about their subject, they study it, they create new ways of looking at the world through the eyes of their subject, and they can go on to invent new ways of putting it into action. In the past, we were often on the edge of hunger and exposure. In these extreme situations, our minds become more attuned to possibility and inventive ideas. Having the ability to nurture this same psychology in today’s comfortable world is a genuine challenge. Being in the position where you don’t need to think of a new thing because life’s pretty good, then you’re not always the one to do the work. If you are truly passionate about the problems of other people then it might tip the balance. If finding the answer to your own problems is just as important as finding the solution to the problems of others then the motivation might be a lot higher.  
 
For those of us who thrive in problem solving environments where our ability to discover and think up new ways to get things as they should be, it can be difficult to co-exist with a society which wants to give everything to us and have someone there to pick up the loose ends. Some of us are not mentally suited to being domesticated to this degree and need something else to stimulate their mind and to give them a sense of purpose and meaning. Rather than turning to drugs, which can provide the illusion of these things, becoming a creative person with a desire to make a living from it when you’re not in a position to sustain it indefinitely is possibly the most empowered place to work from.  
 
Calm and persistent growth in the directions governed by ethic and feedback can be extremely useful in giving a person a sense of being and purpose as well as creating social cohesion, solving problems, and building communities. Innovation that enables others to become better at their chosen activities and give them easier ways to complete the necessary ones is how we create great social cohesion and more value for the community. Enabling others to produce, contribute, think, experience and report on all kinds of available activities and thought process to enrich and qualitatively build on the available foundation. The more sense we can make from the world, the more we can understand other people and their perspectives, the better place we will be in to prevent social and political catastrophe.  
 
Communication and effective story-telling are therefore vital in the process of transmitting information from one set of people to another. The way that different cultures and sets of professionals view various parts of society can differ greatly and before using these as cues to think and feel a certain way, we need to know what they are associated with to them. We can imagine ourselves in their shoes and test to see if something is unfriendly or unkind and we can learn about their background and their group psychology to appreciate the red areas we should avoid or be tactful with. The ability to do this well and to an acceptable level of value is based on our ability to imagine, feel, and empathise. These are human powers and are based on the nervous system. This bodily organ, when working properly, is sensitive to all kinds of problem in the manner of a fear or stress response. What working properly means for the nervous system is when it’s not causing a problem unnecessarily. Obviously, having a nervous system that is not working properly is a traumatic, and sometimes humiliating experience.  
 
Critical thinking is not just about finding problems out there in the world that we think we can solve. It’s about looking within and critically assessing our own thoughts and even emotions. Now, we can't control our emotions but we can control how we respond to them. I’m sure most of you have felt angry before but how many of you went out and did something about it? Doing something about the cause of the anger is something else and involves examination of the emotion and process of being triggered to explore the root cause. This can then be calmly addressed, creatively if necessary. It’s often just a matter of identifying an immature or unhelpful thought buried within the grown-up and solid thinking we rely on and usually have. We can apply criticism to all manner of things, both inward and outward. Once we have identified the problem, we must be able to at least try to see a solution as well. If there is no solution, perhaps the problem is just a chore. Will you quit and stop experimenting? Are you too comfortable?  
 
Problem solving requires an in-depth and consistent effort to learn about the whole situation. This means we need to account for perspectives and concepts that might sound alien or counter-intuitive to ourselves. Having an open mind and an imaginative area we can play out this information within is imperative to holistic appreciation. Learning about the technical and social side of the situation gives us the best perspective to solve the problem and act upon it with progressive ideas. Collaboration is vital as these systems count for people who require stability and psychological safety. By taking charge of old wisdom and new ideas, we can combine the two and form a working solution to the modern issues and boundaries that prevent us from thriving in our own way.  
 
Further reading: Empire of Normality- Neurodiversity and Capitalism 

Mental health problems are not fun, not only do you miss out on things that would otherwise be available, you also create extra work for the people around you which can make you feel worse. Being fully able to recognise the unhelpful thoughts and feelings is one thing but navigating them during daily activity is another. Creativity is something that many people gravitate towards who have mental health problems. Is this related to type or is it a chosen source of relief? The answer is probably both. What’s going on and why is it often helpful? 
 
Being creative and having the ability to build upon things to make new things, or change the way a thing is used, is a culture that is learned through activity. We each have varying degrees of creative reach on our own, the imagination works differently for each of us, but with the help of others we can build much bigger pictures from the combined ideas of the group. Allowing people and encouraging them to be a member of these creative groups in problems solving, games playing, and role-play mind experiments, helps people to exercise their creative muscles. A culture of innovation and creativity provokes creative thinking and intelligent appreciation.  
 
The creative and innovative mindset has to learn to utilise both progressive and conservative attitudes towards the world and their work. Disruption without value is useless and value without change is stagnation and uncompetitive. A free-thinking and open environment is essential for effective problem solving. Putting restraints on appropriate thought and reasonable methods will only hamper the creative ability of the whole. What is considered reasonable and appropriate can be discussed in terms of harm and emotional relevance. In mental health problems, the appropriate and reasonable limitations may be much wider than usual. 
 
One of the biggest fuelling agents of creativity is change. When new problems arise, we have to find new ways of solving them. Often, if things are stable and we have a well-greased operation already, the desire to change and create is less imperative. The world doesn’t really work like this and things around us are always changing. Even people change. When it becomes a problem for us, that’s when we choose to use creativity and innovation the most. If we have a creative job then the problem is always there as we’re responsible for creating new things all the time. Creative and competitive environments require a continual output of new ideas that fit the pattern that people want.  
 
It can also be said that one of the biggest causes of mental disorder is change, too. This means that when we’re forced to adapt or think about something in a new way, when something unwanted happens, we are more susceptible to experiencing problems with our mental health. The way the mind completes the grieving process is different for all of us, and the sadness part of it can be prolonged and detrimental. Depression has a tendency to appear even when there is no immediate source of grief. There may be more subliminal and subconscious reasons behind the melancholia that if unattended can mature into long-term depression. Our perceptions of the world and the rules we feel are important may be hiding the causes behind ethical or intellectual boundaries.  
 
When we find new and disruptive creative enterprises, we can navigate wider change in a positive and intentionally forward-facing way. Clearly, we might need to accept our human frailty when handling personal loss and changes that require some sort of emotional adjustment however new technology, new politics, new discoveries, they can all help to improve our creative and problem-solving toolkit. Mental health problems often find people thinking in unconventional ways, the depressive or manic mindset often results in peculiar thoughts and strangely magnified feelings. It’s this ability to think and feel in sensitive and far-reaching ways that can make creative projects more relevant, more disruptive, and more valuable. Instead of using the screwdriver to twist your feelings, use it to fix the circuit.  
 
It’s been a common-sense association since times before scientific investigation became the go-to place for value in reasoning. People who are mentally unwell tend to be more creative. Perhaps this is because from a sane and well person’s view, the mentally unwell person seems creative with their speech and actions. They might not be deliberately acting creatively. The career choice phenomenon can be studied in modern times with statistics. It can be shown that people who work in creative industries are more likely to express mental health problems of some kind.  
 
What kind of mental health problems are there and how to they relate to creativity? Psychologists have for a long time been able to determine two types of mental health disorder that can then be branched into many other varieties. There is the depressive branch and the bipolar or manic branch. Depressive disorders are susceptible to finding problems and flaws, they struggle to see the good side of things and are often drawn to the worst-case scenario. When applied to quality control and finding problems in the everyday things that can be improved upon, this kind of focus is really important. Using the negative eye to pick at the things you’re charged with improving or feel you can improve is a much better use of the energy. Bipolar disorders tend to swing from lethargy and depression to spontaneity and hyperactivity. Racing thoughts and eternal trains of emotion can swing to absolute withdrawal and broken self-esteem. It can be like a balancing act to stay somewhere in the middle and if you end up falling in one direction it’s almost certain the backward motion will be equally as challenging. Finding a purpose for the creative and abstract mental patterns that expresses itself artistically and beneficially is a skill that can be learned. Music, writing, painting, or any other form of projected expression is a useful tool for managing this mental process.  
 
It’s not to be stated that work done by the mentally ill is any good for the sake of the illness. A person must be willing to learn their craft and their mental process has to be trained in order to fully utilise the mental energy. Being able to do the things first and then applying the mental energy to the thing is how it can be successful for the benefit of more than simple relief. Getting the value out of the chaos can be therapeutic and empowering instead of traumatic and self-destructive. Even people who don’t have a skill or the ability to learn one can communicate their intuitive ideas in a constructive way when bringing up their thoughts. Putting the information into the world so it can be used in a proper way is a useful and valuable contribution. Remembering to keep things based in reality is a challenge, so learning to accept questions and facts that eddy the flow of mental energy as beneficial is essential. It requires a calm mind which is also an essential skill for managing mental health problems.  
 
An uncalm mind in any kind of mental illness can be highly traumatic and even dangerous to the self and others. It’s a sad fact that suicides are also more common in creative people. This is an example of out of the box thinking that if used productively could likely have solved a lot of problems. The issue was the focus on the negative that combines with the desire to resolve a problem. Self-worth is therefore an essential nourishment for all people who struggle with their mental health, not too much and not too little is how to get it right. We often shower ourselves in it or refuse to give any at all in a way of coping with how we feel about ourselves and our place in the world. If we feel we are owed something then we might be more susceptible to overdoing it, leading to being easily pulled down, and if we feel we are not achieving enough we may underdo it, meaning that one more step down is a step into hell. It’s important to keep it in the middle.   
 
The prominent form of mental illness in the creative industry is the mania branch. People with manic thoughts and emotions are more likely to express creative ideas because mania is associated with abstract thinking and loosely connected flows of concept. In some cases, manic thoughts can be three or four steps ahead of the reality with assumptions holding the ideas together like cards, and when one is taken away it can be distressing. This means that once again, staying calm and considered is a key skill in both utilising the creative output and maintaining a healthy state of being. A therapy for the condition and a way of using the condition work together to make effective thinking. Manic ideas are often funny and inventively comedic, and this has been shown again and again with various comedians who openly struggle with mental health problems. The emotional reward that the manic idea creates is the impulse that creates a feedback loop which can be dangerous if left unchecked. However, if used properly, it can be used to create engaging stories and exciting new concepts that can be highly valuable to the wider world.  
 
It has been shown that those of us who excel at language and music are the ones who are more likely to express mental health problems later in life. These subjects point towards a sense of inner awareness that might not be available for others. The ability to find and use words and the ability to appreciate and academicise the subject of music is a pointer to a depth of inner awareness that goes beyond the initial primary thoughts and feelings that we usually have. Rumination and deep thought are more likely to be associated with mental health, possibly because those who are able to express it are the ones who do and those without those skills find it more difficult to express or perhaps, they simply don’t find the problem at the same rate.  
 
The same symptoms of mental health problems, when used professionally and with mindfulness, can be useful. Problem finding, problem solving, fresh ideas, cheaper methods, and risk taking are all highly sought after skills in the creative industry and beyond. Even a shopkeeper needs those skills as they create communities and loyalty. Being a person with the type of personality that is likely to have mental health problems means that a creative output might be a great way of exercising those parts of you that need work. Finding appropriate and reasonable ways to put your thoughts and feelings into the world that can benefit other people is a great way of finding worth in the things that might otherwise be problematic. Learning creative skills is a brilliant way of training the mind to learn coping mechanisms and safe routes for expression. You might even benefit others with what you produce. The better you get the more this will be the case.  
 
The well person with the mental capability to think and feel abstractly with limitless range is a true asset to any organisation or cause. So, it is in the interests of all to stay well and learn to appreciate who you are by seeing the good side of what your mind finds natural and easy. If you struggle with mental health, you don’t need another person to tell you about it. Looking for mental health problems when there are none is a pointless activity, look for the skills you need to succeed creatively instead.  
 
Further reading: Robert Lowell, Setting the River on Fire: A Study of Genius, Mania, and Character
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Finding the solutions to the problems we have and those that others share with us often requires a creative approach. It’s not often that we have an instinctive and no-brainer answer to a genuine problem, mostly because by the time we get to this point we’ve likely solved it or made it a lot worse. We take the tools of the moment, the ideas surrounding the moment, and make something useful out of it. If you remember MacGyver, he’d often construct something out of little bits and bobs in a technical engineering way. The A-Team would do something similar, building various machines and traps that usually made use of their indestructible van and a cunning disguise.  
 
Creativity is the process of taking what we have and using it to make something new, for a purpose, or simply for the pure enjoyment of it. We can apply this principle to nearly every aspect of life, with an infinite number of dimensions that can be aligned to the process of finding something new. The various disciplines of life make use of time-served techniques and methods that become the solid foundations for new ideas, novel practices, and particular answers to very specific one-off problems. The more dynamic and shifting an industry is, the more creativity is required to stay in the centre ground. To be at the top of the league, creativity and technique must work together to the point of excellence. The more honed and experienced a technique has become, the more polished the individual components of it will be for creative uses.  
 
Although creative processes can take place in every walk of life, there are some people who are more suited to creative activity than others. As we all come with different personalities, each one with its virtues and weaknesses, creative individuals are more likely to seek out new paths and better ways. Rather than shying from problems, they like to solve them. The creative process can be summed up simply as listening to ideas and problems, applying what we know to them, and then acting on the problem with our application. Often, it is our own problems that we listen to or those in our family. Professional creativity involves listening to the recurring problems of the wider world. Sometimes we are asked to provide bespoke answers and sometimes we’re asked to solve problems with an answer already given but not working.  
 
Human creativity is about the governance of the line between reality and fantasy. An idea that doesn’t have substance can be turned into a material object or process of value in a cultural context with the applied creativity of one or more people. It might sound simple; however, this is an incredibly powerful part of our toolkit that has enabled us to progress from the canopy. Finding purpose in our creativity means listening to the issues that matter and the desires that are relevant. When we have linked our process to the tangible reality the real work can begin.   
 
To create things that have intrinsic value, the result needs to have a clear purpose. Not only this but the purpose has to resonate with human needs. These stem from mind, body, and spirit. We need to keep all three of these things happy, mental, physical, and emotional nourishment are important for all of us. Creative processes tap into these fundamental requirements to offer new and interesting ways to sustain and improve the wellbeing of these aspects. From practical things like a new way of banking to spiritual things like a book about God, the human being is sustained and nourished with a continual diet of beneficial creativity.  
 
Many people are psychologically motivated to be the best they can be, to make the most of their given attributes, and become successful by doing the things they enjoy and are particularly good at doing. We like getting good at being good. It is rewarding for us and gives us a sense of self-esteem that may have been lacking before we applied ourselves. Even if we don’t rank in the top of the group, winning little battles against our previous selves makes the art of progress beneficial. Some of us are better at pure creativity and can apply it to whatever is put in front of us. Innovators, entrepreneurs, inventors, (the decent) supply teachers, they all have highly creative jobs. Creativity by its nature changes the social and economic landscape. Depending on your own level of reach, the level of reach of your creativity will follow. If your idea is valuable, then it’s likely to travel beyond as more people adopt it or at least come up with something based on it.  
 
It isn’t a simple thing to be creative. The whole process requires not only a strict process but a strict mental regime. Things that put a stop to creativity are the things that put a block between our subconscious and our conscious mind. Stress, anxiety, fear, and monologue all stand between you and your brain’s inner computer. The idea is for the two to talk to each other in ways that make the subconscious conscious. Naturally, the inner landscape of our subconscious mind is not fit for purpose when it comes to conscious expression, however the motivation is on our side, and it can offer insights and missing pieces that we feel make sense out of the situation. Once we consciously process the various concepts and ideas that come to mind, we can put them into physical use. Our evolution is as ancient as life itself so when it has a good idea, if it really is a good idea, then you should listen to it. You know you can’t maul your problems in a dark cave, so you can be the judge of your own ideas and once they’re out in the world, it’s up to the rest of us.  
 
The best creativity happens when you're relaxed and stress free. A good start might be browsing this awesome comic and toy shop, it's safe for grownups and kids.
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Innovation has raised human society from caves into castles and condominiums. 
 
Some inventions change the world for a handful of people who make the best use of them, for example tools that help blind people access what they need. Other innovations change the world for all of us, like the mobile networks that allow us to communicate without wires. If being non-telepathic was a disability, this Wi-Fi and cell-phone stuff would be irrelevant to most of us. In the previous posts I talked about human creativity and in particular, its link to mental health. In the same way that creativity is linked to mental health, it is also linked to innovation. The common thread in both relationships, of course, is the imagination. Unwanted thoughts and feelings come from the imagination. Hypersensitivity to external situations involves a strong emotional response which again is partly based on the imagination as well as from learned experience. Creativity is when the imagination is made real, it’s the process of actualising new thoughts and ideas into some form of action, object, or communication. Mind to matter, the end results can be as varied as the contents of our most vivid imagination.  
 
Innovation is when we use our creative abilities to make something that has value. 
 
Successful innovation occurs when a good idea is met with a good response, then the process of growth and take-up happens in a manner that benefits all. Getting all this right involves a process of critical thinking, communication, and creativity combined. We all have good and bad ideas, and not just when it comes to our end product. The how, why, and when are also important as well as all things in between them. Knowing how to refine the good from the bad in every instance is a matter of having a good critical thinking ability. We have to be able to cross reference results against assumptions, facts, and unknowns. Communication is then vital in making the innovation available to others. People have to know about the project and how to use the project for their own benefit. All three of these things have to be aligned if an innovation is to stand out. Knowing what to innovate requires critical thinking and communication. We need to know what the problems are in a given area and understand the necessary information that we can use to solve them. Then when we create a solution, a first draft perhaps, we need to be able to critically dismiss anything that is unhelpful, superfluous, or wasteful. Having the right vision comes from seeing the scope of the entire environment then knowing where work can be done and why. 
 
Innovation taps into social responsibility. Good innovations build roads to peace and prosperity for everyone.  
 
Because we must understand our environment before we can successfully innovate and apply ourselves, creativity begins when we are young. Young minds are good at learning to begin with, and when we become young adults around 15-25, our minds are ready to absorb much more complex ideas. Not only this, but we also crave alternatives and bigger picture ideas. We like to know how things operate beyond the facade and the front desk then get stuck in with our observations and ideas. It is during this time that the human brain is particularly sensitive to all manner of new ideas, good and bad. This means that we as innovators must act responsibly when feeding fertile fields with our crop. Teaching discernment for good and bad ideas is equally as important as having ideas at all and this is a problem that requires innovative solutions today. Hopefully this journal is working to provide an answer with fully researched and easy to read infomedia like this. 
 
Innovations have lifted billions of people out of poverty over the last 150 years. Since the Industrial Revolution and its microchip replacement, life has become gradually easier for us all as innovations create wealth and opportunity for those with access to them. The amount of information available to us to learn from and use is growing at an equally as fast rate. In the past it was chemical pollution that made our lives miserable, and these days we find a real problem with mental pollution. Bad ideas get just as much headroom as good ones with the modern communication sphere. If we are not given the correct tools so we can discern between the two, we can’t tell if we’re learning something of value or something costly.  
 
The first step to innovation is to identify a problem at its source. 
 
Finding a problem doesn’t always require creativity. You can be following the instructions to the letter and still find an issue that requires a creative solution. Maybe something went wrong in the previous process or perhaps the process itself is at fault. If you want to ensure the problem doesn’t persist, knowing the root cause is the key issue. This requires an in depth understanding of what it is you’re trying to achieve. Imagine trying to fix a submarine without ever setting foot in one or being told about the problem. Trying to innovate without an innate knowledge of your subject is setting yourself up to fail.   
 
We can’t be an expert in everything, and we can’t keep on top of every new addition to the information on any subject. Not only do we draw on the media given to us from experts and those with experience, but we also hand ourselves over to peers in our field who share in the desire to solve genuine problems. Collaboration results in a pooling of creativity and a sharing of intellectual resources in order to maximise the efficiency of everyone’s innovation. To isolate yourself and be creative in a bubble is to ensure your project will be devoid of many valuable insights and boosts. It’s also unlikely to help anyone apart from yourself when true innovation is able to achieve a lot more for the world.  There is nothing wrong with making art for the sake of enjoying yourself, but if you want to innovate, make a difference, and maybe make some money as well, you’ll be better off with a network around you.  
 
A non-fixed mindset is essential for collaborative innovation. 
 
When dealing with both new ideas and new people and their ideas, we need to keep an open mind. By always drawing on the certainties and the habitual answers, we will always find ourselves with the same set of issues. If we want to make value from the issues instead of cost, we have to be able to adjust our attitude towards what we think in favour of what could be. Answering the question can mean forgetting the answer and finding it out again. This is especially true for complex systems in which any tiny discrepancy can lead to wild swings in the final result.  
 
Chaos theory is a great example of how tiny changes can create huge differentials in the field of available answers. In life there are many constant unknowns, things we can never know and things that change regularly. People can express all kinds of behaviours and opinions depending on who they are, what mood they are in, what happened to them that day, and so on. Nature works in the same way, every little event in the wide world is a seemingly random occurrence based on the application of countless other random actions. Accepting that the world works like this on every level makes it seem clear that we must be able to let go of what we think is going to happen and look for certainties through test and repetition.  
 
Innovation is the process of improvising with the current situation and the available options until you find something of value. Then the idea is to replicate the process so that you can achieve consistent results for yourself and everyone else. You can then create a guide and an intellectual study of your processes so that others can work with it for themselves, building on your ideas in the application of new tools and ideas as they emerge. We can use what we know already from the innovations and observations of those who worked before us and then map the heavens according to our interpretations of this information. In astronomy, scientists assume the distances to stars and galaxies by manner of measuring certain quantities that are known to be static across the universe. By using a formula, the apparent brightness of an object of known brightness can tell us how far away it really is. We can do this because we understand how brightness is affected by distance. In the same way, we can find a way to discover new concepts and problems to solve by using what we have observed and drawing lines of best fit to what the possibilities can be.  
 
Passion, purpose, and profit all drive innovation. 
 
In life the majority of us are motivated by financial rewards. Unless we are particularly lucky, we require a healthy income to survive. Poverty is a brutal motivator, it’s nature’s barbarian. Sometimes we can get stick from people for working for money on something that benefits others, it’s neurotic and you have to brush it off as bitterness. In a privileged lifestyle we can afford to volunteer our time and give things away for free. Please don’t hold it against the rest of us for asking for something in return. Innovation is a particularly difficult thing to make a living from. To have the ability to carry it through to its conclusion, it's often that we need a passion for what we’re doing and a sense of purpose that transcends the financial reward. A real sense of care about our project has to be present to keep us going when nothing seems to be working out at the time. If the vision is clear and the method is well-researched, sometimes things have to get ugly before they get beautiful.  
 
Alongside motivation, the other essential ingredient is to innovation is education. Our imagination draws on things we have already seen or experienced. It can alter and recreate, change perspective and apply metaphor, yet even the most abstract imaginary scene contains known colours, known shapes, known ways of movement, known physics. Perhaps many little things allow it to be dynamic and surreal, like a Salvador Dali, yet the basic rules remain. Up is up, joy is joy, red is red, light is light. In order to make something valuable from our complex and abstract imagination, we have to be able to wind thread from the raw wool of our dreams. Our spinning wheel is our ability to think and apply knowledge from every area that touches our idea. Innovation requires a broad knowledge of science, mathematics, and technology because it is the process of engineering processes with the tools available to measurable degrees that brings hardware to the software of our ideas. Innovation also requires the humanities because we have to understand the people we are serving and finding solutions for, to the extent that we are a joy to do business with and engage in collaboration. We know more about our market when we study history, literature, music, politics, and language. Sociology is the science of applying the humanities to real-world processes and innovations. It is essential to know what you’re doing before you do it, so getting a grip on these subjects is as essential as the sciences.  
 
Innovation means change and people resist change by nature.     
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Although innovation brings opportunity and prosperity to many, it can also bring hardship and stress for others. The way we feel about the life we live can dramatically affect our perception on the changes we are given. If we want change, then it’s not so difficult to apply it. If we are content as things are or are confident that we can bring things to a head without any extra help, then additional concepts and tools can become tiresome and a pain. Often, we naturally shun things we don’t immediately understand in fear of being duped. Perhaps we’re not so confident in our ability to discern a fake and a real opportunity. Maybe the shame of falling for some kind of scheme is a fear that prevents us from trying any scheme at all. The real work of innovation is in the provision of a motivation and incentive that works. Too much stick and you meet resistance, too much carrot and you meet entitlement. In life we have many sticks that so far can’t be avoided, finding the people willing to adopt your innovation is about finding the ones who are getting the stick the most. Even then, some people are so attached to their suffering that given the option to change, they still prefer the same old stick. The people who are most likely to adopt new ideas, find the value in new tools and processes, and see the real-world progress in the use of new services, are the ones who are wired to learn and find these alternative ideas. It’s the young. This is why, as creators and innovators, we must be especially careful when we inspire, motivate, and educate people in this malleable stage of life.  
 
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It’s a common-sense rule of thumb that we seem to accept without much thought. Creativity and madness go hand in hand. But is this true? How do we know? And is it right to make such broad statements about people we have never met? A lot of work has gone into finding these answers, and although we may never completely understand how the brain works in relation to personality, we can study behaviour and mental processes with different types of scientific inquiry. This means refusing to accept the assumptions in favour of hard evidence. In something as intangible as the personality, finding the root of anything may be like draining the ocean with a sieve.  
 
We can make a lot of individual observations and then build a larger picture from the jigsaw of information we find. Obviously, we cannot fully understand a thing until we have the whole picture, and this may never be reached, so scientific inquiry must reach into logical hypothesis to complete the process. New information may disrupt these logical assumptions over time so it’s always vital to make the facts and the hypothesis separate, so people know what to look at and what to use. Science is defined by its repeatable nature and with all mental health cases everyone is a unique individual. This poses another problem. Like with quantum mechanics, the mind can be seen as something that expresses potentials rather than known quantities. Perhaps this is because of the quantum effects of brain function or maybe it’s a convergent evolution of principles, independent of quantum mechanics.  
 
As human beings we have tastes and passions. When it comes to creative art such as painting or literature, the desire is usually to find something to our taste and to invigorate our passions. We also tend to prefer art that has a deep emotional connection that we can become a part of in the experience. We like to be moved in some way so shown something so interesting and fascinating that it really makes us think. Suffering is something that is particularly interesting in all our media. In problem solving we need to know how the suffering is affecting people, in drama we don’t get a story without dilemma and personal risk, in art we want to see through the eyes of someone else and know their intimate thoughts. We also have a morbid fascination for suffering, we enjoy learning about horrible things that have happened in the past and in the modern day.  
 
For someone who experiences a lot of mental suffering, and has the ability to create from this resource, their work has a potential to be sought after. They can direct it in any setting, and provided they can find a use for their scope of imagination and experience, they can find a purpose and a meaning in life by expressing their mind. Turning a debilitating condition into something of value is highly important for a lot of people. Put it in the right packaging and suffering can be highly lucrative. This doesn’t mean that we should make suffering for people for entertainment, it means that those with the right experience sometimes get the right job.  
 
Mania on the other hand is not necessarily about suffering, and yet is completely debilitating for the sufferer. It consists of the person having incontrollable energy levels, racing thoughts, lots of adrenaline, and an out-of-control inner dialogue. In schizophrenia and psychosis, the inner dialogue can become highly intrusive, devoid of reason, and paranoid. This can not only cause huge distress to the sufferer but can be difficult for others to manage. In some cases, when the mania is linked to narcissism or sociopathy, the sufferer can become dangerous. This is because they simply do not have the necessary brain function to stop them from carrying out their unhinged motivations.  
 
In people who suffer with mania, the creativity is often associated with the up phrase of their condition. When the mind is alive and the energy levels are high, the connection between the subconscious and the conscious is at its strongest. The individual is able to navigate these chaotic mental inferences and use them to create imaginative and intelligent ideas. Mania is often linked to symptoms such as reckless abandon and persistent impulses. This combined with the strong connection to the subconscious can result in a huge body of work that receives little attention once it’s been put down. A stream of consciousness style of creation can work well for some, provided they are able to provide enough clarity. For most of us, we have to go through things and make them sound verbally rational. The spontaneous works and ideas that manic people produce are often incredibly vivid and are filled with expressions of urgency. They tend to be striking at first but can lack emotional depth, again, the limited amount of thinking through can be an issue.  
 
In the way that creativity and mental illness are casually linked, the same can be said for creativity and intelligence. We know that it is the people with verbal and literal intelligence who are the most likely to develop some kind of mood disorder. Technically minded people seem to have a greater capacity to manage their thoughts and emotions in ways that prevent serious illness. This points to the fact that those who do suffer with mental health problems to varying degrees are more likely to have higher verbal intelligence overall. This gives them the ability to translate their raw emotion and sensation into some kind of reasonable description that others can relate to. This may be through metaphor of can be a more direct approach. Finding the words is the key. Something else we know about people with both depressive and manic disorders is that they have a propensity to daydream. The distraction offered by unwanted thoughts and feelings can be enough to take the attention away from the present moment and into an inner environment.  
 
It has been shown that mental health problems do run in families and the causes are at least partially genetic. This means that the brain itself holds many answers as to the issue and not the choices and personality of the individual. At the same time, people with neurological disorders can often be found to have creative members of the family. The act of being creative is often a release and a cure for any unwanted mental states and it could be that the two are linked but expressing themselves differently.  
 
When all of this is said, it is vital to appreciate that having a mental health condition is never somehow a blessing. It may be that it is linked to creativity, but there are plenty of creative people who are not mentally unwell. In fact, most are not. And the same can be said for mentally unwell people, they’re not all creative. Again, most are not. What can be said is a higher proportion than normal can be found in both groups, to the extent that it deserves further study. Artists and writers are also statistically more likely to die by suicide or through the actions of mania. They are more likely to struggle with addiction and have trouble holding down work and family units. It’s not a beautiful path to be romanticised, however creativity might be a great way to make the most of one’s issues in a way that hurts no-one and has the potential to help or at least inspire someone else.  

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Not all of us are creative people, and some of us are a lot more creative than others. It’s also known that you can’t teach creativity to people who are not inclined to be creative. It’s akin to asking a goldfish to climb a tree. It’s just not going to be able to do it, no matter how many times you explain it. Understanding the theory is one thing but putting it into practice requires a particular type of mind that enables this ability. So, what is going on in the brain that means one person can think creatively and another person cannot? And why are some people so creative that asking them to do things that require none is like a prison for them? What do we know? 
 
Unfortunately, most of the research done on the brain is instigated because of illness. This is because curing people is a lot more important than finding out how healthy people do what they do. With a subject like neurobiology, the expertise and funding are limited. It’s understandable that priorities mean the sick get the first attention. However, we also know that creative people often have mental health problems. This means it has coincided that creative people have been studied in detail because of their illness. Not all creative people get ill, so we can’t say that we know the entire story, but both creativity and mental illness come from the same system, so we know they are linked in some way. How close the link is will be the basis of further study.  
 
Why do creative people have a higher predetermination for mental illness? It’s more likely for them, so there must be something in the brain that makes the path to problematic thinking more viable. Why do non-creative people tend to not struggle so much with mental health? What is protecting them from the turmoil of an out-of-control mental state? The clear difference between sane and non-sane thought can put a barrier between individuals and when a person is unable to empathise with the unexplainable thoughts, it can be hard to help someone in this state. With compassion and tolerance, we can work together and find the right way to move forward. Accepting what they say as true for them and what they experience as a valid one can mean making tough choices about what a person is capable of or not. Only with acceptance and compassion can we find solutions that help people to be their best self in a setting prepared to handle their illness.  
 
But what about people who are not mentally unwell but are creative? What do they do that is analogous to madness and mood disorders? The key is in the ability to perceive things in new ways. The term ‘thinking outside the box’ is put into its best use when talking about creativity. By seeing pathways to ideas and strategies from the available resources that have not yet been identified, we are applying our creative mind. In a mood disorder or a madness, the novel ideas are wrong. In a creative person, they are right. Being able to distinguish between the two is the fundamental difference between creativity and madness. Creative people might have crazy ideas, usually called blue sky thinking, but they know when it needs work. They also have the usual mental blocks that prevent harmful and hurtful thought. It is when these subconscious safeguarding systems go wrong that the mind slips from creativity to insanity. That’s where the acceptance becomes important, denying it will only put a spanner in the works. 
 
It’s not only art where creativity is integral to the work involved. Art is often an expression of pure creativity with only a formal veneer of technique and method to make it viable for one style or another. Academic subjects also require creativity. Every invention, new idea, technique, personal plan, and more requires a set of mental processes that are completely unique. When a mathematician solves a complex formula or writes down a new one, they are using their creative brain to find the result. You need to apply the sense of process and trial and error with associated ideas based on intuition. That’s how creative ideas are nurtured.  
 
What motivates creative people? Why are they prepared to go into new realms of thought when there is so much out there already? Surely, it’s a lot of effort and with people thinking you might be mad, is it worth it? It does seem that creative people have a sense of social magnanimity. A selfless desire to make things better one way or another is what separates a creative person from say a poser or a mad person. When you care about society and other people as individuals and are motivated to assist with creative ideas, even if they don’t work, you carry an altruistic sense of service that some of us simply don’t have. By nurturing this sense of service by self-managing your ventures and enterprises, you can find sustainable and viable ways to apply your creative mind.  
 
Another motivation for creativity is as a cure for a sad mood. Sometimes if we are unhappy or emotional in uncomfortable ways then we choose creative methods to help. Painting, writing, making sculpture, or planning a brilliant idea might be just the ticket to getting out of one frame of mind and into another. Because creative people are more likely to have problems with low mood, it’s often the case that the desire to create is both motivated by a self-actualisation and a selfless sense of purpose. This duality can be hard to manage when a lot of what creative people do is rejected and mocked by the undiscerning public. It’s only when something becomes successful and well-known that most people begin to pay attention. Reaching the people that matter means taking risks and trusting your instincts of association.  
 
People who choose creativity as a lifestyle either in a job or as a serious hobby are often more tolerant to risk factors. To do something novel and unvalidated by trusted authority is a brave demonstration of individual merit. Putting your faith in the opinion of untrained and unprepared minds means putting your faith in your own idea. If it fails it can be a real blow, especially if it’s your livelihood on the line. To people who are highly creative, this doesn’t matter as much. Some of us would rather sit quietly and follow instructions to get everything as it ought to be. The idea of failure or major mistakes on their record is too much. To be able to bypass this sense of anticipated dread creative people can disassociate with the temporary opinions and bubbles of emotion that follow them. Look at politicians, they have practically half their home nation undermining their every move. Do they let it stop them? They just get on with the job. Having a blind spot for the antisocial effects of poor opinion is a skill that requires confidence in your own ability to make good judgements. 
 
The downside to the creative mindset is that because of the poor opinions of others and the judgements of their ideas being associated with their character, many people find it difficult to tolerate and accept them. As soon as a person is known for doing something that is not yet validated by social consensus, a lot of people are not prepared to accept or identify with those who create them. This leads to isolation and social exclusion, which can be a cruel and lonely place to find yourself in. When you make it as a creative person, and you have proven yourself with a viable and sustainable idea, some people still find it difficult to accept because of wariness. Because they can’t understand the journey to where they are, they imagine boundaries and fiery swords that make a difference. They don’t exist.  
 
What do we know about the difference between creative people and non-creative people when carrying out mental tasks? The brain has been studied in various ways with different tasks being conducted with scanners. This gives a physical representation of the biomechanical process that represents the individual’s thoughts. When people think creatively, the mind either has ordered thinking or chaotic thinking. Those of us who can apply ordered thought when applying novel and juxtapositioned ideas are more likely to find the solution from the given information. Those of us who think chaotically when assessing the information are less likely to find creative solutions. This is something that can’t often be helped, as the subconscious mind is the governor of this method. Because we are not conscious of this process, we have no direct control over it.  
 
In fact, creative mental processing has been shown to be genetic in origin. In the same way that mood disorders and sanity disorders can run in families, the traits that lead to creative thinking can also be traced in this way. The subconscious mind is the source of all our ideas, and it is in our conscious processing that we sift through the information and find the correct thought or response. Usually, the subconscious offers something we understand and know from experience.  Creative people can take abstract associations and imaginative uses for things that they have already learned. This is the boundary that gets broken for something to be new. The application of something known to something else known but so far unconnected is how inventions begin. For our subconscious mind to offer these strange connections, it must be able to communicate from the non-linear side of its process and have a conscious non-linear process that can meet it.  
 
To be able to directly link the conscious with the subconscious mind, the conscious mind needs to be relatively quiet. In the rest state, the subconscious mind is given the energy it needs to begin administrating the information it has received and linking it to everything it already knows. This happens all at once with no sense of hierarchy. That means the non-linear amalgam of processing can be confusing to the stable and linear process. This is why some people find it chaotic and hard to work with. To be able to remain stable in conscious processing and accept the subconscious prompts at a metered rate, the creative mind can access this chaotic and inspirational resource.  
 
This means the creative process can’t just take place automatically. The mind must be fully stocked with the resources it needs to build something new. Like playing Minecraft, you can’t craft until you have mined. This means that we must learn about the things we want to create for.  Even a painter must learn about their technique and style, finger painting included. To make something of value that appeals to the people it is designed for, we must learn a lot of skills and gain a lot of experience in the field before we can begin. It is in the creative combination of every skill we have learned and every association we have gathered that we can plot unique and fitting lines between them that leave people feeling rewarded and not confused.  
 
Rise above: If Psychology is something you're interested in, why not try out this online course from Monash University​. Free and paid options available.

Wealth generation is not just about getting rich. Wealth means an abundance of a valuable thing. This could be financial, and yet it could equally be emotional, social, or educational. Tying these things together to filter into a financial reward is the only way of keeping it sustainable, and sustainable wealth is the only kind that really matters long-term. By working together, creating, funding, paying for, promoting, and supporting, we can elevate sustainable wealth in all parts of our community, across the world. The cycle of profit and innovation will turn as always and if we can get on board, we can play a part in what it will look like in days, months, and years to come. Getting involved is how to boost the wealth of the community in your own way, and finding ways to make it work for you is how you boost wealth for your own family. The balance is struck in the models you apply to your efforts and communication.  
 
Sustainability means that for as long as there is demand, you can supply. Not only that, but it also means that the rewards you receive account for the cost of delivering the service and a wage for everyone involved, including yourself. This can be reached when the customer begins to rely on your product or service and are prepared to do what it takes to have it on supply. Finding something to offer that is important enough, either practically or emotionally, and offering it in such a way that benefits everyone, is how to best position your skills and talents. When this has happened, and it happens all the time with brands and businesses across the table, sustainable wealth is created.  
 
Of course, breaking into the world of innovation and business is not as simple as having a few good ideas. It is a long process and one that requires us to take many risks. We must be confident in our abilities and skills but not arrogant or narcissistic. We need to know we are good enough but appreciate that plenty of other people are also good enough. Once this emotional hurdle is behind you, you can set about beginning an honest and well-made business. To get on the radar, you need to tick some mental boxes. People only pay attention to something they are interested in. People only buy things they want or need. If no one is interested in your service or the work that you do, then you’ll not find anyone to sell it to.  
 
What matters a lot in the marketplace are things that change the marketplace. Things that have not been done or offered before are what interest people the most. Things that have a clear benefit to the customer and society that you can justify your profit margin with are defensible business models. A solution to a problem that a customer has that is more efficient and more suitable is disruptive and new. These things are what people look for when choosing to spend money or even stop blocking ads for a particular site like this one. (Google wants to pay me for offering a service to them and in return readers like you get free and easy to read education like this). 
 
A lot of businesses tick these boxes and only get so far, they don’t make it past the small turnover or semi-professional status. Reaching out to the wider world involves appreciating that the wider world is a complex and unfamiliar place. As an authority in the terms of your creative business, people will have their own emotional baggage that makes it hard for them to connect with you. Everything that people “know” about business leaders and salespeople stands in your way like a black knight who just won’t listen. To expand your work and reach further than your own arm span, it’s necessary to plug into other businesses and services. When you plug in to a business or service as a business or service, you must be able to reverse the connection at the same time, resulting in a mutual benefit for a mutual sharing of work. It is in the power of networks that we can grow even further. This means the insecurities that lead to feelings of competitiveness need to be addressed before you can move on. 
 
For the plug to connect in both directions, and for your use of business to equal use for your business, your product and service needs to become a platform for other innovators to use to their benefit. This leads to a natural expansion that brings more potential customers and further reach. Creating a natural cycle of work that results in wealth creation and service improvements for all is how to build a business model that is truly sustainable and defensible. Finding the right needs and the correct level of priority is how to become profitable and necessary for other businesses to utilise. The process of building dependencies involves becoming reliable and trusted as well as efficient and necessary. 
 
Identifying a need for a solution requires an understanding of certain processes and workflow systems that others go through. Having the opportunity to identify pain points in a particular aspect of life and work requires an experience or an instruction on something that you’re interested in. By playing a part in your area of life you will have the option to look for certain pressure points and pain points that you can find solutions to and get rewarded for applying. A business model that finds a repeating problem and offers an efficient and reliable solution for a price that outweighs the alternative in attractiveness will find many footholds in its chosen industry and beyond.  
 
Needs come in a variety of shapes and sizes. The priority level of a need depends on how the lack of its fulfilment affects the future and the present moment. If a person needs something right now, it is a high priority, rather than if they need something at some point, when it is a relatively low priority. Positioning yourself in the right now bracket is how to make your service or product immediately attractive. We assign needs according to how urgent they are, critical needs are the ones that make a significant difference to us if they are not met. Nice needs are needs that we’d like to be fulfilled but are prepared to put off for another day. A lot of things are nice to some but critical to others. Hunger, for example, defines how critical a food purchase would be. We all have moods and external circumstances that change what we consider a priority at any given time. Positioning yourself in a way that finds people when you are their priority is about understanding who you are selling to and why.   
 
Needs can be urgent, latent, or aspirational. As mentioned, urgency is often relative however some products are always considered urgent. Municipal services and healthcare services are needed all the time, a lot of people have complete dependencies on other services that they’d be vulnerable and isolated without. A latent need is one that could be considered urgent but only if it suits you. The new perfume that you must have, for example, may seem urgent to you and it might well be, however it’s more about desire than anything else. If given the choice between the perfume and life-saving care, you’d choose the care.  Aspirational needs identify a person’s desire for the future and help them feel more able to fulfil it. These can be financial, educational, or some other personal investment. All these needs are opportunities to create wealth by adding genuine value. By taking responsibility for solving the problem identified, you are in your right to take payment for that service.  
 
Having a foothold in the market is a great first step however the market doesn’t stay the same for long. New technologies emerge, and they present new opportunities for business. With new applications of new technology there comes new problems and efficiencies that can be utilised. To save time and resources by providing efficiency the customer finds the resources to offer an effective return. This balance is met when the product or service outweighs the need to hold onto the return. Finding the needs that markets have and determining what your solutions are worth to them can be difficult, however when you talk to potential clients these things can be pinned down over time.  
 
To be able to command a price that looks attractive to yourself and those who are invested in your progress, your product or service must meet a need with a degree of urgency that presents as an opportunity rather than a chore. In this way you’re providing a genuinely valuable resource to those who want to become customers. Because we all have unique skills and abilities, our needs vary across departments and social circles. One department is usually specialised into one or two aspects and so other aspects need an outsourced flow to satisfy the need. By connecting yourself as a departmental expert in a situation that has a strong demand you can become an essential tool for business. Honing this into a service that can be defined and sold is all about delivery and positioning.  
 
When you deliver your creative idea in a setting there are a lot of things you must be aware of. To get any interest in your hard work you need to connect with people who don’t know you and have no real social contract with you. Your offering is supposed speak to them on a level that cuts through the automatic busybody routine most of us are in these days. Positioning requires an understanding who your ideal customer is. By focusing on the ideal customer, we can reach the most potential with what we have to offer. Like the bullseye of a target, the whole circle of potential radiates from this central spot.  So, you need to decide who this ideal customer is.  
 
Is your creative idea meant for other businesses, like internet services, so they can do their job better? Is your solution meant for the public, like jam, so anyone can make use of your offering? Or is your solution meant for society, like a free further education initiative, so the benefits reach beyond that of the user? If you can identify one or two main customers and define them as people, in a non-intrusive yet definitive way, you can design your delivery to meet their needs. If the problems can be defined and the solutions can be offered in a way that identifies with the one who experiences them, the service will seem attractive. Then, by operating in a way that provides a solution, efficiency, and reliability, your service will be able to provide value and create wealth for the whole community, including you.  
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​Essential reading: Entrusted: Stewardship For Responsible Wealth Creation
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Everything changes, the world never stands still. Human society, as an extension of the world, is also in perpetual flux. The way we do things and the things we do change all the time, over the decades new technologies and new motivations produce new behaviours. With all of this undiscovered mental landscape, there is an infinite space to grow, explore, expand, and dissect. We can be pioneers on the edge of development, assisting humanity on its journey towards tomorrow. Creative leadership takes the power of this continual change and finds ways of making all of our lives better through novel applications. The arts and the sciences work together to bring about fresh experience and utility that strengthen our communities and improve our personal lives.  
 
What does exploring the landscape of human innovation and social evolution look like? It’s not the same as setting off on a journey to unknown mountains. It’s only when we use this example as an analogy or a metaphor that is begins to make sense. We can draw new maps and mark them with descriptions of what we can expect, here be dragons, only we do it through experimentation and application. Making little changes to one thing at a time is how it begins but this looks much like walking out of the door and to the garden gate. A real explorer goes much further than this, and they will risk getting completely lost for a while. Knowing how to get back to where you started is a necessary tool for any adventure, but you also need to lose sight of the shore.  
 
It begins with a little experiment; we ask ourselves what would happen if I did this. We notice the effect that we cause, and we try to understand the dynamic observed. This can be with making art, with the effects being aesthetic and communicatory, or with technology and the effects of new devices in new situations. Once we have discovered a little change in a little place that we think is beneficial in some way, we can begin putting it into practice. Honing the technique and preserving the philosophy that motivated the idea, we can create a set of instructions that produce the desired change without any need for experiment. Fool-proofing these instructions and making plans for every contingency takes a formulative effort in the initial exploratory and adventurous stage.     
 
It is only once we have explored the options and mastered the process required that that act of expansion and implementation can fruitfully take place. The formula is not a secret recipe we can write down, but a certain mindset and routine that ensures the results are as the process requires. When the experiment is over and the outcome is lucid, it’s simply a matter of making it happen. Now the adaptation to the process, the idea, the application, is ready to meet the world. Putting something into positive action is the next stage of applying your creative problem solving to the given situation. A creative leader isn’t content with one application in one setting for their idea, they see value in providing solutions to a raft of individuals who have a similar problem or desire that they want to be fulfilled. It’s good for them, for other people, and it’s good for the economy.  
 
The world at large is made up of human networks. These networks are governed not only by legal and social rules but by the emotions of everyone involved. To collaborate with others, it is important to always be mindful of all these things. A blockage in legal terms, social terms, or emotional terms can be fatal to your project and the positive benefits it could have provided. To build on our idea, solution, brand, creative piece, we must be able to communicate effectively with the networks necessary for this to happen. Positioning and presentation work together with personality to create an over-all public facade that symbolises the true big picture behind the image. If there are incoherencies or crossed wires, then the social and emotional rhetoric will not be effective. If you forget the legal side and do not make room for this then others will be wary of you as they don’t want to be involved with things that break the law. Finding creative ways to implement the necessary requirements and presenting yourself and idea in a true to life branding is another instance of trial, error, technique building, and application.  
 
The aspects of creative leadership often branch off into three distinguishable areas. Resourcefulness, reactivity, and inventiveness. Resourcefulness is not just making the most out of what’s available, it’s about expanding what’s available in creative ways. Finding new solutions to new problems in the cheapest and most effective way on the way to implementing a larger solution is how creative resourcefulness becomes important. Using tools in ways that work safely regardless of their original intention is how we apply things in creative ways and increase our level of resource. Reactive creativity is all about how we solve immediate problems with immediate answers. Often, we can partially or even completely solve an issue with a snap decision that uses what is immediately available. If we can do this in creative and useful ways that becomes a resource for others, then we become very useful to have around. Inventiveness, of course, is all about seeing new ways to do things with what we have around us. It is about seeing the uncommon but never-the-less correct answer in the equation of many answers. To do this we need a level of confidence in our own ability to perceive, understand, and digest relevant information and disregard the irrelevant information that may be tied into the original yet now obsolete purpose.  
 
Making use of these aspects of creativity is how we can relate well with all the different types of people that will stand on our path to development. To become an effective leader with a positive toolset to bring to the table, we need to be influential, useful, and safe. In the grand scheme it is not enough to be a unit, we need to be a conductor of the surrounding environment, making positive waves and bringing about clarity within the settings given to us. Because we are all individuals, we all have different personalities that need to be worked with and not against. Getting along with people is an artform on its own, considering the way others feel, think, behave, and want. To implement creativity to the social scene, we need to be able to relate to others in such a way that leaves them feeling good about themselves. If we make people feel negative, then they will associate us and our ideas with that negative feeling. We don’t want that.  
 
Because people are all unique and complex systems, the art of human interaction is never to be taken lightly or for granted. Art is about the blend of creativity and technique in each situation that presents the most appropriate outcome. Pure creativity pays no attention to rules and systems, and pure technique pays no attention to novelty and little changes. We need to be able to find a balance between these two extremes to relate with others on a level they feel safe and confident with.  It is only when others feel safe and confident with us that they will seriously investigate anything we have to offer. Every person is different and we will have to adjust our balance of creativity and technique to effectively govern our relationships. Formalities and playfulness all play their part in our social relationships and to make the most out of those in our networks, we need to be able to find the correct approach for the people around us and the market we intend to build into. A sense of empathy and an ear for genuine listening are your most important tools, rather than second guessing and over-ruling, we must be able to address individuals on face value, like that of a genuine coin, if we are to ascribe genuine value to our relationships.