The secret to creativity – according to science

"Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.”

Creative inspiration is elusive, and it is a common fact that some people are more creative than others. New research suggests creativity can be magnified with hard work and the right network.

Creativity can be ‘grown’ with the right soil and sunlight, and is not just a thing people are born with.

• Divergent Thinking: The ability to think a diverse range of ideas which are relevant to the main topic.
• Convergent Thinking: Evaluation of the diverse ideas for its usefulness and effectiveness when tackling the main problem.
• Intuitive Thinking: The automatic, gut instinct that is spontaneous.
• Analytical Thinking: The slow, deliberate thought process that helps us select and fit the right ideas.

Apart from one’s network and environment, creativity also requires the right exposure and experience, which involves making mistakes and going places.

A fantastic imagination is often a crucial element that is often overlooked, as people who daydream or are distracted do not appear to be serious.

Children who fantasize and are daydream are often good in their creative imagination, narrative ability and other aspects that can be boosted.

Episodic Imagination takes cues from real events that are in memory and transforms it into an imaginary visualization, making the experience part reality and part imagination.

While most self-help books emphasize on imagining a great future, the key takeaway from the study on creative imagination is that one has to imagine the process, not the final outcome.

Imagining the desired outcome actually yields worse results but imagining the episodic process can turn the fantasy into a reality.