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Don't expect creativity -

People often put time aside to be creative, but the fact is that most ideas will come when people least expect them. However, in the meantime, it doesn’t hurt to keep working at it.

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The creative breed myth -

Creativity isn’t something that people are born with and is part of their genetic makeup. Instead, studies show that people who come up with creative ideas are the ones who work the hardest.

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The eureka myth -

Although new ideas may seem to come in a flash, they result from a lot of time and effort. As we work on problems, the information we gather incubates in the subconscious mind and pops out in seemingly eureka-like moments.

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Steve Jobs -

“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things.”

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Creative people are "unusual" -

As we come away from assuming that there is some “creative type,” we can dispel the myth that creative people are unusual.

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Creatives are messy -

The stereotype for a creative person, loosely based on artists’ stereotypes, is that they’re messy. This isn’t true. People may have to think expansively to be creative, but this doesn’t mean that someone thinking creatively cannot hone it back in to tidy their bedroom!

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The originality myth -

There is a long-standing argument regarding how much ownership the person who thought of an idea has on it. However, history shows that most innovations are the result of a combination of existing ideas.

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The expert myth -

Large companies often call for experts in their field to work on complex problems to generate a creative solution. Still, the research shows that creative solutions often come from an outsider who doesn’t have preconceptions about what can and can’t be done.

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Albert Einstein -

"Imagination is more important than knowledge."

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The incentive myth -

A common misconception is that monetary or other related benefits incentivize creativity in driving people to work harder. But incentivizing often does more harm than good because people learn to game the system.

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The lone creator myth -

This is our tendency to attribute innovations to a single person, ignoring the collaborators. Creativity is often a team effort. Bill Gates wouldn’t have been able to market home computers without his team, and Lady Gaga couldn’t make the albums she does without other musicians and sound engineers.

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The brainstorming myth -

Many consultants preach that brainstorming is a great way to explore different avenues to solutions. However, no evidence shows that “throwing ideas around” constantly produces any form of creative solution or idea. There has to be a significant structure to a brainstorming session to produce valuable results.

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The unified workforce myth -

Many companies believe that a unified workforce will produce better results stemming from creative innovations. This is why so many tech companies have free lunches, game rooms, and more. However, no evidence suggests this is true for creativity. Actually, many creative companies have found ways to structure dissent and conflict into their process to better push their employees’ creative limits'

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Limitations breed creativity -

In many situations, it is felt that when people are given everything they need to come up with something, they are most likely to succeed. However, the research shows that people are most creative when they are working under constraints. It’s thought that people might only realize the full potential of the tools they have if they don’t have anything else to work with.

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The idea is everything -

Another common belief is that once we have a new idea, the work is done. But the world won’t beat a path to our door for our new idea unless we work on it, communicate it, market it, and find the right customers.

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“Everything has been done” -

This is the single biggest myth that stunts creativity. Everything hasn’t been done before. Innovations are made every day. They may not be groundbreaking or even useful, but they still may be new. Only a few years ago, for instance, Coca-Cola had the idea to put people's names on their bottles and cans. Although it may have sounded silly in the boardroom, it ended up being hugely successful.

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Creative people are geniuses -

Overall, this is simply not true. Anyone of average intelligence (or lower than average intelligence) can be creative.

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Creativity comes from high-level thinking -

People don’t need to be operating on a very high level to be creative. American inventor Eli Whitney said that the idea for the cotton gin came from watching a cat try to pull a chicken through a wire fence, and only some of the feathers were pulled through.

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Time pressure fuels creativity -

Although working with some constraints may be helpful, time constraints can be unproductive. People can certainly work hard and be creative under pressure, but exceeding time pressure stifles creativity.

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Fear as an incentive -

It's a misconception that somebody must be suffering to be creative. Fast Company read 12,000 journals and found that creativity is positively associated with joy and love, and negatively associated with anger, fear, and anxiety.

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The competitive working environment -

Competition is great for driving people to work harder and reach further. Still, when people within organizations are so competitive that they stop sharing information with each other, they are less creative as a result.

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Ayn Rand -

"A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others."

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Streamlined organizations -

Fast Company studied a company that downsized 25% of a 6,000-person division in a global electronics company over 18 months and found that every stimulant to creativity in the work environment went down significantly.

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Is structure bad for creative thinking? -

“Starting with a blank canvas” is a phrase that gets thrown around a lot regarding generating new ideas. It means to start fresh. However, it isn’t productive to have no restrictions when considering creativity.

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“That’s a ridiculous idea” -

History has proven that some of the most significant innovations in human history were once sneered at as being absurd and outlandish.

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People remember good ideas -

If you are new to generating ideas, you are in for a harsh lesson if you believe this. Ideas, especially if they are left field and underdeveloped, are tough to remember. It makes sense since they were so challenging to think of in the first place. People should take note of their good, and bad, ideas.

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Don’t waste time -

“Pointless” projects aren’t always so pointless. It’s these side projects that introduce new ideas and concepts that might not have been around otherwise.

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Creativity is only relevant in certain domains -

Every job and every position at every company offers the opportunity to be creative in some way. “Professional” creativity isn’t something reserved for people like designers and writers.

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People who have creative ideas always have great ideas -

Even the people who have innovated the most, like Elon Musk, aren't always right.

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“That’s a bad idea” -

Being creative requires a lot of confidence. As you should never think that the work is done once you’ve come up with the idea, you shouldn’t disregard an idea until you pull it apart, dissect it, and think about it critically.

Sources: (Fast Company) (Entrepreneur) (Red Lemon Club) (LifeDev)

See also: 15 fascinating ways to boost creativity

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