Creativity: born or made? | Guadalupe Casas, SABF Blog English

This short article doesn't spend much time focusing on the question in the headline from a psychological or philosophical view. Good! Instead, Casas answers the question by giving some useful tips on enhancing individual creativity. I especially like the first one:

Losing the fear of being wrong will undoubtedly be the main action to take in behalf of stimulate our creativity.

Casas then describes her second important point in motivating creativity:

Changing our point of view towards simplifying and improving something. Fundamental then, is to think things upside down, turn them around and above all, keep track of all our ideas ... [A]lthough they may look crazy or surreal, ideas are all potential triggers of new ideas.

She also emphasizes the value of reading, to feed us with knowledge, which is "the main fuel of creativity." And she emphasizes disconnection:

Allow yourself to turn off all the distractions that surround you for a while; great changes have emerged due to the creativity of man. The world needs many of these small changes to help us and help to create. 

For more discussions on this topic, check out Garbl's Creativity Resources Online. It's an annotated directory of websites that provide advice for increasing creativity and innovation in your writing, in your personal life, on the job, in school, in the arts and elsewhere.