Murdoch has set up a sort of quiz that determines which of the four dominant thinking styles you use is. I took this quiz and was rather surprised when it told me I was creative.

You see I’ve never really considered myself to be overly creative, while it is true I love to write I always thought creativity had more to do with painting beautiful pictures or composing a melody. This got me thinking about the true nature of creativity and what it meant to me, so without any further delays I present my thoughts on creativity.

As I’m writing this post I’m surrounded by the cardboard boxes I’ve been using to pack up my room. When I say surrounded I mean I’ve constructed a crude box fort at my door to repel any would be invaders of my realm. It sounds a bit stupid, and perhaps it is, but this is exactly what being creative means to me. It’s about taking a look at something mundane and choosing to instead see something spectacular.

With that in mind and with chalk in hand I headed up to campus with some friends and we drew a pretty cool chalk mural. Despite all the stress from packing and the left-over tension from exams I really had fun with the chalk and I think our end result speaks for itself. I wanted to show you how I see the world, a place that’s exciting and full of inspiration, even in the most unlikely places. Perhaps it’s a side-effect of having an over-active imagination but I honestly believe that my creativity comes from all around me and I need look no further than my window to be inspired.

Of course there is a down-side to all of this as I often catch myself day-dreaming in lectures and doodling all over my lecture notes. Last year during one of my foundation unit lectures I completely blanked out the lecture and instead spent the time sketching a penguin riding a motor-bike. By the end of the lecture I was none the wiser on the topic that was being talked about but I had come up with an entire back story for this penguin. He was a loner who hated the snow and ice and always wanted to escape, finally his chance came in the form of a lone hells-angel whom the penguin mugged and stole the motorbike from. It seems whimsical and pointless but I never let that stop me because if I did ideas like this blog would never exist.

Creativity also means facing every obstacle with a new approach; you don’t want to solve the problem like the hundreds of people before you have. This can lead to some fun and inventive solutions that a lot of people perhaps wouldn’t consider. It can also lead to a great deal of frustration if your solution doesn’t solve the problem or small details de-rail your efforts. I cannot count the number of times I’ve had a great idea or plan that has not come to fruition because of a small detail, or numerous small details, that I’ve overlooked. The trick is to not be discouraged by these set-backs and instead apply what you’ve learned each time to your next grand scheme and sooner or later you’ll exceed even your own expectations.