“My life didn’t please me so I created my life.”
Coco Chanel
If you think you aren't creative because you can’t paint, or were bottom of the class in art at school – think again.
Creativity is the meal you scrambled from leftovers in the fridge, the outfit you threw together, the photo of the mallard you took.
We've never been surrounded by so much inspiration – so much to watch, read, be wowed by. But the more we consume other people's ideas, the less we create our own. And now that AI can generate just about anything in seconds, it's even easier to outsource the thinking entirely and lose our creative muscle.
But creating isn't a nice-to-have. It's a biological need, one of the oldest signals our brain knows. No algorithm can do it for us.
Are you creating, or mostly curating?
G O I N G D E E P E R
Psychology
Flow is that semi-meditative state where you’re so absorbed in what you’re doing that time slips away and you’re oblivious to the rest of the world. It’s deeply relaxing for the brain and creativity is one of the easiest ways to slip into it.
Inside the body
Creativity relies on two brain networks taking turns – the default mode network for imagination and the executive network for structure. Modern life overloads both. When you carve out even small pockets of unstructured time, those networks sync, and creativity can surface again.
Did you know?
It’s true! We have our best ideas and light bulb moments in the shower. Because ironically, it's only when the mind isn’t being asked to perform, that its insight network switches on - the part that connects loose thoughts and turns them into fresh ideas.
At work
Creativity drops the moment you feel watched, judged or rushed. Even mild workplace pressures can stop it in its tracks and push you into performance mode, where new ideas can’t breathe.