Worried you may not be creative or you may not be creative
enough? This quiz will help you find out just how creative
you are.
Take a piece of paper and number it from one to seven. For
each question, write down the corresponding letter of your
answer.
Creative
1. When you come across a rose, you immediately:
A. Smell it.
B. Quote every rose poem you can remember.
C. Write your own poem.
D. Sketch the rose.
E. Step on the rose.
2. One of your dreams in life is to:
A. Write a novel.
B. Become a painter.
C. Travel the world.
D. Climb all the famous mountains.
E. Just once, get everything done on your to-do list.
3. Your desk:
A. You have trouble finding as it's buried under everything
including the kitchen sink.
B. Resembles a natural disaster.
C. Is a bit of a mess, but you know where everything is.
D. Is basically neat -- you use the stacking method.
E. Is in perfect order -- everything in its place.
4. The person you admire most is:
A. Einstein.
B. Walt Disney.
C. Your mother.
D. Jane Austin.
E. Anyone who can get everything crossed off his or her
to-do list.
5. You consider yourself:
A. Extremely creative.
B. Creative.
C. Somewhat creative.
D. A little creative.
E. About as creative as a turnip (come to think about it,
turnips may be more creative then you are).
6. You get new ideas:
A. All the time.
B. Several times a week.
C. Several times a month.
D. Once or twice a month.
E. You dimly recall getting a new idea when Clinton was in
office. Or maybe it was the first Bush.
7. You dream in:
A. Color.
B. Black and white.
C. Both black and white and color.
D. You can't remember now.
E. Nothing. You don't dream.
Scoring:
Throw out all your answers except for number five -- "You
consider yourself:". If you answered:
A. Extremely creative -- Then you're extremely creative.
B. Creative -- Then you're creative.
C. Somewhat creative -- Then you're somewhat creative.
D. A little creative -- Then you're a little creative.
E. About as creative as a turnip -- Then you're about as
creative as a turnip.
Okay, this was a bit of a trick. But it's true. How creative you
think you are corresponds with how creative you really are.
A couple of studies illustrate this. A big company wanted to
increase creativity in its employees. So it hired a group of
consultants to come in. The consultants started by
thoroughly testing all of the employees. They discovered the
only difference between the employees who were creative
and those who weren't was this: Creative people believed
they were creative and less creative people believed they
weren't.
Even more telling was what happened to the group that
wasn't creative. The consultants focused on helping them
nurture their creativity. At the end, those employees were
actually more creative than the ones who had initially
considered themselves creative.
And that means you too can become more creative. In fact,
how creative you become is entirely in your own hands.
Creativity Exercise -- Assumptions
Ready to become more creative? Here's an exercise.
Write down all the reasons why you're not creative. Go on.
Write them all down. Every negative reason you can think of.
Things like:
I've never been creative in my life.
I haven't had a new idea in over a year.
I don't have time to be creative.
Now reverse those negative assumptions and make them
positive. Like so:
I am a creative person.
I have lots of new ideas all of time.
I don't need time to be creative because I already am
creative.
Do this every day and see what happens. This is a great
way to start getting rid of those inner demons that keep all of
us from realizing our true potential.
Michele Pariza Wacek owns Creative Concepts and Copywriting, a writing, marketing and creativity agency. She offers two free e-newsletters that help subscribers combine their creativity with hard-hitting marketing and copywriting principles to become more successful at attracting new clients, selling products and services and boosting business. She can be reached at http://www.writingusa.com.