Actually, it very much shows in Picasso’s works - his early works are very classical, but everyone remembers him because of his later works.

“So it’s not that creativity can be learned but it must be fostered and nurtured.” Perfect! I like the way you said that.

“It’s when you stop trying to impress others but surprising yourself.” Again, yes! And the way I define creativity is thus: exercising the right side of your brain to come up with a unique arrangement of lines, colors, shapes, etc. It doesn’t have to be something that no one has ever done before (but it definitely doesn’t involve copying people’s work). Practicing the arts is probably the easiest way to define creativity. Paint, doodle, sketch, just don’t judge. I suppose you can be creative with the left side, too, finding unique ways to solve complex problems with coding and such. But that tends to involve a lot of judging. Ugh! I never thought about defining creativity. It’s tough!

Tara had it bang on, we repress our creativity because we’re scared of being ridiculed, wrong or embarrassed. Picasso says, “All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” I remember reading that he said he spent the whole first half of his life learning how to paint and draw like a professional and the last half learning how to do it like a kid.

Charlie Chaplin wrote a beautiful piece of music, titled ‘Smile’. But then almost two decades later John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons wrote the lyrics to this song, which became very popular when Nat ‘King’ Cole sang it. Who was creative there and who wasn’t? Charlie Chaplin can’t even be questioned here - one of the most creative artists of our time. I would though still consider three others as creative people. Would you?

However, I can’t say that Natalie Cole was bursting with creativity when she recorded ‘Unforgettable’ as a duo with her already deceased father, unless it was indeed her idea in the first place.

So, does it mean that in your 1+2=3 creativity theory, “1″ stands for “creative”, “2″ for ordinary, and “3″ for original?

As for the bigger question about originality, I suppose that could be a matter of semantics - I believe creativity can be expressed by putting two things together and making a third thing. 1 + 2 = 3. They are all numbers but ‘original’? Just my thoughts I am currently listening to a lot of Mash-ups where two different songs are mixed together to make a third, and so I have been thinking… creative? original?

great site btw, keep up inspiring us all