The Five C's of Creativity

Creative habits support resilience by strengthening the ability to navigate difficult times. Creativity functions as both a problem-solving skill and a joyful habit. The five C’s of creativity provide a simple, memorable framework for enhancing creative capacity and resilience. Curiosity drives exploration, investigation, learning, and seeking new information or experiences. Curiosity can be practiced by asking questions and observing daily peculiarities, such as how things work or why feelings arise, and by brainstorming questions and answering a few each day. Constraints can catalyze creative thinking by limiting options, since too much freedom can reduce originality. Modest boundaries and resource limitations can stimulate new solutions and help reframe obstacles as constraints.

"A growing body of research is showing that creative habits are a pathway to resilience (Sophie Schweizer et al., 2016). Creativity is, of course, an essential skill for solving problems and generating original ideas, but perhaps more importantly, it can be a joyful habit that helps individuals build capacity to navigate difficult times. The five C's of creativity offer a simple framework for enhancing one's capacity for creativity as well as resilience."

"Curiosity is one of the most researched elements of creativity. It can be viewed as both an engine for creativity and a product of it (Walsh, 2006). Curiosity is the desire to explore, investigate, learn, or otherwise seek new information or experiences (Dumont et al., 2019). The simplest way to foster curiosity is to develop your willingness and ability to ask questions and observe peculiarities in your daily life."

"The simplest way to foster curiosity is to develop your willingness and ability to ask questions and observe peculiarities in your daily life. What's making that sound? How does that thing work? Why do I feel this way? These are examples of questions that individuals can ask on a daily basis to help develop a habit of curiosity. Another simple exercise is to brainstorm a long list of questions, and then try to find the answers to a couple of questions every day."

"Real and artificial constraints can catalyze creative thinking. Too much freedom can stifle originality. Modest boundaries stimulate the search for new solutions. At a basic level, constraint involves a lack of resources, a state that paradoxically fosters creative thought (P. Fishman, 2014). Operating within constraints is also directly related to resilience as it trains us to frame obstacles and challenges differently."

Read at Psychology Today