It is more than flipping a switch
by Levi Grimm
Creativity is often depicted as a lightbulb illuminating during a eureka moment. It represents a culmination of thinking and an expression that a solution is discovered. I argue, though, that the lightbulb only reflects a part of the creative process. The lightbulb fails to recognize the brainstorming, ideation, and iteration that goes into a final product. Until college, I fell victim to the switch mentality of creativity that powered the solution lightbulb.
To me, the switch mentality is telling yourself that you can be creative when you choose to be. Just as a lightbulb can illuminate with a flip of a switch, my creativity could be controlled with a switch inside myself. Before college, I would tell myself that I could be creative when needed and that all it would take was thinking about ideas. At the time, I was failing to show the creative process. The process takes time and effort. The process is multi-step. Creativity is not flipped on but instead fueled by our work and daily outlook. The electricity of the creative process fuels a solution light, and when the process is done, the light will shine so bright that it cannot be turned off.
Sophomore, Information Systems and Entrepreneurship, Cincinnati, Ohio
Fun fact: My name is coded on a microchip lodged in a NASA spaceship destined for Mars.
3 Keywords: Purposeful, creativity, thinking
