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The Nature of Creative Thought - Part 3

As a generalization, we can say that almost any creative worker will proceed through these stages in his idea production:

He starts with an interest, which may stem from talent or apti­tude, or which may be acquired out of some form of "hero wor­ship"—of a father, a teacher, uncle, friend. Whatever the source, his interest causes him to become familiar with some particular field. This is the learning period where he gets his fundamentals.

As he becomes more familiar with the field, he becomes aware of specific needs and deficiencies of various kinds. And, the more he learns about it, the more such problems he becomes aware of.

At some stage, one of these problems will become important enough to stand out and present a personal challenge to a creative mind. Then begins a struggle, because a creative mind will liter­ally "force" itself to attack that particular problem. This is the drive manifesting itself. The lack of this feeling of challenge and determination to master the problem is largely what distinguishes the noncreative person from the creative.

As the creative mind struggles with this problem, it will usually alternate between the "battle" and a less-intensive "relaxation." This activity usually ends with a sudden sense of illumination— the person literally "sees the light."

At this point, his whole energy will begin to storm toward a solution—he quickly throws all his mental powers into the successful conclusion of all his previous struggling and effort.

The final stage is the perfecting of his idea—the careful polish­ing and adjusting to "get the bugs out" and produce a finished product from his imagination.

Now are these steps so intuitive, or instinctive, that the people following them must be completely unaware of their existence?

The answer seems to be a definite "No." Just as the machinist or carpenter knows that for his best work he must develop skills and techniques through practice and analysis, the really produc­tive creative workers seem to realize that the only way to make efficient use of their tools—mental skills and imagination—is through awareness of them and a conscious effort to improve their use.

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