Here’s the good news: creativity isn’t something you’re either born with or without. It’s not a divine gift doled out by the universe to a lucky few while the rest of us make do with spreadsheets and shopping lists. Creativity is a skill. And like any skill, it can be trained, stretched, and strengthened.
But it’s not developed the way most people think. You don’t “learn to be creative” by sitting through a seminar or memorising a five-step method. You learn it the same way musicians master an instrument or athletes hone their reflexes: through practice, experimentation, and repetition.
In this episode, we’ll explore how to grow your creative ability deliberately, by using tools, techniques, and shifts in mindset that unlock new thinking.
You Already Have a Creative Muscle
First, let’s get something straight: you already are creative. Maybe you’ve buried that part of yourself under years of trying to be an adult, or maybe you’ve been told you’re “not the creative type.”
Maybe you believed that because you can’t draw, or compose a symphony, or whip up a gourmet meal from leftovers, you must not be one of the chosen few. But creativity doesn’t always wear an artsy hat. It shows up in how you solve problems at work, how you tell stories at the dinner table, how you rearrange furniture, or even how you talk your way out of a parking ticket.
It’s not about being ‘artistic’, it’s about being original, resourceful, and willing to look at things from new angles. And that capacity? It’s alive and well in you, whether you’ve used it lately or not.
Creativity isn’t a type. It’s a capacity - one that lives in every human brain, including yours. It's like a mental Swiss Army knife: versatile, adaptable, and full of surprising tools, many of which you may not have unfolded yet.
The ability to think creatively isn’t locked behind talent, it’s rooted in how you respond to the world around you. Do you question the obvious? Are you willing to reframe problems? Do you follow a hunch, even when it seems silly? These are all signs of a creative engine quietly running in the background, waiting for an opportunity to kick into gear.
Creativity starts with noticing. With asking questions. With seeing things slightly differently. That’s not a talent; that’s attention. And you can train yourself to pay better attention.
Think about how a comedian observes ordinary life, a queue at the post office, a family dinner, a badly timed elevator door, and finds something absurd or revealing in it. Or how a product designer watches how someone struggles to open a jar and suddenly thinks, "What if the lid itself helped you grip it?"
This level of creative noticing doesn't require genius. It requires deliberate observation, a willingness to ask "why" more often, and a curiosity about how things could be different. Attention is the soil, ideas grow from what you plant in it.
Start with What’s Broken
One of the fastest routes to creativity? Look for what’s broken.
Creative people notice friction, where things are clunky, confusing, ugly, unfair, inefficient, or just plain annoying. Then they ask, “What would make this better?”
Designer Sara Little Turnbull worked on a range of consumer products, from kitchen gadgets to medical equipment. But her genius came from looking beyond the brief, spotting patterns across different industries and asking odd questions. Her innovation in respiratory protection stemmed from her observation of healthcare workers struggling with flat, tie-on surgical masks. Drawing inspiration from her moulded bra cup design, she proposed a contoured, non-woven mask that fits snugly over the face, featuring elastic bands instead of ties and an aluminium nose clip for a better seal. This design led to 3M's release of a lightweight medical mask in 1961, which, although initially marketed for dust filtration, laid the groundwork for the development of the N95 respirator.
So next time you feel frustrated, pause. That annoyance might be the seed of a brilliant idea.