I’ve Wrote Over 175 Books: My Best Takes on Creativity

Over the past 45 years, I have written and published more than 175 books for adults and children. Sometimes that number surprises me because I didn’t set out to be an author.

Early in my career, I realized that being a successful writer is not just about creating compelling stories. I had to be a sponge, read a lot and broaden my horizons.

Embracing Apple co-founder Steve Jobs’ quote that “creativity is just putting things together,” I allowed myself to follow my interests wherever they might lead me.

To that end, I’ve written on topics as diverse as marine biology, job interviews, teaching, creativity, baseball, archeology, American history, resume writing, tsunamis, and nocturnal creatures.

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In my latest book “In search of the old,” about the longest-lived trees in the United States, I immersed myself in the study of tree rings and social psychology. And I still have many ideas that I will gladly implement.

That’s four creativity principles that have served me well for over four decades.

I have been a professor of education for almost 30 years.

So many of us, teachers and students, have been taught to believe that there is only one right answer to every problem. This is simply not true. Rarely have we been offered the opportunity to consider many potential solutions to any intellectual problem.

This in itself is a problem because, as inventor and author Roger von Och says, “if you think there’s only one right answer, you’ll stop looking as soon as you find it.”

You need to allow yourself to imagine all the possibilities.

I recently challenged participants in a creative workshop I was running to create as many different uses for a paper clip as possible in five minutes. They came up with 57 ideas, including a cheap nose ring, an ear cleaner, a lock pick, a mini fishing rod, a bookmark, an ant spear, a cheese cube holder and a tie clip and more.

Focusing on a one-right-answer mentality forces us into a “take-no-risk” mindset. But creativity is a continuous generation of options – rarely a search for single answers. I’m also constantly looking for different approaches and perspectives in my writing.

The most creative people tend to have the most failures.

James Dyson created 5126 unworkable prototypes before inventing the Dyson vacuum cleaner. Thomas Edison spent more than two years trying to improve his light bulb. When asked about this period of trial and error, he remarked“I got a lot of results! I know a few thousand things that won’t work.”

When I wrote In Search of the Old Ones, I went through 21 separate drafts over the course of 12 months. I wasn’t fazed by the mistakes that I knew would be present in those drafts. Instead, I saw it as an opportunity to make changes and improvements.

The process itself is part of the joy of the experience for me.

Keep in mind that creativity is not perfection. Searching for the perfect idea severely limits your thinking as well as your expression.

The most creative people I know are able to recall and tap into a child’s sense of wonder at the world.

Curiosity is an active consideration of the possible. It is a catalyst for questions, and questions make us seek the unfamiliar and contemplate the unknown. It opens our minds so we can explore the unexplored and create the unexpected.

My latest book was inspired by the fact that Bristlecone pines have lived continuously in the White Mountains of California for over 4,000 years. Immediately, I had to know how they were able to survive so long

I searched scientific articles, learned about the trees firsthand, and consulted a number of experts in dendrochronology.

When I started the process, I didn’t expect to end up with a book based on my research. But my curiosity has always been the basis and driving force of my creativity.

We all have creative potential, just like in childhood. So often our natural creativity fades with time, unfortunately.

The most creative people I know understand that creativity is not about pleasing everyone. If you want people to approve of what you do, then you are not being creative. You’re just confirming their preconceived notions about what you should do. So there is no imagination, only confirmation.

As a professional educator for more than half a century, I’ve come to the conclusion that creativity has absolutely nothing to do with IQ either—and that traditional schooling quite often forces students to memorize the irrelevant, remember the unnecessary, and consider the insignificant. As a result, we rarely have the opportunity to create, only to regurgitate.

True creativity is about being comfortable in chaos. With each book, I see writing as a journey through something I’ve never experienced before. It’s a celebration of the unknown, and we’re all capable of it.

Anthony D. Fredericks, Ed.D., is professor emeritus of education at York College of Pennsylvania. He is a contributor to Psychology Today’s Creative ideas blog, and has written more than 100 nonfiction books, including “From Hiss to Hiss: The Hidden Forces Ruining Your Creativity and How to Overcome Them“Two Minute Habits: Small Habits, Dynamic Creativity,” and his last “In Search of the Old Ones: An Odyssey Among the Ancient Trees.“Follow him LinkedIn.

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