Card #77 – ”Believe in Yourself” from the Creative Whack Pack

Available on the iOS App Store and as a physical deck of cards

The ancient Greek philosopher Epictetus said:

“What concerns me is not the way things are, but rather the way people think things are.”

Several years ago, a major oil company was concerned about the lack of creative productivity among its engineers. To deal with this problem, a team of psychologists was brought in to find out what differentiated the creative people from the less creative ones.

The psychologists asked the engineers many questions ranging from where they grew up to what their educational backgrounds were to what their favorite colors were.

The psychologists found that the chief differentiating factor that separated the two groups was: The creative people thought they were creative, and the less creative people didn’t think they were.

As a consequence, the creative people put themselves in a position where they could use their creativity: they allowed themselves to get into an imaginative frame of mind, play with their knowledge, take a few risks, and look for lots of right answers.

If you think you’re creative, you’ll act that way — and if you don’t, you won’t. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy: As you think, so you are.

— In what ways are you creative?