I think creativity is probably something more commonly discussed by my generation than ones in the past. Obviously I say that with little ability to prove it - but it’s just a hunch. Look around, there’s so many blogs, tweets, facebook updates, books, magazines… all about being creative. It’s easy to look at all of this and assume that it’s just a given that everyone is automatically a creative genius. It’s easy to feel left out - because you know that being “creative” doesn’t come naturally to you, so there you must be less capable than all these other people. I think that is inaccurate. I think that we all have the ability to be creative, but I think it takes work like everything else. Those people who appear to just naturally spew out creativity… I think they just appear that way because they don’t let you peek behind the curtain and see the process. The many unpublished writings. The many scribbled out drawings. The sleepless nights because they weren’t flowing creatively that day. The amount of inspiration they draw from other people’s creativity. And that last piece I believe is one of the most important pieces. I think that people are crazy to assume they can create anything amazing without taking time to consume other people’s creativity. I’m not advocating copy + paste. I’m just saying that you should draw inspiration from other people’s work. If you look at CreativePieceA that will many times lead to you coming up with your CreativePieceB. You aren’t less creative because you consume. I’d say you will probably be way more creative than the person who never bothers to consume. Follow creative people on Twitter. Get a list of blogs of people who are doing creative things, in your field and in completely different fields. Make time to consume this information and I bet you will see a huge increase in your own creativity!