Building Your Creative Muscle:
Amma Marfo’s, author of Cultivating Creativity, strategies to develop your creative practice.
Amma Marfo was inspired to write Cultivating Creativity after working with students on college campuses across the country. Too often, she would witness a group start with a fantastic idea, then get stuck in executing it and end up abandoning the original idea. Her goal for the book is to “empower people to find the traits and skills that they have to be able to apply to creative endeavors.” We discussed her beliefs and research about creativity that underpin the book and strategies for strengthening the creative muscle.
The Importance of Broadmindedness
Broadmindedness is essential to Amma’s conception of creativity. In the book, she defines it as “an ability or tendency to combine knowledge and expertise that is often (a) separate (b) in competition.” Grounded in the belief that creativity, unlike art, shows up in all areas of human endeavor, she deliberately sought to include in the book examples from disparate fields, such as the arts, business, and education. If she is stuck when writing, she will “go out of that realm and do something totally different” to unblock herself. For example, Amma decided to take a Sketch Writing workshop at Improv Asylum to break out of her usual writing style. What started as an exercise in broadmindedness grew into a new creative practice, and she now regularly writes and performs stand-up comedy.
Broadmindedness, like creativity, can be utilized in many areas of your life, including job-seeking. “How could your experience in orienteering, Zumba, competitive scrabble, or chartering a book club supplement your portfolio as a lawyer, accountant, or graphic designer?” Your answer to that question […] could make the difference between your candidacy and that of others who decline to share those previously thought “unnecessary details,” she writes.
Find Your Creative Allies, Advocates, and Activators
Amma writes about the importance of finding your creative allies, advocates, and activators, people who inspire, support, and promote your creative work. Writing fan mail to people you admire can be a great way of building a new creative connection, she shared. “If you are feeling particularly bold, send an email or DM to someone you interacted with on Instagram or Twitter,” she said, noting how Paul Jarvis’s idea of scheduling bravery resonated with her.
In Cultivating Creativity, she draws on Tiffany Dufu’s concept of one’s personal ecosystem, the friends, family, colleagues, and connections that can become essential to your success. Creative people should actively try to build and maintain these relationships. She recommends setting specific times to check in with people, “never only if you need something!” Being an ally, advocate, or activator for others is equally important. She explained how she always seeks to pay it forward by connecting people and sharing opportunities with others whenever she can.
Creativity as a Tool for Change
“If you have embraced the idea that creativity is valuable and can be useful in a number of different environments, I am of the belief that it is a short leap from that to what impact can that have on the world from a systemic perspective?” she said. Throughout Cultivating Creativity, Amma turns the lens from the individual to the organization and then to society as a whole. Creativity and the power to reimagine the world is an essential component of leadership. “If I look at what we are trying to reform right now in areas like policing, economic impact, socioeconomics, and health care systems — in addition to being unfair and unjust — the way that we are entrenched in those things is a failure of imagination,” she said. Creative thinking can enable leaders to find solutions by reimagining a fairer and better future for everyone and then taking steps to implement it.
Creativity does not belong to the few; everyone is creative. “Everyone has those skills and traits and abilities; it’s a matter of figuring out what you want to use them for,” she said. For Amma, while being creative certainly can help you advance your career, make more money, build your network, it can also be used to “make an impact on the world that you live in.” If she had to choose between the two, then using creativity to effect positive change seems like the clear choice for individuals, organizations, and governments.
Cultivating Creativity and other books by Amma are available for purchase via her website or on Amazon.
This blog aims to demystify the writing process and share my personal takeaways from conversations with authors. I would love to hear your thoughts and questions about writing in the comments. You can also follow @pollyturnsthepage on Instagram for more in-depth book reviews.
Disclaimer: All views expressed in this personal blog are solely my own unless explicitly stated otherwise. This blog intends to spotlight authors and their books. The personal writings in this blog do not intend to defame, injure, or harm anyone. I would love to hear your thoughts on the topic discussed in the comments, but please know that I am not responsible for the content of any comments. The writer of a comment is solely responsible for the comment’s content. Please contact me directly if you would like any content edited or removed because you believe it harmful, unnecessary, or sensitive.
