Is creativity a gift only a few have? What separates the successful development of an idea from the unsuccessful? Are groups better at solving problems? Do masterpieces spring fully formed (or almost) from the mind of their creators?
Kevin Ashton’s book “How to Fly a Horse” is a book that debunks common beliefs about creativity and shows what really leads to inventions and discoveries.
Creativity takes hard work
There is no magic to create or discover. The book talks about how to attain greatness with nothing but trial and error process. Luck is not the way we should do it, its hard work which pays us the most. When we give our 110% luck may kick in automatically but hard work is the key. This book has few back stories of successful people who believed in hard work and not luck. To produce something worth, all we have to do is to hold on to the will to fail many times
The one less than optimistic note is the chapter that discusses Rosalind Franklin, whose work toward the discovery of DNA was stolen by Watson and Crick. Ashton doesn't pull any punches here and acknowledges that the true creators are sometimes pushed aside and it's the best self-promoters who get the credit. He dilutes his point by suggesting that Franklin would be pleased to know that her discovery has helped to save the lives of many people, regardless of who was responsible. He also reminds us that Franklin's discovery rested, as every other discovery, on the work of those who went before.
The most important thing creators do is work. The most important thing they don’t do is quit.
Anyone can create
Creating is not rare. We are all born to do it. If it seems magical, it is because it is innate. If it seems like some of us are better at it than others that is because it is part of being human, like talking and walking. We are not all equally creative, just as we are not all equally gifted orators or athletes. But we all can create. There is no electric fence between those who can create and those who cannot, with genius on one side and the general population on the other.
If your idea succeeds, everybody says you’re persistent. If it doesn’t succeed, you’re stubborn. Having ideas is not the same thing as being creative. Creation is execution, not inspiration.
According to Ashton, creativity is a unique trait inherent in every human being. It binds us and always drives us forward. “The human race’s niche is the niche of new.”