Identifying your Creative DNA

In the Mindset of Innovation course I'm teaching at Depaul this summer, I asked my adult students to come up with a final project that they actually want to learn/do/create, something that will showcase their unique signature of talent and motivation. As the choreographer Twyla Tharp would call it, I'm asking them to be true to their "creative DNA." Part of the goal is for them to come closer to discovering what their creative DNA naturally wants to explore and express. Even as adults we are always discovering.

Are you being true to your creative DNA? Are you taking advantage of your particular concatenation of passion and skill and experience and intelligence and putting it out into the world?

Tharp's book The Creative Habit is one inspiring source for some DNA self-discovery. There are many books out there on boosting your creativity, but Tharp's is special--more of a creative work of art and the serious reflection of a writer willing to take risks and put her own creative stew out there.

She offers many ways to explore and build your creativity competency of originality, with exercises and insights from her decades of daily creating. A few of her thoughts to help flex your originality muscle:

“Without passion, all the skill in the world won’t lift you above craft. Without skill, all the passion in the world will leave you eager but floundering. Combining the two is the essence of the creative life.”

“Creativity is an act of defiance. You’re challenging the status quo. You’re questioning truths and principles.”

“Looking foolish is good for you. It nourishes the spirit.”