Being Creative

I was walking through Soho, London the other day.

Past all the trendy shops and cafes, past the street artists and tourists.

And I noticed something.

Every "original" thing I saw was actually built on something else.

Those vintage-style trainers? A remix of 1970s designs. That "innovative" street food? A fusion of traditional cuisines. That "groundbreaking" street art? Borrowing techniques from Basquiat and Banksy.

And that's exactly what creativity is.

Not making something from nothing - that's impossible. Not divine inspiration striking like lightning - that's a myth. Not waiting for the perfect original idea - that's paralysis.

Creativity is connecting things that already exist in new ways.

Steve Jobs understood this. He said: "Creativity is just connecting things."

He didn't invent the MP3 player. Or the mobile phone. Or the tablet computer.

What he did was see new connections. New combinations. New possibilities.

The Beatles didn't invent rock and roll. They absorbed American R&B, British music hall, and Indian classical music. Then they mixed it all together in new ways.

That's creativity.

It's why the most creative people are usually the most curious people.

They read widely. They observe constantly. They collect experiences and ideas like magpies collect shiny objects.

Then they play with those pieces. Combine them. Break them apart. Rebuild them.

The trick isn't trying to be original.

The trick is being interested in everything.

Because everything you absorb becomes raw material for creativity.

Most people get stuck because they're trying to create something totally new.

But nothing is totally new.  

Everything builds on what came before.

The real skill is seeing connections others miss.

Like the person who first looked at a bicycle and a motor and thought: motorcycle.

Or the chef who combined sushi techniques with Latin American ingredients.

Or the designer who merged Swiss typography with punk aesthetics.

That's why creative people need to be collectors first. Collectors of ideas, images, stories, techniques, experiences.

The bigger your collection, the more connections you can make. The more connections you can make, the more creative you can be.

So stop trying to be original.
Start being curious instead.

Because creativity isn't about making something from nothing.

It's about making new connections between existing things.

And those connections are everywhere.
If you know how to look.