How the Creative Process Works

Understanding how the creative process works is important to focus and achieve positive results

Understanding How the Creative Process Works Is Key to Focusing and Achieving Positive Results

To understand how the creative process works, we need to answer the question "where do ideas come from and how do they come to life?" The creative process engages the entire brain. It is a dynamic interaction of various regions of the mind, thinking styles, emotions, and unconscious and conscious processing systems that come together in unusual and unexpected ways.

According to the theory of the creative process developed by British psychologist Graham Wallas, creativity develops in four stages.

The Four Stages of the Creative Process

In the four-stage model, we can see how the internal and external elements of the creative process interact. Stages 2 and 3 involve inspiration: dreaming, reflecting, imagining, opening up to inspiration, and allowing the unconscious mind to do its work. Meanwhile, stages 1 and 4 involve generation: doing the external work of research, planning, execution, and collaboration. Through this dynamic dance of inspiration and generation, brilliant work comes to life.

There are two types of creatives: idea generators, skilled at coming up with ingenious ideas, and executors, brilliant at carrying out ideas.

By analyzing the four stages you can understand how your creative process works and discover if you are a generator or an executor.

Stage 1: Preparation

The creative process begins with preparation; gathering information and materials is essential to solving the problem at hand. This is both an internal process manifested through thinking and reasoning, and an external one because the generated ideas must interact with external data and resources.

Stage 2: Incubation

The ideas and information collected during stage 1 settle and form new connections. While the conscious mind wanders, the unconscious engages in what Einstein called "combinatory play": it takes different ideas and influences and finds new ways to bring them together.

Stage 3: Illumination

At this stage comes the fateful "aha" moment. After incubation, insights arise into conscious awareness. It's the sudden Eureka! that happens when you're in the shower, taking a walk, or busy with something completely unrelated. Apparently out of nowhere, the solution presents itself.

Stage 4: Verification

After illumination, any idea and insight that emerged in stage 3 is realized and developed. The creative uses critical thinking and aesthetic judgment to refine and perfect the work and then communicate its value to others.

Which of these stages best describes your creative process?

If you identified mostly with stages 2 and 3, you might be an idea generator.

These creatives are usually brilliant at drawing inspiration and finding ideas, but risk getting stuck in their own heads and failing to realize their ideas. If you fit into this category, try to dedicate more time and focus to stages 1 and 4 to keep the creative process alive. Collaborating with someone to share your ideas can help balance ideation with action.

If you identified more with stages 1 and 4, you’re probably an executor.

Executors excel at completing projects and ideas but risk focusing too much on productivity, losing sight of the most original and revolutionary ideas. If you’re an executor, it’s important to improve your creative process by freeing your mind to include time for dreaming, imagining, reflecting, and contemplating in your work schedule.

Although these stages often don’t occur linearly, they are important to identify the guidelines of the creative process and achieve positive results. When stuck, these guidelines can help you refocus, realign, and chart your path.

The better we master this balance, the more we can tap into our creative potential. We all have a preference for one part over the other, and by becoming more aware of our natural inclinations, we can learn to optimize our strengths and minimize our weaknesses.

Beetcommunity, in its coliving space in Palermo, provides spaces designed and built to express creativity in all its forms.