Why Creativity Comes From Exposure and How This Connects to Goal Setting

Jefferies Jiang
2 min readDec 13, 2021

We are typically labelled as either being creative or not from a young age. A simple binary that convinces us that we are either innately creative or not, leaving little opportunity for the infinite permutations that make us, well, creative. And the conclusion isn’t just that we’ll avoid dabbling in the arts; it also has an impact on how we think about coming up with new ideas.
Throughout my early twenties, I was labelled as “uncreative,” until I realized that practically everything we do is creative in nature.

“When you declare you’re not creative, you unknowingly perpetuate a myth,” Kathryn Haydon writes in Psychology Today. Coming from a family of outstanding Fine Artists, Creative Directors, and Fashion Historians, I have a high regard for what characterises a true trade and how fluid creativity can be. As the only person in my circle, I have a unique perspective. I will need to reframe creativity.

A few decades ago, someone named Steve Jobs was creating the Macintosh, in the bright city of Cupertino. He decided that he needed something that will improve computer navigation, and he decided to go to the drug store, and while scrolling through the consumer goods ail, he found a deodorant stick, the handle of that stick soon inspired the design of the mouse. So sometimes, wander, most of your ideas will come accidentally. Exposure is a new skill in the 21st century, your ability to learn, and do will not matter until you can expose yourself to certain things. In some countries, such as countries in Africa, they have the work ethic and maybe somewhat the capacity to learn, they have the mental toughness, but they have not been exposed to anything in the outside world. This is a very important fact, as many people in developed countries have the same issue. This is not only increasing income inequity, but also “Human Achievement” equity as a whole, because some student who graduate from University might not even know what McKinsey, Bain or BCG is because they have not been exposed to it, I understand that these companies have controversial professional policies, but that is not the topic of this article, I am simply saying that some students may understand how to set goals, have to capacity to achieve it, but might not understand what goals to set. In conclusion, if you would like, leave a comment on what you will do t expose yourself to different goals that could be set, if you are directionless. However, If you do have direction, I encourage you to continue doing what you are doing and avoid dabbling.

Jefferies Jiang

I make articles on AI and leadership.