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[SP] Is it possible to be a non-creative SP?

/DG/

silentigata ano (profile)
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From every site I look at, xSxP's are supposed to be creative. I keep finding myself to be like an ISFP, but I consider myself to be a very non-creative person. Could it just be that I haven't discovered my creativity or should I keep looking for a different MBTI type that suits me?
 

maliafee

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Umm... Don't confuse "NF" creativity with "SP" artisanship. I'm not saying both temperaments can't be both, they can... but I think that sometimes when people think creative they think imaginative and spacey and free-flowing, etc. SP creativity is often very concrete and can take unexpected forms (do you like to build, cook, garden?)... what are your hobbies, anyhow?
 

Eagle

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Well, you can keep looking... Define creativity. No one is the same or creates the same. In fact by defining creativity you might very well be being creative. :D

It's all a matter of opinion. Some people can paint portraits, while others can only make a beautiful frame, or maybe the building or wall that the painting rests on or resides in. Are not each of these a form of creativity, yet they are each fulfilled all the time by individuals of all types?
 
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Eagle

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And indeed Maliafee.
 

heart

heart on fire
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Probably more likely that the creativity hasn't been well developed or found a "voice" yet-- or they have been convinced by someone critical that they aren't creative or to devalue their creative endeavors. Creativity can hide itseld in daily activies. Gardening can be creative, cooking can be creative. it just depends on how the person is doing these activities, is there dedication and passion to create being expressed there?
 

/DG/

silentigata ano (profile)
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@ Maliafee -- Well, in the sixth grade we all had to take woodshop for a few weeks. While I was VERY terrible at it, I found it to be exhilarating. I also enjoy building things with Legos. I just love following the instructions to build something out of nothing. But wouldn't following instructions to make something be considered not creative? As for hobbies... I love listening to music and taking dance lessons.

@Eagle -- True.

@Heart -- Yes, I suppose maybe I just haven't discovered anything yet.
 

heart

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How do you feel about the dancing? Dancing is certainly moving the body in creative ways, seems very Se.

If you found woodshop so pleasing then that speaks more to creativity than actual finished product, everyone has to learn their art or craft. It takes time, dedication and patience. It's a mistake to think that following directions means it isn't creative. You have to learn the basics first in how to work with your chosen medium before you can play on your own with it. It's true for anything painting, writing, sculpting, woodworking---anything.
 

/DG/

silentigata ano (profile)
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How do you feel about the dancing? Dancing is certainly moving the body in creative ways, seems very Se.

If you found woodshop so pleasing then that speaks more to creativity than actual finished product, everyone has to learn their art or craft. It takes time, dedication and patience. It's a mistake to think that following directions means it isn't creative. You have to learn the basics first in how to work with your chosen medium before you can play on your own with it. It's true for anything painting, writing, sculpting, woodworking---anything.

Through both dancing and working with wood, I have to be following instructions. I can only dance a choreographed dance and... well... actually I've never perused wood.

Oh, and did I mention I play the piano? I don't really enjoy it that much, though, I much prefer to listen.
 

heart

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Through both dancing and working with wood, I have to be following instructions.

These are learning curves. If you enjoy these things, if they are passions for you and make you feel good, then don't make assumptions on what it means, just enjoy the learning and you never know what will happen once you become facile in these arts. That's when you find out how truly creative you are. But first you have to learn to move within that particular world before you can create within it.

There myths about being creative and one is that there isn't a learning curve in art. Even people born with beautiful voices have to spend time learning with a music coach on how to use that natural talent to their best advantage. Any art is the same, one must learn the basics and develop skills.

Edit: Just to make a point here, if I were to follow the directions on a woodworking project, it would likely still come out a mess. I have no natural inclination or talent in this area and no drive or joy in it. It would also drive me batty. The feeling of joy that you took in working with it to me sounds like something very important, a key to your ideal self (for lack of better term). I really admire people who create things with their hands, even if they follow directions.
 

BlackCat

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Don't take a stereotype so seriously. Anything is possible.
 

Eagle

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Indeed Heart. Once you know how to do something, you just do it. Let it flow. That is when you are truly being creative. Etc.
 

BlackCat

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I don't fit into most stereotypes. :cry:

rofl

Heh I don't either. I really just don't, you aren't alone. ;) That just makes you more unique, or just plain weird like I am! But apart of me DOES want to fit in at the same time.

I will see the response in the morning if you respond by then, since I am sleeping now.
 

heart

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Indeed Heart. Once you know how to do something, you just do it. Let it flow. That is when you are truly being creative. Etc.

Yes, there's like this modern mythos: "I just picked up this stick sitting on the ground :shrug: I started whittling it with my pocket knife and pretty soon I had a masterpiece! And that's how I knew I was a talented woodworker!"

It takes time, patience and dedication to learn any creative art. The only thing given to one usually is the drive.
 

Quinlan

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Quality of the product is irrelevant, it's the fact you enjoy doing it or are drawn to it that matters.
 

Eagle

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Is not the effort and satisfaction you have in doing the work included in part of the value or quality of the product.
 

heart

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Quality of the product is irrelevant, it's the fact you enjoy doing it or are drawn to it that matters.

:D, yes Quinlan makes a very good thumbnail here.

This is what I mean by the drive and enjoyment. This is the first calling of your muse---and your muse loves you no matter what the rest of the world thinks of your end result. You have to learn to listen to and work with your muse in order to be creative and you have to create spaces of time and silence in which to communicate with your muse.

The first calling of the creative spirit is simply to create and skill builds from there.
 

Hirsch63

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Quality of the product is irrelevant, it's the fact you enjoy doing it or are drawn to it that matters.

For your own self fulfillment (such as a form of therapy or relaxation) this might be acceptable, but you would be cheating yourself from improvement and the better realizations of your inspirations if you wish to define yourself as an "artist".

Craft is a signifcant issue. the decision to embrace a high level of craft or deliberately ignore it is an artistic decision and would be made as a deliberate aspect of the meaning of the work. Formal training introduces you to fine craft standards which you can then choose to embrace.

Creativity may have a number of guises outside of the realm of what we consider "Art". Maybe the way we brush our teeth or maneuver our vehicle towards a highway exit ramp give us some satisfaction in a job well done? But here there is still the issue of quality...tooth decay or traffic accident....
 

INTJMom

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... But wouldn't following instructions to make something be considered not creative?...
SPs are "artisans". That's not quite the same as "creative".
The 2 SPs in my family are good with their hands.
I am all thumbs.
 

wolfy

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Jun 30, 2008
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Do you feel the innate need to manipulate things in your environment?

That's the question.

INTJMom brings up a good point. SP are artisans.

Artisan (definition)

1.

One who professes and practices some liberal art; an artist.


2.

One trained to manual dexterity in some mechanic art or trade; and handicraftsman; a mechanic.

This is willingly submitted to by the artisan, who can . . . compensate his additional toil and fatigue. Hume.

Syn. -- Artificer; artist. -- Artisan, Artist, Artificer. An artist is one who is skilled in some one of the fine arts; an artisan is one who exercises any mechanical employment. A portrait painter is an artist; a sign painter is an artisan, although he may have the taste and skill of an artist. The occupation of the former requires a fine taste and delicate manipulation; that of the latter demands only an ordinary degree of contrivance and imitative power. An artificer is one who requires power of contrivance and adaptation in the exercise of his profession. The word suggest neither the idea of mechanical conformity to rule which attaches to the term artisan, nor the ideas of refinement and of peculiar skill which belong to the term artist.


Everyone is creative. All types.
Creativity is . . .

Carl Rodgers (psychologist an writer) -- The emergence of a novel, relational product, growing out of the uniqueness of the individual.

Henry Miller ( writer) -- The occurrence of a composition which is both new and valuable.

John Haefele (CEO and entrepreneur) -- The ability to make new combinations of social worth.

Newell, Simon, & Shaw (team of logic theorists) -- A special class of problem solving characterized by novelty.

H. H. Fox (scientist) -- Any thinking process in which original patterns are formed and expressed.

Rollo May (writer, philosopher) - Creativity is the process of bringing something new into being...

Roger von Oech - Creative thinking involves imagining familiar things in a new light, digging below the surface to find previously undetected patterns, and finding connections among unrelated phenomena.

Carnevale, Gainer, Meltzer - ... the ability to use different modes of thought to generate new and dynamic ideas and solutions
 
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