Stages in the Process of Insight and Creativity

 prepared by HAFIZAH BT SHAM 1041111392

It's important for us to know the process of insight and creativity to apply in daily life.  here i would like to share the stages in the process of insight and creativity that will help all of us to think creative.

preparation

In the preparation stage, it’s kind of like a “brainstorming” exercise: if yo’re a writer, for example, this means looking at old pieces of work and trying to decide where to go from there. In “preparation,” this might feel like work, but you’re actually just trying to see what you can come up with. People usually have to do this anyway or else nothing gets done - the brainstorming might be slight, but it is preparation for the next stage, which is incubation.

incubation

In step two, incubation, necessary connections are made in order to “lay” the idea – like when an egg is getting “incubated” and getting the heat it needs to turn into a full-blown chick. In this stage, you have the idea, but you’re just giving it some steam and energy in order for it to fully materialize.

illumination

Step three is illumination, which is in short, the “lightbulb” moment. This is the time when the puzzle of an idea has come together and there’s no stopping its influence from coming out in creativity. These moments sometimes happen at the most inopportune times, like when you’re nowhere near a canvas, a computer, or a piece of paper. For example, this is the moment for a writer when an idea just hits them and they need to grab a piece of paper in order to remember it. Illumination means seeing the light and the creative juice is flowing its best when this “eureka!” happens.

implementation

The last step of the creative process is implementation, which means that the idea has gone down on paper – in short, this is the “final product” stage of the creativity process. For example, this is when a writer records their idea for a story and actually gets to decide if it’s worth following through with.

It takes a lot of work to get to the “implementation” stage because the pieces have to fall together and if they fall together wrong, you have to start over. You may follow many different roads, but in the end, there’s one idea that sticks out all four stages and ends up being your “project.” For example, writing these blogs follows that process: I “prepare” by researching and thinking, which leads to “incubating” on one subject and eventually to an “illumination” and “implementation” of that idea into an entry for online publication.

below is a video showing how we can think out of the box by applying these stages.