Imagine someone telling you that you are not creative. That you miss that little something extra. That spark that some seem to have and others don’t. Most people accept it pretty quickly. You place yourself in a compartment. Creative or not creative. But what if the problem is not that you lack creativity. Imagine if the problem is that you trained the opposite.
This is roughly where Aristotle appears, two thousand years too late but still annoyingly relevant.
Virtue is not what you think, it is what you do
Aristotle did not talk about creativity as we do today. He talked about virtues. About how we become who we are through our actions. It is easy to misunderstand. We often think that we are something first and then act accordingly. That we are first creative and then create.
Aristotle reverses it. You become creative by acting creatively. It almost sounds too simple. But that’s also what makes it so uncomfortable. Because that means you can’t wait for inspiration. You have to start behaving like the person you want to be.
The twelve principles that shape a person
What are often called Aristotle’s twelve principles or virtues deal with qualities such as courage, moderation, generosity, justice and wisdom. They are not rules, but directions. Every virtue lies between two extremes. Courage lies between cowardice and audacity. Generosity between stinginess and waste. Self-control between passivity and exaggeration. This is where it gets interesting from a creative perspective.
Creativity rarely occurs in extremes. It arises in the balance. Too little courage and you don’t dare to try. Too much and you run at everything without thinking. Too little structure and nothing gets done. Too much and nothing new takes place. It is in this field of tension that creativity actually lives.
Creativity as a balancing act, not an explosion
We have a romantic image of creativity as something explosive. An idea that strikes like lightning. A genius who sees something no one else sees. But in practice, creativity is more often a series of small adjustments in the right direction. It’s more like balancing on a tightrope than launching a rocket. You need courage to take the plunge. But also judgment so as not to fall. You need the stamina to keep going, but also the flexibility to adjust when it doesn’t work.
Aristotle’s principles can be seen as a map of this balance. Not what to do, but how to be when you do it.
Why we often fail even though we know better
The most frustrating thing is that we often know what is required. We know that we should dare more, test more, think new. But we don’t. It is not due to a lack of knowledge. It depends on habits. Aristotle believed that virtues do not arise from insight, but from repetition. You train them by doing them. This means that creativity is not blocked by ignorance. It is blocked by ingrained behaviors. We choose the safe over the unsafe. The known over the unknown. Not because it’s better, but because it’s more convenient.
Organizations that train creativity away
This does not only apply to individuals. Organizations work the same way. An organization that says it wants to be innovative but rewards risk minimization will get exactly what it trains for. If mistakes are punished, people learn to avoid them. If new ideas take longer to catch on than old ways of working, the old will dominate. It doesn’t matter what the strategy says. It’s the behavior that counts.
Aristotle would probably have said that organization lacks virtue. Not because it doesn’t know what’s right, but because it doesn’t.
To develop creativity through virtues
If we translate the twelve principles into creative development, they suddenly become very concrete.
Courage is about daring to try ideas that might not work. Moderation is about not running on every new idea without choosing. Generosity can be about sharing ideas and building on others’. Justice is about giving credit where credit is due. Wisdom will perhaps be the most central. The ability to decide when to step on the gas and when to brake. It is not a checklist. It’s a way of navigating.
The problem with overanalyzing oneself
A risk in all this is that we start analyzing ourselves instead of acting.
Am I brave enough? Am I being too cautious? Am I doing right?
It becomes yet another form of passivity. Aristotle’s point was not that we should understand the virtues perfectly. It was that we should practice them. It’s a bit like learning to ride a bike. You can read as much as you want about balance, but it’s only when you start riding that you learn. And yes, you will wobble.
Creativity as a result of how you live
The most interesting thing about this perspective is that creativity stops being something mysterious. It becomes a consequence of how you act in everyday life.
If you practice being curious, brave, reflective and persistent, you will become more creative. Not because you’re trying to be creative, but because you have created the conditions for it. It is a rather deromanticized image. But also a significantly more useful one.
A thought that might be bothering
Perhaps the biggest misconception is that creativity is something you either have or you don’t. Perhaps it is rather something you allow or prevent.
And if Aristotle was right, which he annoyingly often is, then that means you already know what you need to do.
The only question is whether you are willing to do it enough times for it to become a part of who you are.
Aristotle’s 12 virtues
Aristotle did not exactly formulate “12 principles” as a fixed list. What he described was a system of virtues that lie between two extremes, and different interpretations have later packaged these into lists, sometimes twelve in number.
Below follows an established interpretation with twelve central virtues from his thinking, formulated correctly in spirit and with short examples.
1. Courage
Courage is about balancing cowardice and foolhardiness.
Example: You dare to present a new idea to the management even though you are unsure, but you do it prepared and well thought out.
2. Temperance
Temperance is about controlling desires and avoiding excess.
Example: You work hard but don’t burn yourself out, but make sure that rest and recovery are included.
3. Generosity
Generosity is the balance between stinginess and waste.
Example: You share your knowledge with colleagues without giving everything away without thought.
4. Magnificence
Magnificence is about managing large resources or ambitions in a dignified way.
Example: You lead a big project and dare to think big, but without being pompous or exaggerated.
5. Proper Pride
Proper pride is having a healthy self-image, neither diminishing nor exaggerating oneself.
Example: You take a seat when you have competence, but do not need to constantly assert yourself.
6. Patience
Patience is about managing anger and frustration at the right level.
Example: You get irritated when something goes wrong, but react proportionately instead of exploding.
7. Truthfulness
Truthfulness is being honest without being brutal or false.
Example: You give feedback that is honest but worded so that the recipient can absorb it.
8. Friendliness
Friendliness is about being socially flexible without being pushy.
Example: You are nice and inclusive, but also dare to speak up when something doesn’t work.
9. Wit
Wit is the ability to use humor in the right way.
Example: You joke in the right situation and lighten the mood, but avoid hurting or taking over.
10. Justice
Justice is about giving each person what is reasonable and right.
Example: You allocate resources in a team based on need and performance, not favoritism.
11. Friendship
Friendship is building relationships based on mutual respect and benefit.
Example: You invest in relationships where you both support and develop each other.
12. Practical wisdom
Practical wisdom is about being able to make good decisions in complex situations.
Example: You know when to follow a plan and when to improvise, based on the situation.
The interesting thing about these virtues is that they are not about being perfect, but about constantly adjusting between extremes. It’s like tuning an old radio where you’re constantly fine-tuning the frequency to get a clear signal.
And perhaps this is precisely where the connection to creativity becomes clear. Creativity is not about being extreme in any direction, but about being able to move in between.
The question is not which of these you lack. The question is which one do you train every day.
