[Photo credit: Hiep hong/Pixabay]
It is a critical, yet overlooked, topic in creativity. It may plague people in their everyday creative lives as well as those famous people that we quickly associate with ground-breaking talents.
Creative self-efficacy (CSE): one’s belief in being able to do something creative.
Maybe it’s painting, writing, or computer graphics…and maybe it’s something that has dissipated with time.
Yet inevitably CSE is present, though not pervasive in creative endeavors. My own CSE is higher in writing a blog than it would be, for instance, designing a new house.
The backdrop to CSE is mindset, the overall perception toward creative action. A fixed mindset is one where a person believes, “I was born with these talents, and they can’t be changed.” On the other hand, a growth mindset is grounded in, “My abilities can be enhanced through practice and effort.”
It is, of course, the growth mindset—the thinking that creativity can be learned via effort—that is beneficial in creative pursuits. This mental approach also aids in CSE.
As Pringle pointed out in her book, The Creativity Choice: The Science of Making Decisions to Turn Ideas into Action, “…greater creative self-efficacy makes choosing creativity easier, enhances creative thinking, and ultimately helps translate creative work into real achievements.”
As she reminds readers, CSE is not an all-or-none proposition. People can differ in their self-belief depending on the context and the creative task at hand. On top of that, CSE can fluctuate over time, even on a specific endeavor. After all, doubts are normal, even for the most famous of professionals in creativity and innovation.
Consider the classic children’s tale, The Little Engine that Could, originally published in 1930. The little blue engine that succeeded in crossing the mountain wasn’t the first choice of the dolls and toys. They asked other trains first. The successful blue engine was merely used for switching trains, not for carrying large loads over steep terrain. It didn’t automatically think, “Of course I can” when asked about the mission.
Pringle added more to the CSE lesson in writing about that engine. “Instead, it showed a desire for growth…It starts from a lack of conviction, begins trying, and finally comes to realize it is able, after successfully accomplishing something new and difficult.”
That engine chugs on, 96 years later, serving as a lesson to many.
References:
Piper, W. (2005). The little engine that could. The Penguin Group.
Pringle, Z. I. (2025). The creativity choice: The science of making decisions to turn ideas into action. PublicAffairs.