Your Path is the Only Path

This essay is one I wrote addressing the question: How does individual creativity lead to success? The question was posed by the Dixie Belle Paint Company Scholarship, which I am applying to receive this fall in hopes of using it to pay a small part of my overall tuition for the Fordham MSW program I will be attending for the next 3 years. I liked the question and I enjoyed answering it. I hope my answer is somewhat thought-provoking.

Any question concerning creativity also addresses novelty. Creativity is originality; it’s the ability to imagine something other than that which already exists. Whether that means finding the solution to a seemingly impossible task, conjuring up a priceless work of art through pure imagination, or something as simple as cutting out the middle man in a transaction for the sake of efficiency (most notably Uber), these actions all deal with the creation of a dimension that did not previously exist in our collective reality.

The word ‘creativity’ stems from the latin root ‘creo’, meaning “make, to create”. The term ‘creativity’ is distinct from ‘creation’ only in the sense that it identifies the means of creation was achieved through a novel method. For someone to be creative they must incorporate their personality, and personalities are like snowflakes – each and every one is unique. One can perform adequately by conducting themselves in an orthodox manner, and many do. In response to that, I find it necessary to define what is meant by “success” in general. I have found that the definition which best encompasses success is that of “actualizing one’s full potential”. These parameters are most appropriate because they are the most equitable.

Now that we have a reasonable definition of success, it’s not only very obvious why creativity leads to success, but why it’s the only way of achieving it. Orthodoxy allows us to succeed only to the extent of actualizing some, or even most of our potential, but never all of it. Because success is defined as the process of fulfilling one’s individual potential, and creativity is the means of creation through incorporation of one’s idiosyncrasies, it is therefore the only avenue to success. Any other road taken only leads you so far. If this weren’t the case, then why would one person be different from the next, when it would only serve to complicate things?

Individual creativity leads to individual success because the only form of success which holds true meaning is that which is personal.