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“If there’s anything mysterious about this and tough to nail down, it’s inspiration.”

This sentiment echoes the “mysterious mental happenings” definitions of creativity.  Theorists like Carl Jung have also considered creativity too complex to “nail down” (Starko, 2018).  Sometimes, creativity is inexplicable.  It just sort of happens and the mental processes behind it are unconscious.  “Creativity eludes understanding” (Jung, as cited by Starko).

He shared how the start of his creative process often happens while he’s alone on the road.  The deviation from his daily routine is probably what gets his “creative mojo” flowing.  When he’s at home, his life looks the same from day to day.  He wakes up, goes to work, comes home, works on his projects, has some family time, goes to bed.  “Rinse and repeat.”  But when he’s traveling, he’s seeing new places and doing new things, all the while encountering fresh fodder for inspiration.

He’s also constantly listening to music, especially new, mostly unknown artists from his own corner of the music industry.  They fall into a pretty small, specific, niche genre that he calls dark wave goth electronica.  Sometimes, he’ll hear something and think, “that’s an interesting sound.  I want to try that myself.”  He reflected on how he doesn’t care much anymore about becoming famous, but he does value when he is recognized by other artists who he respects and enjoys.

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There seems to be a debate among the creativity theorists as to whether creativity is a general trait or only possible within the confines of a specific domain, such as writing, mathematics, or music.  When asked his opinion on the topic, though, Sam Morgan asserted that he believes his creativity is a general trait.  He argued that he is an “ideas guy” and “thinks outside the box” in many aspects of his life, including his work in IT.  This may be because he possesses creativity-related processes or skills, as described by Amabile (1989, as cited by Starko).  His ability to explore, look at things through many points of view, focus, problem-find, and other creative thinking skills allow him to apply his creativity in his work setting.

He also described other areas where he expresses his creativity.  He likes building things, always has projects that he’s working on at home, and he had a proclivity for writing and was always strong in his English classes.  Taken together, all of these point to his creativity extending across domains.

Howard Gardner (Garder, 1993, as cited by Starko) would possibly counter argue that it is possible to be creative in more than one domain, but that the creativity is still domain-specific.  However, were Sam to develop domain-relevant skills in, for example, math or science, perhaps he would also show creativity there, as well.  After all, Robert and Michele Root-Bernstein (2004, as cited by Starko) found that many creative scientists were also creative in the arts and vice versa.

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When he was younger, he had “hopes and dreams of being well known, and getting recognition, and possibly making money.”  However, reality, time, and pragmatism have since dulled those aspirations.  Very few reach a level where they can actually make serious money in the modern music industry, and Sam reveals that he has spent far more than he has made on his musical pursuits.

Yet, he sticks with it.  He has the intrinsic motivation to create because he wants to and he enjoys it, but the drive alone is not sufficient.  Additionally, he is emphatic about the importance of dedication and discipline: “It’s habit…[you have to] make it happen every day.”  It means,  “sitting down and starting a project or working on something even when you don’t feel like it.”

Just as Robert Sternberg (n.d.) believed that creativity could be developed through specific choices, like making the decision to be creative, Sam also expounded on the importance of perseverance and the need to decide that creating is a priority.  Sam chooses to “make [himself] sit down and work on it for at least an hour every day after work.”  It might not be fun at first or he might not feel like it right away but after ten minutes, he says, he “gets in the zone” and starts enjoying it.

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Sam at his first live performance in 1992.

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"I've always been a creator; it's part of who I am."

Sam Morgan self-identifies as a creator and shares how he's always enjoyed creating, starting with the visual arts as a youth and now as a musician under the stage moniker, Vacant Windows.

“[It’s] a way to feel proud of accomplishing something,” he explained.  He spoke about how his music is his legacy.  Without the music, he is just a father, a government employee, etc.; “there’s nothing wrong with those things,” but the music will live on long after he is gone.

This motive for making music is reflected by many creatives and aligns with two of Amabile’s hallmarks of intrinsic motivation: interest and self-determination (Amabile, 1989, as cited in Starko).  Task motivation, mainly intrinsic motivation, is widely regarded as the most important part of Amabile’s componential theory of creativity.  The passion with which Sam speaks about how making music is “part of his identity” and “the thing that keeps him going” reveals his clear interest.  He is creating for his own reasons, not because it has been imposed upon him by others.