Aging and loss of creativity: Is there any way out?

In August 2017, the New York Times has published an op-ed article What Happens to Creativity as We Age?

It says:

Why does creativity generally tend to decline as we age? One reason may be that as we grow older, we know more. That’s mostly an advantage, of course. But it also may lead us to ignore evidence that contradicts what we already think. We become too set in our ways to change.

And the explanation is:

When we face a new problem, we adults usually exploit the knowledge about the world we have acquired so far. We try to quickly find a pretty good solution that is close to the solutions we already have. 

I am a senior citizen, and I think I am still quite creative. And, I know many people of my generation who are still quite creative. Is this just a self-serving conclusion, or could it possibly be true? Could this sense of senior citizens remaining creative be consistent with the conclusions of the reported study?

I think the key is this sentence: We try to quickly find a pretty good solution that is close to the solutions we already have. 

It is not possible to fall into this rut if you change the narrow focus of your work every few years. With this change, you longer have conclusions that you are close to. Instead, you are looking at fresh issues and problems. What matters is your problem-solving ability, not the accumulated knowledge.

What do I mean by ‘change the narrow focus of your work’? Let’s look at how I changed my focus. I am an economist. I have not attempted to become something else. So, the broad focus of my work has not changed. But, I have been able to change the narrow focus. Initially, I was a professor. Then, I had consulting work in the US for various government agencies. And, then I shifted to international work- first Asia, and then Africa. Later, I went back to teach – but this time, my courses were not the same as what I used to teach. Still economics, but not the same course.

Now, I have a combination of domestic and international work. And, the topics are not the same as they were several years ago.

I am still looking to get into an area of economics that I have never worked in before. But, I am having a hard time getting into it –because I do not have the familiarity with the field. Familiarity matters less than it used to. The information is readily available – you just have to make the effort to absorb it.  But, people do want their experts to have experience, it seems.

What is the implication? It is that the work place should give workers a chance to shift the focus of their work every few years within the broad scope of their field. Without this, people tend to fall into a rut, and become less creative as they age.

And perhaps not even interested in what they do. Deadwood. A familiar feature of some senior staff members in most organizations.

Sure, it is improbable to shift all your senior staff around from one type of task to another type of task. But, it would be worthwhile to give your employees a chance to be more creative – and more productive – by not being stuck in the same type of work for years and years.