> I've never felt like I'm good at being creative, coming up with original ideas, my own unique independent thoughts. Even though I have spent years practicing "creative" skills - traditional and digital art, writing, gamedev, programming. I've made a lot of things, I'm pretty proud of some of my projects.
Based on that you sound pretty creative to me, but just haven't given yourself enough credit for it. You already have some pride in stuff you've worked on and that's great, is there a reason you don't feel they were creative?
> But "creativity" still feels like a mystery to me. I've had a few good ideas over the years, but they happened by accident, and I can't make them happen deliberately. Sometimes I can go months without an original thought. If I want to intentionally invent a new idea for an app, or a game, or a story, or a business - I feel like I can't, no matter how hard I try.
That's totally normal! You need to let ideas come to you rather than to force them on demand. It's better to come up with one great idea every once in a while than a bunch of forced mediocre ones on a regular basis. When you open yourself up to happy accidents you can get really great ideas you wouldn't have otherwise. Also, don't forget about impostor syndrome, and remember that not everything needs to be goal-oriented, sometimes just the fun of experimentation is enough. Don't think of your ideas as a binary can/can't, instead try just thinking about how far you can take those ideas, regardless of a goal.
> How do people like Scott Alexander, Paul Graham, Eliezer Yudkowsky, etc, just think of all these unique and original things? It seems like they just have a boundless source of insightful ideas. How can I get better at this?
When you read people that inspire you, try to think about their processes, like what do they notice, what motivates them, etc. Don't think about them being better or more creative than you, but just people that have figured out really great processes for producing great work. Once you can start to understand their processes, the more you can start to emulate the parts of it that work for you in a conscious and genuine way. I bet you are already doing some of this without realizing it.
> And generally speaking, in life, I feel like I'm pretty bad at having my own unique take/opinion on things, even though I'm trying. Most of my "controversial" thoughts and opinions came from the controversial/unpopular books/essays/posts I have read.
I bet you actually have interesting opinions that are unique at least from the way you are synthesizing all that information. Having clarity in your opinion is much better than having an "original" one (though one could argue that clarity in itself is unique). That's really cool that you're interested in controversial and unpopular stuff, I bet that just by itself gives you a unique perspective.
Some other tidbits that have worked for me (in addition to other people's good suggestions):
- Let your mind wander as much as possible. Daydreaming is good.
- Get plenty of exercise, especially outside and ideally in a nature setting.
- Trust your intuition above all else.
- Learn to meditate if you can, and avoid multitasking as much as possible. You'd be surprised what you'll be able to observe when you're only focusing on one thing at a time, that you otherwise wouldn't have been able to.