I’m going to posit a phrase. I’m not sure if anyone has ever posited this phrase before (please let me know if they have!), and it may end up being false, but I’m going to go ahead and do it anyway.

In any sufficiently complex domain, the act of discovery is indistinguishable from the act of creation.

— Me. Just now.

Sounds a little pompous and overly academic, but bear with me.

Newton didn’t create gravity. He just discovered the phenomenon, figured out how it worked, and told everyone about it. He created our understanding of gravity.

The same principle applies to us on a daily basis. When we sit down and mull something over to try and discover what we think about a subject, we’re actually creating our thoughts and opinions. When we discover one or two other people who think the same things we do, we’re creating a new set of connections. When we discover a given unfulfilled demand or frustration within a group of people, we’re creating a market. When we discover a way to do something that hasn’t been done before, we’ve just created something new.

The universe in which we exist is the ultimate example of a complex domain. If your goal is to be creative, go discover something.