Our cultural assumptions about creativity tend to lionize youth—think of Mozart composing at the age of five or how we celebrate the disruptive energy of Silicon Valley’s “under 30s.” Yet this perspective overlooks a developmental stage in our later adulthood, one that the late psychologist and author Gene Cohen called the “liberation phase.”
Through his books The Creative Age and The Mature Mind and a lifetime of research, Cohen revealed that this phase emerges from a psychological shift as we grow older when we reach a time in our lives of a settled sense of identity. It is when we leave behind youthful self-doubt about who we might become and worry less about how we might be judged. What stops us, then, from using this liberation phase to unleash our creativity if all we need to do is make the time and space for it?
One way to conceptualize this time and space is what we call “the bonus round.” We are the first generation to have the gift of living well 20 years beyond our primary career—a gift few of our parents or grandparents enjoyed. This gift grants an opportunity for exploration and experimentation. We all know stories of creative achievement in later life. Frank Lloyd Wright began designing the Guggenheim Museum at 75, Boris Pasternak wrote Doctor Zhivago at 66, and Leonard Cohen released his final album at 82. The point of the bonus round is that the focus need not be on exceptional achievement. Ordinary creativity—whether through gardening, pottery, painting classes, or culinary exploration—offers valid paths to engagement and meaning.
We can explore the bonus round together! Join me along with Tom Pollack and Joy Leach for five days of exploring and learning at MEA’s Santa Fe campus at our upcoming The Bonus Round: Crafting a Meaningful Post-Work Chapter, June 23-28.
The Barriers to Creative Liberation
Cohen’s extensive research at the National Institute on Aging suggested that there are just three obstacles that hold us (and our creativity) back. First are fixed psychological patterns; the habitual ways of thinking and responding that, while perhaps useful in our earlier careers, may now constrain our creative potential. Second are fixed ideas, particularly about aging and creativity itself, that can become self-fulfilling limitations. Third are unresolved family relationships that may unconsciously restrict our psychological freedom to explore and create.
These obstacles are particularly significant because, according to Cohen, “Creativity is an emotional and intellectual process — a mechanism — that can, moment by moment, displace negative feelings with positive feelings of engagement and expectation.” When these barriers remain unaddressed, they limit individual creative expression and also deprive communities and wider society of a source of innovation and wisdom.
The Promise of “Ordinary” Creativity
Cohen saw that creativity is heightened as we age precisely because of the depth and breadth of our life experiences. His work proposed an equation: C=ME², where creativity equals the mass of material inside us, multiplied by our life experiences in two dimensions—our inner life and our external experiences.
This emphasis on “ordinary” creativity rather than exceptional achievement opens new possibilities for creative expression in later life. The barriers to connecting with our creative possibilities naturally thin as we shed the demanding roles of our middle years, work, family, and the daily requirements of maintaining established routines.
Activating Creative Potential
Creativity in this life stage benefits from structured approaches to exploration: the systematic awakening of hidden passions, careful examination of unlived dreams, and the methodical building of creative experiments through workshops. These need not be dramatic transformations; small, sustainable steps in new directions often prove most effective.
The path forward involves conscious engagement with creative possibilities. Cohen’s research demonstrates that the ‘adventurous nature of adults’ is naturally liberated at this developmental phase when there is more time, space, and willingness to explore. The key is to create conditions that support this unfolding—nurturing environments that encourage experimentation, creative communities that support creative risk-taking, and structures that facilitate regular creative practice.
This convergence of extended longevity with enhanced creative potential represents a frontier in human development—one that offers opportunities for both individual fulfillment and societal enrichment. There is no question that creative potential exists in later life—only the challenge to begin a creative adventure.
Three Ways to Invite Creativity Into Your Bonus Round
- Sample New Creative Endeavors: Sign up for a six-week course in something you’ve never tried before—a painting class, a pottery workshop, a poetry writing circle, or digital photography lessons. The structured environment provides both guidance and community as you explore unfamiliar creative terrain.
- Seek Novel Environments for Inspiration: Travel, even locally, to environments that stimulate your senses in new ways. Visit gardens, architectural landmarks, museums in neighboring towns or natural settings you’ve never explored. These novel environments can trigger fresh perspectives and creative insights.
- Establish a Creative Ritual: Designate a specific time and space for regular creative practice, even if it is just 20 minutes every day. Whether journaling, sketching or playing a musical instrument, the consistency of a creative ritual builds neural pathways that enhance creative thinking across all domains of life.
-Pam
Pam McLean, Ph.D. is the Founder & Chief Knowledge Officer of the Hudson Institute of Coaching and the author of many books including “Life Forward: Charting the Journey Ahead.”