Creativity may be one of the great joys of life, yet a Business Week study once noted that an adult of forty is far less creative than a child of five. We begin life open and curious, then forget to be amazed by rainbow chard and learn to color inside the lines.

What robs us of creativity? Often, it’s ourselves—our educational systems, and the pressures of society. Conformity shrinks possibility, and rigid standards prize “correctness” over discovery. As Pablo Picasso warned, “The chief enemy of creativity is ‘good taste.’”

Designer Maya Lin once reflected, “Sometimes I think creativity is magic. It’s not a matter of finding an idea, but allowing the idea to find you.” History agrees: the Coca-Cola logo was penned by an accountant, a sculptor devised the ballpoint pen, and the Wright brothers—bike mechanics—taught the world to fly.

“Creative activity cannot be forced,” said educator Charles D. Orth. “The creative people of this world have always been the free, unchanneled minds—the nonconformists, the uninhibited.”

Don’t let schooling interfere with education. Create, and breathe in laughter, imagination, and the unexpected. As President John F. Kennedy reminded us, “Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.”