Creativity On Demand
Taekwondo Lesson
Last month I went to watch a friend teach his weekly Taekwondo class. A couple of the younger students
were talking when they shouldn't have been and were singled out and asked to do ten press-ups
each for not paying attention. After immediately doing the press-ups focus was restored
and the class instruction resumed.
It struck me at the time that whilst I might be able to do ten press-ups on demand, I can't just go and have ten good ideas on demand.
Even in this modern world, creativity is not something we can just call up on demand. We wish! 😊
The Speed Of Creativity
There are all sorts of things that we marvel at. Whether it's a film, art, a piece of music or perhaps even nature, all these things take time to emerge but we never really find out just how much time really went into something or how many failed prototypes or how much re-work or how far the finished thing ended up being from the original idea.
No sooner have we started to marvel at or ponder something then the next thing comes along and our thoughts are taken elsewhere.
It seems to me that creativity takes way longer than any of us would really care to admit whether we like it or not. Creativity is often the culmination of many things over time.
Mental Blocks
Mental blocks are like road blocks to our creative thoughts. They take ideas that are waiting to be born into an elusive place as if forcing us to endure yet another lesson in patience.
As an architect I have plenty of opportunities to be creative but I do find myself often needing time and space to think and some things require much more thought than others.
Even if I hide away and change the scenery and avoid distractions and occasional interruptions those mental blocks can still stop me in my tracks like I'm waste deep in treacle.
Falling Into The Limitations Trap
Mental blocks can be cruel and throwing thinking time at them doesn't always help, especially when the reason is because you've fallen into the personal limitations trap! When you realise you might actually be the blocker then it's time to get help.
Bouncing your ideas off people can be really helpful and cause you to start seeing things from different angles or to think about things you hadn't yet considered. Asking multiple people may give you different views but don't expect everyone to immediately be on page or as excited about things as you are.
Even just beginning to explain things to someone can be a big help and may trigger the "Eureka!" moment you've been striving for.
Tips To Get The Creative Juices Flowing
So how do you get those creative juices flowing? Not sure I have all the answers to this one so here are a few tips my friendly search engine offered up that I'm working through:
- Relax
- Get some sleep
- Take a walk (dogs optional)
- Change your workspace
- Get some exercise
- Change your routine
- Take regular breaks to avoid burnout
- Don't repeat going over and over the same thing
- Try to work to a plan
- Spend some time with a notepad: draw pictures and write notes
- Invent personas and use story boards
- Don't go it alone
- Talk to people
- Surround yourself with inspiration
- Don't just think about it - do or build something
- Imagine what the future might look like (send yourself an email from the future)
If creativity is just the culmination of effort, skill and teamwork over time then just persist. You'll get there eventually! Smugness will then be yours. 😊
Thank you for liking this page.
Tim Simpson
1st November, 2019
#LifeAtCapgemini