How to build a creative playground Here are 4 tips on how to lock yourself into a cage and have fun: 1. Make variations: Stick with something that you can iterate and vary. Think of basketball: There is only one goal, yet there are countless ways to achieve it. 2. Limit your time: This lets you know when you are done. 3. Pick a format: You won’t get lost in too many options, as for instance: too many pens. 4. Focus on a skill: Nothing protects us better from doubt than personal progress. This is the magic formula for creative fun: Less decisions — more room for play.

How to build a creative playground

Here are 4 tips on how to lock yourself into a cage and have fun :

1. Make variations : Stick with something that you can iterate and vary. Think of basketball: There is only one goal, yet there are countless ways to achieve it.

2. Limit your time : This lets you know when you are done .

3. Pick a format : You won’t get lost in too many options , as for instance: too many pens.

4. Focus on a skill : Nothing protects us better from doubt than personal progress .

This is the magic formula for creative fun: Less decisions — more room for play.

The Creative Playground - Ralph Ammer

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The most creative (when in this mood) as being childlike. For they were able to play with ideas… to explore them… not for any immediate practical purpose but just for enjoyment. Play for its own sake.

JamesClear.com • "Creativity in Management"

Creativity arises from making new connections—contemplate unexpected things together. Don’t wait for moments of inspiration to strike. Creativity is a muscle; exercise it. There’s a logic to creativity: find what works for you, break it down, and you have a process that can serve you forever. Unstructured freedom is the enemy of true creative achie

Polina Marinova Pompliano • Hidden Genius

As individuals, if we want to be creative, we need to give ourselves space to play and experiment without a set agenda. Amos Tversky famously said that the secret to doing good work is being a little unemployed so you always have hours in the day to waste as you wish. During that wasted time, you’ll likely have your best, most creative ideas.

“Jootsing”: The Key to Creativity

Here are some other techniques people use to access and maintain the zone:

Introducing a long delay between when you do the work and when it is shown to the world. Annie Ernaux writes about this in A Simple Passion, a memoir about how she becomes obsessed in a banal way with a man who is having an affair with her—the thought that others will read th

Substack • Notes | Substack

Are these limitations helping you be more creative?

— Exactly. It’s the most critical part. With any kind of creative work you start disabling as much as possible and narrow it down only to the necessary tools you need, and from there start making the work. That’s what I believe makes you super creative.

The founder of Teenage Engineering opens up to his creative space

Creative work is hard. And we constantly beat ourselves up for not producing high quantities of high-quality stuff. It’s easy to forget that we’re trying to make this work at a time when we’re oversaturated with connections, and constant, flashing demands. Boring old boundaries have never been more vital. Going into the cave will feel a little cold... See more

The key to creativity is being able to switch between a wide-open, playful mind and a narrow analytical frame.”

Sönke Ahrens • How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking

If we flip these round, we can see that: When you do something that feels like play, you want to keep doing it; the more you play, the better you become. When you give something your undivided attention, you put your heart and soul into it and bring your full abilities to bear on it. When you are focused on the task itself, you take time to get to

JamesClear.com • "Creativity in Management"

Polina Marinova Pompliano • Hidden Genius

“Jootsing”: The Key to Creativity

Substack • Notes | Substack

The founder of Teenage Engineering opens up to his creative space

Sönke Ahrens • How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking

Mark McGuinness • Motivation for Creative People: How to Stay Creative While Gaining Money, Fame, and Reputation