Creativity: Theory and Practice
Creativity requires connecting the dots, and connecting the dots requires allowing time for my subconscious to consolidate my ideas and make associations. This means that, from time to time, I need to just stare out the window and do nothing.
This doesn’t feel productive, even though it is.
This doesn’t feel productive, even though it is.
Ozan Varol • You’re doing better than you think. Here’s why. - Ozan Varol
The Rules of Brainstorming
Quantity over quality
No such thing as a bad idea
Build on each others ideas
In creative work there are two phases: exploration and execution. In the exploration phase, you don’t know what the thing is going to be, you don’t have all of the information or ideas you want to have, you don’t even know if what you’re thinking about is important, and any little breeze in the wrong direction might blow you off course. In the
... See moreDan Shipper • Why You're Not Doing Creative Work
against efficiency in creative work
Creativity is not a process. creativity is not scripted.
One of the most salient traits of creative visionaries like Walt Disney and Steve jobs is the absence of process.
Process is an organized way of doing things. But they didn’t have a process. They just did the work. No strict adherence to budget or timelines. Just figure things out on the fly.
... See moreGo for a walk; cultivate hunches; write everything down, but keep your folders messy; embrace serendipity; make generative mistakes; take on multiple hobbies; frequent coffeehouses and other liquid networks; follow the links; let others build on your ideas; borrow, recycle, reinvent. Build a
Steven Johnson • Where Good Ideas Come From
To come up with new ideas, you have to have space to be messy, to procrastinate, and to let your mind wander and free-associate. But there needs to be a balance. You eventually need to channel it into something concrete, or you won’t produce anything.
Dasha Nekrasova • Jon Rafman and Dasha Nekrasova on the Horror We Call Life
Reframe non-productive time. One of the reasons the exploration phase of the work is low value is that most of it doesn’t look like work. It’s lots of reading, and sitting and thinking, and doodling, and trying things that lead to dead ends. Non-productive time feels like a waste—but it doesn’t have to! One way to think about this kind of time is
... See moreDan Shipper • Why You're Not Doing Creative Work
Non-productive is often framed wrongly so
"The patterns are simple, but followed together, they make for a whole that is wiser than the sum of its parts. Cultivate hunches; write everything down, but keep your folders messy; embrace serendipity; make generative mistakes; follow the links; let others build on your ideas; borrow, recycle; reinvent. Build a tangled bank." — Steven Johnson