I sat in an international forum on creativity once. There were a lot of people, and a panel of highly creative individuals, and they were all playing a game: who had the best creative idea. Each of the people in the panel was given 2 minutes to share his or her idea, and the rest of the 100+ attendants voted on how good the idea was.
There was one idea that I recall that recently made me think. It was given, and this is going back 10 years ago, by the CEO of a famous design firm. Her idea was that one should eat one's eggs in a different way each morning, the point being that for creativity to flow, one has to do things, indeed even eating eggs, differently. At the time it sounded rational; but now I wonder . . .
One key thing we notice when we peak into the lives of artists, thinkers, writers, or inventors can be summed up in one word: routine. Creative people live highly routinized, at times very boring, lives. They often do the same thing every day for decades; and what they're working on, creating, inventing, is carefully set within that structure--yes, even when it comes to eating eggs, or drinking coffee (right down to precisely how many cups, the number of beans used--in Beethoven's case--and served at the precise time each day).
So while I resonated at the time with the 'do things differently' prescription by the famous designer, having a strict routine seems more conventional among creatives--except when it comes to their work.
It's one thing to have a routine, it's another thing to approach your work in a state of safety, business-as-usual, and with a desire to keep the boundaries of your ideas neat and tidy. Whether it's Beethoven, Picasso, or Albert Einstein, these people pushed everything they had when it was time to create. Their lives were routinized to free up mental space and energy to put it to use where it was mostly needed: their creation.
So, whether you're a middle manager with a plate full of projects demanding innovation, a writer biting your nails over the start of your next manuscript, an artist staring blankly at a canvas, an entrepreneur lying sleeplessly in bed with ideas banging around the cerebral cortex, you need to get a routine going in your life. Here are some tips:
1. Do the same thing everyday: Many of us already do this: we wake up at the same time, get ready for work, drive to work, etc. What makes creative folk different is that the routine is there to get them into autopilot and in the right creative space to work. Your routine shouldn't be drudgery, it should be solidly in place for the purpose of creating.
2. Set a specific time in the day to create: This is where the routine can swallow up the creativity. How many times do you hear people say they would love to write that novel or work on that business plan or design that new idea BUT life is too busy? That's bunk. In fact, that's resistance. If you want to create something, you've got to treat it like your meals and make them part of your routine--every day.
3. Make your creative time the best time: When do you create best? First thing in the morning? Late at night? Mid-day? Whatever it is, set that time aside and do nothing else but create whatever you need to create. If you're that middle manager, that's the time everyday to get the team together; and if the team can't make the meeting, just have one with yourself. Don't break the momentum--do it every day.
4. Push the limits of your thinking and working: Did you see Elon Musk's address on how to make humanity a multi-planetary species? Here's a guy not only talking about it, but also doing it! When he goes into work, he's pushing the boundaries of his ideas--and there's no reason why you can't do it too. The problem is you see too many limits, or maybe just tell yourself your ideas are crazy and will never work at your company. You can't worry about that. You've got to push your ideas every time you sit down to create. That's a difference that makes a difference between those who create awesome stuff, and those who don't.
5. Live your waking and sleeping hours for that creative time: Carry a notebook and pen around during the day, and have it sitting on your bedside table when you're sleeping. You never know when an idea will pop. When it hits, write it down and try to incorporate it in your next creative session. This is normal: your best ideas will come when you've walked away from your creative time and you're standing waiting for the subway, or stuck in traffic, or walking down the frozen-food section of the grocery store. When the idea hits, write it down.
6. Be ready for nothing to happen: When you have your day routinized, bring your full attention, full capacity, full potential to that creative moment--and be ready for it to flop. Sometimes the ideas won't be there; sometimes you'll be recycling old ones; sometimes you'll stare at the page or whiteboard or canvas and nothing will come. You can always start with a line or a stroke or a sentence or a graphic image and see where it takes you. Don't expect the ideas to pop every time--but do expect yourself to create at the same time every day. Expect of and demand yourself to create at the same time every day. You'll see the difference.
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