The other day on Twitter, I accidentally nailed down what I’ve been trying to say on this blog for the past 18 months:
We so easily associate creativity with creative thinking that they are often treated as synonymous. Whereas, in fact, you can do a hell of a lot of creative thinking (brainstorming, lateral thinking, daydreaming etc) without creating anything at all.
On the other hand, if you start with creative doing – i.e. rolling your sleeves up and trying to actually make something amazing, the ‘creative thinking’ bit tends to take care of itself. If you’re hammering away at a prototype in the garage, or the first draft of your novel, or the first iteration of your website, it’s hard not to obsess about it, and keep thinking about it – even when you’re supposed to be relaxing out of working hours.
And as we all know, it’s when you’re in the bath/on the golf course/on the dancefloor at three in the morning, that that brilliant idea is most likely to strike. It’s not the bathing/golfing/clubbing per se that produces the idea – let alone any fancy creative thinking techniques – but the fact that your previous creative doing set the wheels in motion in your unconscious mind.
Creative thinking doesn’t (necessarily) lead to create doing.
Creative doing leads to creative thinking. More importantly, it gets results.
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« Previous 1 2 3 Next »@ Curt - Yes, the results may not be very impressive at first, but it gives you something to work with/learn from.
@ Orna - "thinking is probably at its most creative when conjuring up ideas about how to avoid the creative doings we’ve lined up for ourselves". Exactly. That's why creative people procrastinate so much. :-)
This is true for artists as well. If you sit around and wait for inspiration to strike, you'll never make anything. Instead, the creation of new art comes from working at it day after day.
For me, inspiration is the reward: if I am focused and disciplined in my art creation, sometimes I am granted the small blessing of a moment of clarity and vision. But without the work, I don't earn the inspiration.
Exactly Daniel!
I like the 50# of clay story which I feel undergirds this concept: http://www.lifeclever.com/what-50-pounds-of-clay-can-teach-you-about-design/
@ Mark Love the simplicity. It's a simple, motivating mantra for me. The simpler, the better. I get caught up in the trap of if I just think/consider/ponder, somehow it'll come to me.
It's in those moments that I let go, surrendering of the fight, that my brain can process more freely and the ah-ha moments come.
AMEN! I've been trying to preach this idea at work for the last couple of years.
First, you don't learn anything until you try it, fail at it, and figure out a better way to do it. Doing = Making Mistakes = Learning.
A quote that I've always loved, very similar to the title of your post, comes from David Kelley (Founder & CEO of Ideo Product Development):
"Enlightened trial and error outperforms the planning of flawless intellects."
You can think and plan all you want but the person that actually jumps in and tries something will win every time.
Hey Mark,
On the other hand, simply *doing* doesn't necessarily mean what you're doing is productive, or more to the point of this discussion, creative
Although I have found that for me, often just starting is enough to my creativity going. Even if I'm not sure where to go and I'm weighing my ideas, just putting pen to paper or fingers to the keyboard (or guitar strings) and seeing what comes out is like a self-feeding creativity machine. I write something, I don't like it, I write something else - and that may spark an idea in my head, which leads to better, more creative things - and before I know it, without really "thinking" I've started getting towards a solution, or whatever it was I was trying to do.
I have two books full of ideas of stuff to write about and ways to get backlinks and you are right. Writing that one post and commenting around...the doing of the blogging...is so mmuch more important than a book full of ideas
This post reminds me of something my Mum used to say when I was growing up - a bit less thinking and a bit more doing...
All the thinking in the world gets you nowhere if you don't act, but once you start taking action the thinking just happens alongside.
Thanks, Topi
I've just spent a day of writing after a couple of days of thinking and planning and the writing feels a hell of a lot better and healthier. A friend popped round to see me and thought I'd had an afternoon tipple as I was excited and pepped.
Roll up your sleeves and tap into those creative resources with action. It's why we're here :-)
@ Daniel - "But without the work, I don’t earn the inspiration." Exactemundo!
@ Brett - Great quotation and comments, reminds me I've been meaning to write about IDEO...
@ Sid "On the other hand, simply *doing* doesn’t necessarily mean what you’re doing is productive, or more to the point of this discussion, creative" - which is why I wrote "creative doing" instead of "simply doing". :-)
Actually, as your example shows, the doing isn't necessarily particularly creative to begin with. But even if I completely screw up a first attempt at making something, I get to learn from my mistakes and improve it at the next attempt. the important thing is to get started on the process of iterative development.
@ Bill - Well at least you've written the ideas down, which is further than some of us get. :-) Which means you've already started...
@ Topi - Maybe I should invite your Mum to be a guest writer for Lateral Action! :-)
@ Amy - 'Creativity - even better than alcohol!'. Maybe Hugh could do a cartoon about that. ;-)
I love that - iterative development. Of course that's how things happen. Perhaps we think otherwise because the ideas come in a flash, fully formed, and we immediately see the brilliance but not all the pebbles that make up the path to it.
Mark, you are so right. The insight that comes after starting the doing (the bathtub eureka or the middle of the night insight) reminds me of a phrase I heard that helped me get over the "analysis paralysis" and start doing (creatively).
The phrase was "Ready, Fire, Aim, Fire, Aim, Fire".
To me, it says the same thing you are saying. But yours is clearer. I like it.