For a good portion of my life I thought that creativity was something that was innate. I believed that a person was either creative or you weren’t. Several years ago, I began to realize that this wasn’t true, I realized that I was creative (I had thought I was one of those who wasn’t creative), and I enjoyed being creative.
I don’t think that I was alone in that type of thinking. I believe that there are lots of people who believe that creativity just “happens” to some but not to most. I recently ran across a presentation by John Cleese of Monty Python fame (yes, that Monty Python) who talked about how he stays consistently creative.
According to Cleese, he is able to be creative day in and day out by going into a special zone or oasis. To find that place you need to have 2 things.
- You need to have a boundary of time. A set amount of time in a day or week that you are creative. You know that from A to B you will be working on your creative project.
- You need to have a boundary of place. A set area that you can work uninterrupted. According to Cleese, interruptions during the biggest creativity killer during the creation process.
Cleese also talked about being able to walk away from a project and give it space. He believes that your subconscience mind works on a project, so that you can go back to it with problems easily solved. Why? Because your mind never really stopped working on it. Does that ring true with you?
To see the entire presentation by Cleese, see below.
Interestingly, I also was forwarded (via Twitter) from Tasra Dawson a TED presentation by Stefan Sagmeister. Sagmeister is a well-known designer who every 7 years takes a 1 year sabbatical, so he can re-energize his creative juices. Great information from him too. Combined the videos are about 25 minutes, but I really encourage you to take the time to give them a look, I think you’ll find some great information on how to stay CREATIVE.
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