7 ms·

The No. 1 Habit of Highly Creative People

190 points by evac 16y ago

pmichaud 16y ago
The habit is "solitude."
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- Andrew_Quentin 16y ago
  and the opposite, connecting with people.
sudont 16y ago
Nope. The most effective habit of highly creative people is persistence, the ability to work and work and work while resisting burn-out. The best graphic designers I’ve ever met would put in 8-10 hour days, then go home and work on their personal projects. It was effective, they all had at least 3 AIGA awards and about 10 HOW awards, each.
- klbarry 16y ago
  Too true. This is also the same for every successful entrepreneur I've ever heard of, read about, or ever known.
- evac 16y ago
  If we're talking about habit of highly successful people, I would agree it's persistence. But if we're talking specifically about highly creative and innovative people, then we may have to measure them with a slightly different set of metrics, for which solitude may be a more relevant habit than persistence. Though I can't say whether solitude is THE number one habit, I would agree it's one of the best habits to have for generating insights and ideas.
  - sudont 16y ago
    Not so much, I’m talking about pure poundage of production: code, pots, designs, sculpture. Iteration is the only way to make something better. Anecdote: One semester, a professor decided to split his ceramics class up into two sections and see which would create better pots. One half would be graded on their final pot, which would be judged in terms of creativity and technical skill. The other half would be judged in terms of poundage of “acceptable” pots. 50 lbs would be a “C” 65 would be an “B” and 90 would be an “A.” At the end of the semester, the best pots out of the entire class were picked from the huge number of iterations that the poundage group created. --Source unknown.
    - AndrewMoffat 16y ago
      > I’m talking about pure poundage of production Creativity does not equal pure poundage of production.
      - gjm11 16y ago
        No one said it does. The point of that anecdote, though, was to suggest that "pure poundage" is (perhaps counterintuitively) a really important factor in producing good things.
      - stonemetal 16y ago
        No but experience(poundage of production) and no fear of being judged on talent(anything not bad accepted) allows for grater experimentation which directly relates to creativity.
    - pprov 16y ago
      That anecdote is from a book called Art and Fear, by David Bayles and Ted Orlando. It's a short, excellent study on the exact thrust of this thread: i.e, the collision of talent and persistence and how a successful artist harnesses both of them. On talent they say, "By definition, whatever [talent] you have is exactly what you need to produce your best work. There is probably no clearer waste of psychic energy than worrying about how much talent you have -- and probably no worry more common." Which to me sums up the topic nicely.
- katovatzschyn 16y ago
  I think persistence is paramount, but the most general habit is simply "creation." One needs to be creating something, perhaps not always, perhaps not always well, but creating something none the less. It's a self selecting habit to unite a group by, but for some reason, to some, not an obvious one.
- AndrewMoffat 16y ago
  That sounds like "the no.1 habit of highly productive creative people", not "the no.1 habit of highly creative people."
  - abalashov 16y ago
    Bingo. I am generally far more creative than I am productive. :)
  - abalashov 16y ago
    Bingo. I am generally far more creative than I am productive. :)
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- michaelty 16y ago
  "Everyone can be taught to sculpt: Michelangelo would have had to be taught how not to. So it is with the great programmers". Alan Perlis
- AndrewMoffat 16y ago
  On a side note, it seems like people value persistence more than creativity because it's more attainable by everyone. We can't all be creative freaks like Tesla, Van Gogh, or Einstein, but we can all work really really hard at what we do. Telling someone to "be more creative" doesn't have the same effect as "be more persistent"...you either have it or you don't with creativity. It's almost like the naturally creative are cheating somehow, and there's a quiet resentment towards them by those of us who are non-creative-but-persistent, as if we want to forget that natural creativity gives a distinct advantage that can't be duplicated by persistence alone. I think a couple of the posts in this thread exemplify this attitude.
  - Semiapies 16y ago
    Everyone's "creative" in the lazy sense of "having ideas". Everyone has an armful of ideas. Talk to people, and you can hear them. I have literal piled notebooks full of ideas (at least, before I switched to text editors). The ones I haven't yet done anything with? They don't matter, because nothing has been created. The people who actually manage more than going on about how they're "creative" are the people who pursue craft and accomplish their ideas, and that requires dedication and effort. This conflicts with the mythology of creation as some airy, quasi-magical activity that only Special People do, but it's one of those hard truths: things you want take work. And no, persistence is not "more attainable by everyone". It's not about plugging away mindlessly, it's about passion and dedication and improvement. These are hard things!
    - hbt 16y ago
      I think the OP meant "creative" as seeing a shortcut e.g instead of spending 10 hours trying to solve a problem, a "creative" person could do it in two using a different approach. In this case, persistence is inefficient. You can see it happening with workaholics who will take the "hard/long" path and feel like heroes after 72 hours of work. Persistence and dedication can be real time suckers. Especially if giving up means failing. The beauty of laziness and postponing things is you let your mind process the information in the background. Unless the task is frustrating/urgent, I'd rather wait for an "humm, interesting" moment.
- pgroves 16y ago
  >Nope. The most effective habit of highly creative people is persistence, the ability to work and work and work while resisting burn-out. But if that persistence is applied to 8 hours a day of meetings and 3 hours of email, it wouldn't lead to anything impressive. The days/months/years of persistence must go toward "creating" not just "working." The author made the case that most creativity happens when you're alone with your thoughts.
- prknight 16y ago
  Persistence may guarantee a certain quantity of output and that may allow for a higher statistical chance of 'wins', but it's not a must-have habit to be highly creative. Compare the histories and creative methodologies of Edison (known for persistence) versus Tesla (mad, but more creative scientist) - I'd rather be Tesla creative than Edison creative. What a lot of creative people that appear incredibly persistent have in common are lifestyles that are driven by curiosity. Leonardo Da Vinci is perhaps the most creative genius to have walked the planet but it wasn't the habit of persistence that set him apart - it was his curiosity. He produced like crazy but he was famously known as a flake in the day (for not finishing stuff). He didn't care about output - he was driven by his questions, his curiosity. Curiosity driven people don't stop because they intrinsically need to find the answers, they can't help it - it's a form of persistence. I'd rather have a insatiably curious person working on developing ideas than a persistent workaholic.
- te_chris 16y ago
  Your attitude is symptomatic of most people who, in lieu of being actually creative and making cool stuff, don't, but believe that if they just keep trying they'll get there. Sometimes this is true, but genius works in mysterious ways. Also using designers as an example is a bit disingenuous as well. I know this is a massive value judgement, but I don't generally consider designers artists. they're too bound by their medium generally to be considered properly creative and artistic. they're more technicians - solving interesting problems, but never with the surprising abstraction that makes great art great.
  - rimantas 16y ago
    they're too bound by their medium Sculptors have no chance then :(
    - te_chris 16y ago
      Medium was the wrong word, in hindsight...I think I really mean't discipline.
- albertcardona 16y ago
  The most effective habit of highly creative people is persistence, the ability to work and work and work while resisting burn-out. Solitude has a lot to do with persistence. When working hard, one is alone. By definition, nobody can be you and fulfill your vision.
- swannodette 16y ago
  Don't confuse success with creativity.
solipsist 16y ago
The article left out the following quote of Albert Einstein: “I lived in solitude in the country and noticed how the monotony of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind”
ramidarigaz 16y ago
Really? I don't think so. Some of the coolest ideas I've ever had have come during discussions with friends. I'm most productive when I'm alone, but rarely do I have creative ideas by myself.
dave1619 16y ago
I resonate with the article. As I've grown in the practice of tranquil and contemplative solitude, my creativity has grown. "Creation comes from within, inspiration comes from without."
mbesto 16y ago
I love this idea that somehow creative people are somehow "special"; I really like the articles preface of "Creativity is a nebulous, murky topic that fascinates me endlessly — how does it work? What habits to creative people do that makes them so successful at creativity?" Here is a good interview with Craig Wynett ("Chief Creativity Officer") at P&G, in which he attempts to explain how they at P&G are trying to approach creativity from a scientific approach: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLBJ9pda7TA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLBJ9pda7TA In my opinion, cognitive science will be a huge topic in marketing in the years to come.
daimyoyo 16y ago
I think the fact that most historically creative people were nite owls, and the fact they score better on iq tests (see http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200911/intelligence-the-evolution-night-owls http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200911/intelligence-...) could be linked to the solitude that inevitably happens when you're up late.
narrator 16y ago
Unplugging and just staring at the wall for a couple of hours alone is good for creativity. It tends to lead to a good mental environment for "image streaming". "Image Streaming" is watching a movie in your mind made up of as many memories and things you can imagine pieced together, usually focused on a particular topic. It's basically a way to access the enormous power of the right-side of the brain.
iamwil 16y ago
Actually, I've found that the "Top idea in mind" is how I do it, and figured someone would have mentioned it already. http://www.paulgraham.com/top.html http://www.paulgraham.com/top.html I just never put a name into it, until I read that essay. When you mull over something in your mind all the time, you're bound to come up with something as you get more new pieces of information in your day to day life.
pier0 16y ago
Stopped reading the article when I saw listed as a highly creative person the "actress best known for her awesome work in Buffy the Vampire Slayer".
- dmoney 16y ago
  She also writes and produces The Guild ( http://www.watchtheguild.com/ http://www.watchtheguild.com/ ) and its associated comics. I think the show qualifies her as both creative and a successful web entrepreneur.
JoeAltmaier 16y ago
Ok, maybe its not #1, but it is important. Newton did his best work hiding out in his country house during Plague season. Einsteid flourished in a Patent office - nobody bothered him much, he could spend all day thinking.
gareth_at_work 16y ago
creating != producing
alexwestholm 16y ago
The article notes that solitude should be balanced with participation and awareness of one's space. Upon reading that, I realized that's why sites like HN are so valuable to me: I get both without much hassle.
dzuc 16y ago
Might I recommend: David Bohm wrote a very accessible book on creativity--what it is, how it works, etc. http://www.amazon.com/Creativity-Routledge-Classics-David-Bohm/dp/0415336406/ http://www.amazon.com/Creativity-Routledge-Classics-David-Bo...
Stormbringer 16y ago
I think solitude and deep thinking time are crucially important to programming. However, I have been becoming more and more aware that programming is also performance art (audience of our peers), by which I mean that programming is also a social activity. In order to be appreciated, it must be shared.
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
bettie03 16y ago
It amazes me to no end how many people believe that all study stops after the completion of the prison sentence some call school.The TV, the Xbox, Playstations and chat rooms all become the new classroom. If you are not reading and attempting to expand your mind through the books of some of the worlds most gifted people, you should. The person that does not read is no better off than the person that can't read. http://igg.me/p/15468?a=68435&i=shlk http://igg.me/p/15468?a=68435&i=shlk
mcnemesis 16y ago
to a good extent, creativity == (ability to generate alternatives && identify / pick out the best) and i believe 'ability to generating alternatives' is one of the most important issue here, as often times, most / all existing solutions to a problem have failed or are poor, and it is then required of a 'creative' person to come up with alternatives - obviously the bonus is when the best is picked from these alternatives.
etal 16y ago
This is also called "flow" or being "in the zone" -- focusing on one thing, intensely, without interruptions. It's one more reason to lump programming in with the other creative arts.
byteclub 16y ago
Or, to put it another way: meditation.

190 points by evac 16y ago

pmichaud 16y ago

The habit is "solitude."

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
Andrew_Quentin 16y ago
and the opposite, connecting with people.

sudont 16y ago

Nope. The most effective habit of highly creative people is persistence, the ability to work and work and work while resisting burn-out. The best graphic designers I’ve ever met would put in 8-10 hour days, then go home and work on their personal projects. It was effective, they all had at least 3 AIGA awards and about 10 HOW awards, each.

klbarry 16y ago
Too true. This is also the same for every successful entrepreneur I've ever heard of, read about, or ever known.
evac 16y ago
If we're talking about habit of highly successful people, I would agree it's persistence. But if we're talking specifically about highly creative and innovative people, then we may have to measure them with a slightly different set of metrics, for which solitude may be a more relevant habit than persistence. Though I can't say whether solitude is THE number one habit, I would agree it's one of the best habits to have for generating insights and ideas.
- sudont 16y ago
  Not so much, I’m talking about pure poundage of production: code, pots, designs, sculpture. Iteration is the only way to make something better. Anecdote: One semester, a professor decided to split his ceramics class up into two sections and see which would create better pots. One half would be graded on their final pot, which would be judged in terms of creativity and technical skill. The other half would be judged in terms of poundage of “acceptable” pots. 50 lbs would be a “C” 65 would be an “B” and 90 would be an “A.” At the end of the semester, the best pots out of the entire class were picked from the huge number of iterations that the poundage group created. --Source unknown.
  - AndrewMoffat 16y ago
    > I’m talking about pure poundage of production Creativity does not equal pure poundage of production.
    - gjm11 16y ago
      No one said it does. The point of that anecdote, though, was to suggest that "pure poundage" is (perhaps counterintuitively) a really important factor in producing good things.
    - stonemetal 16y ago
      No but experience(poundage of production) and no fear of being judged on talent(anything not bad accepted) allows for grater experimentation which directly relates to creativity.
  - pprov 16y ago
    That anecdote is from a book called Art and Fear, by David Bayles and Ted Orlando. It's a short, excellent study on the exact thrust of this thread: i.e, the collision of talent and persistence and how a successful artist harnesses both of them. On talent they say, "By definition, whatever [talent] you have is exactly what you need to produce your best work. There is probably no clearer waste of psychic energy than worrying about how much talent you have -- and probably no worry more common." Which to me sums up the topic nicely.
katovatzschyn 16y ago
I think persistence is paramount, but the most general habit is simply "creation." One needs to be creating something, perhaps not always, perhaps not always well, but creating something none the less. It's a self selecting habit to unite a group by, but for some reason, to some, not an obvious one.
AndrewMoffat 16y ago
That sounds like "the no.1 habit of highly productive creative people", not "the no.1 habit of highly creative people."
- abalashov 16y ago
  Bingo. I am generally far more creative than I am productive. :)
- abalashov 16y ago
  Bingo. I am generally far more creative than I am productive. :)
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
michaelty 16y ago
"Everyone can be taught to sculpt: Michelangelo would have had to be taught how not to. So it is with the great programmers". Alan Perlis
AndrewMoffat 16y ago
On a side note, it seems like people value persistence more than creativity because it's more attainable by everyone. We can't all be creative freaks like Tesla, Van Gogh, or Einstein, but we can all work really really hard at what we do. Telling someone to "be more creative" doesn't have the same effect as "be more persistent"...you either have it or you don't with creativity. It's almost like the naturally creative are cheating somehow, and there's a quiet resentment towards them by those of us who are non-creative-but-persistent, as if we want to forget that natural creativity gives a distinct advantage that can't be duplicated by persistence alone. I think a couple of the posts in this thread exemplify this attitude.
- Semiapies 16y ago
  Everyone's "creative" in the lazy sense of "having ideas". Everyone has an armful of ideas. Talk to people, and you can hear them. I have literal piled notebooks full of ideas (at least, before I switched to text editors). The ones I haven't yet done anything with? They don't matter, because nothing has been created. The people who actually manage more than going on about how they're "creative" are the people who pursue craft and accomplish their ideas, and that requires dedication and effort. This conflicts with the mythology of creation as some airy, quasi-magical activity that only Special People do, but it's one of those hard truths: things you want take work. And no, persistence is not "more attainable by everyone". It's not about plugging away mindlessly, it's about passion and dedication and improvement. These are hard things!
  - hbt 16y ago
    I think the OP meant "creative" as seeing a shortcut e.g instead of spending 10 hours trying to solve a problem, a "creative" person could do it in two using a different approach. In this case, persistence is inefficient. You can see it happening with workaholics who will take the "hard/long" path and feel like heroes after 72 hours of work. Persistence and dedication can be real time suckers. Especially if giving up means failing. The beauty of laziness and postponing things is you let your mind process the information in the background. Unless the task is frustrating/urgent, I'd rather wait for an "humm, interesting" moment.
pgroves 16y ago
>Nope. The most effective habit of highly creative people is persistence, the ability to work and work and work while resisting burn-out. But if that persistence is applied to 8 hours a day of meetings and 3 hours of email, it wouldn't lead to anything impressive. The days/months/years of persistence must go toward "creating" not just "working." The author made the case that most creativity happens when you're alone with your thoughts.
prknight 16y ago
Persistence may guarantee a certain quantity of output and that may allow for a higher statistical chance of 'wins', but it's not a must-have habit to be highly creative. Compare the histories and creative methodologies of Edison (known for persistence) versus Tesla (mad, but more creative scientist) - I'd rather be Tesla creative than Edison creative. What a lot of creative people that appear incredibly persistent have in common are lifestyles that are driven by curiosity. Leonardo Da Vinci is perhaps the most creative genius to have walked the planet but it wasn't the habit of persistence that set him apart - it was his curiosity. He produced like crazy but he was famously known as a flake in the day (for not finishing stuff). He didn't care about output - he was driven by his questions, his curiosity. Curiosity driven people don't stop because they intrinsically need to find the answers, they can't help it - it's a form of persistence. I'd rather have a insatiably curious person working on developing ideas than a persistent workaholic.
te_chris 16y ago
Your attitude is symptomatic of most people who, in lieu of being actually creative and making cool stuff, don't, but believe that if they just keep trying they'll get there. Sometimes this is true, but genius works in mysterious ways. Also using designers as an example is a bit disingenuous as well. I know this is a massive value judgement, but I don't generally consider designers artists. they're too bound by their medium generally to be considered properly creative and artistic. they're more technicians - solving interesting problems, but never with the surprising abstraction that makes great art great.
- rimantas 16y ago
  they're too bound by their medium Sculptors have no chance then :(
  - te_chris 16y ago
    Medium was the wrong word, in hindsight...I think I really mean't discipline.
albertcardona 16y ago
The most effective habit of highly creative people is persistence, the ability to work and work and work while resisting burn-out. Solitude has a lot to do with persistence. When working hard, one is alone. By definition, nobody can be you and fulfill your vision.
swannodette 16y ago
Don't confuse success with creativity.

solipsist 16y ago

The article left out the following quote of Albert Einstein: “I lived in solitude in the country and noticed how the monotony of a quiet life stimulates the creative mind”

ramidarigaz 16y ago

Really? I don't think so. Some of the coolest ideas I've ever had have come during discussions with friends. I'm most productive when I'm alone, but rarely do I have creative ideas by myself.

dave1619 16y ago

I resonate with the article. As I've grown in the practice of tranquil and contemplative solitude, my creativity has grown. "Creation comes from within, inspiration comes from without."

mbesto 16y ago

I love this idea that somehow creative people are somehow "special"; I really like the articles preface of "Creativity is a nebulous, murky topic that fascinates me endlessly — how does it work? What habits to creative people do that makes them so successful at creativity?" Here is a good interview with Craig Wynett ("Chief Creativity Officer") at P&G, in which he attempts to explain how they at P&G are trying to approach creativity from a scientific approach: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLBJ9pda7TA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLBJ9pda7TA In my opinion, cognitive science will be a huge topic in marketing in the years to come.

daimyoyo 16y ago

I think the fact that most historically creative people were nite owls, and the fact they score better on iq tests (see http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200911/intelligence-the-evolution-night-owls http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200911/intelligence-...) could be linked to the solitude that inevitably happens when you're up late.

narrator 16y ago

Unplugging and just staring at the wall for a couple of hours alone is good for creativity. It tends to lead to a good mental environment for "image streaming". "Image Streaming" is watching a movie in your mind made up of as many memories and things you can imagine pieced together, usually focused on a particular topic. It's basically a way to access the enormous power of the right-side of the brain.

iamwil 16y ago

Actually, I've found that the "Top idea in mind" is how I do it, and figured someone would have mentioned it already. http://www.paulgraham.com/top.html http://www.paulgraham.com/top.html I just never put a name into it, until I read that essay. When you mull over something in your mind all the time, you're bound to come up with something as you get more new pieces of information in your day to day life.

pier0 16y ago

Stopped reading the article when I saw listed as a highly creative person the "actress best known for her awesome work in Buffy the Vampire Slayer".

dmoney 16y ago
She also writes and produces The Guild ( http://www.watchtheguild.com/ http://www.watchtheguild.com/ ) and its associated comics. I think the show qualifies her as both creative and a successful web entrepreneur.

JoeAltmaier 16y ago

Ok, maybe its not #1, but it is important. Newton did his best work hiding out in his country house during Plague season. Einsteid flourished in a Patent office - nobody bothered him much, he could spend all day thinking.

gareth_at_work 16y ago

creating != producing

alexwestholm 16y ago

The article notes that solitude should be balanced with participation and awareness of one's space. Upon reading that, I realized that's why sites like HN are so valuable to me: I get both without much hassle.

dzuc 16y ago

Might I recommend: David Bohm wrote a very accessible book on creativity--what it is, how it works, etc. http://www.amazon.com/Creativity-Routledge-Classics-David-Bohm/dp/0415336406/ http://www.amazon.com/Creativity-Routledge-Classics-David-Bo...

Stormbringer 16y ago

I think solitude and deep thinking time are crucially important to programming. However, I have been becoming more and more aware that programming is also performance art (audience of our peers), by which I mean that programming is also a social activity. In order to be appreciated, it must be shared.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

bettie03 16y ago

It amazes me to no end how many people believe that all study stops after the completion of the prison sentence some call school.The TV, the Xbox, Playstations and chat rooms all become the new classroom. If you are not reading and attempting to expand your mind through the books of some of the worlds most gifted people, you should. The person that does not read is no better off than the person that can't read. http://igg.me/p/15468?a=68435&i=shlk http://igg.me/p/15468?a=68435&i=shlk

mcnemesis 16y ago

to a good extent, creativity == (ability to generate alternatives && identify / pick out the best) and i believe 'ability to generating alternatives' is one of the most important issue here, as often times, most / all existing solutions to a problem have failed or are poor, and it is then required of a 'creative' person to come up with alternatives - obviously the bonus is when the best is picked from these alternatives.

etal 16y ago

This is also called "flow" or being "in the zone" -- focusing on one thing, intensely, without interruptions. It's one more reason to lump programming in with the other creative arts.

byteclub 16y ago

Or, to put it another way: meditation.