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I heard an interview with Steven Spielberg years ago. I wish I could find it for reference. He said in the interview that anytime he drives in his car, he wou

by fraXis 7y ago

I heard an interview with Steven Spielberg years ago. I wish I could find it for reference. He said in the interview that anytime he drives in his car, he would not talk on his phone or listen to the radio. It was complete silence for the duration of the drive. And most of his best work and ideas came from these "silent drives" because he was forced to be creative and use his imagination to keep himself entertained.

cableshaft 7y ago
I design board games for a hobby, maybe sometime soon as more of a profession. A silent car does wonders for me to come up with ideas for coming up with ideas for my game designs. Walking the dogs and a long shower also work well. Between all three of them, they're probably responsible for at least 50% of all the creative ideas I've had over the years. Really quiet or electronic music can work too though. It's people talking or singing lyrics that makes thinking difficult for me. Pretty similar to coding, actually, except you're mostly stuck in front of a computer for that.
gist 7y ago
> ideas came from these "silent drives" because he was forced to be creative and use his imagination to keep himself entertained. Driving is the classic 'zone' activity. As such I question if it's even a good idea to attempt to think and be creative when driving or if that's (if what Spielberg is saying is true even 'best worked because forced to'). Not that having a phone call isn't distracting from driving either. It is. But when you drive I just am not sure it's when you want to go back and forth in your head with some heavy thoughts which might make you less alert (and by less alert I mean even less than with a phone call). The reason for taking phone calls in the car is because it's typically very time effective and a great (and effortless) way to pass the time. There could also be other reasons why he didn't take phone calls. For example I don't like to take business calls because I can't take notes or note things I need to do. Talking to a relative that's another story. In that case it's great a way to pass the time and let's say fulfill an obligation. Or he might have almost gotten into an accident once and swore off any future calls. Or the main reason is 'I want down time but I need a way to explain to others why I don't talk in the car and this sounds better'. After all Spielberg is a creative person so why not a creative spin to something he does. The story and the reason people say what they do often differs from the real reason (which would sound less impressive). Possible this is just a spin he put on it.

by fraXis 7y ago

cableshaft 7y ago

I design board games for a hobby, maybe sometime soon as more of a profession. A silent car does wonders for me to come up with ideas for coming up with ideas for my game designs. Walking the dogs and a long shower also work well. Between all three of them, they're probably responsible for at least 50% of all the creative ideas I've had over the years. Really quiet or electronic music can work too though. It's people talking or singing lyrics that makes thinking difficult for me. Pretty similar to coding, actually, except you're mostly stuck in front of a computer for that.

gist 7y ago

> ideas came from these "silent drives" because he was forced to be creative and use his imagination to keep himself entertained. Driving is the classic 'zone' activity. As such I question if it's even a good idea to attempt to think and be creative when driving or if that's (if what Spielberg is saying is true even 'best worked because forced to'). Not that having a phone call isn't distracting from driving either. It is. But when you drive I just am not sure it's when you want to go back and forth in your head with some heavy thoughts which might make you less alert (and by less alert I mean even less than with a phone call). The reason for taking phone calls in the car is because it's typically very time effective and a great (and effortless) way to pass the time. There could also be other reasons why he didn't take phone calls. For example I don't like to take business calls because I can't take notes or note things I need to do. Talking to a relative that's another story. In that case it's great a way to pass the time and let's say fulfill an obligation. Or he might have almost gotten into an accident once and swore off any future calls. Or the main reason is 'I want down time but I need a way to explain to others why I don't talk in the car and this sounds better'. After all Spielberg is a creative person so why not a creative spin to something he does. The story and the reason people say what they do often differs from the real reason (which would sound less impressive). Possible this is just a spin he put on it.