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RE: creativity as a muscle, I think this is a powerful shift in framing. A lot of folks treat creativity as this lightening strike that you must passively wait

RE: creativity as a muscle, I think this is a powerful shift in framing. A lot of folks treat creativity as this lightening strike that you must passively wait for. And while some creative ideas are like that, many creatives, including some of the greatest artists in history, forced themselves to work for some unit of time with regularity, and were able to train themselves to be consistently creative over time. Sometimes a great idea feels like the firing of random synapses, but perhaps the priming of that firing happens through habit and dicipline.

Swizec 6y ago
If it takes 10 at bats to hit a good article/picture/tweet/HN comment/whatever ... who’s more succesful? The guy who tries once a week or the lass who tries 10x per day? Nobody remembers the failed attempts because they likely never even saw them. The good shit spreads.
- ghaff 6y ago
  It's also hard to know in advance what content is going to find an audience. I've written things that were really interesting to me but didn't get much pickup. And I've written things--usually on topics that are hot at the moment--I considered to be tossed off cookie cutter content that's gotten tens of thousands of pageviews.
frereubu 6y ago
There’s a fantastic book called “The Creative Habit” by the choreographer Twyla Tharp if anyone is looking for a focused and clearly written “how to” manual for this. It became something of a bible for me when studying sculpture.
pszndr 6y ago
Creativity is illogical and chaotic. Things that work for one, won't for another. Trying to find reason in it might be pointless. Getting it down to a methodology might be ideal for some, but that's because they might be more logic-oriented than emotion-oriented Ideally you should find how you can extract the most out of your intellect and use that. There's a right way and a wrong way, but not on a collective level, only in an individual one.
- sitkack 6y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Against_Method https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Against_Method
- scotch_drinker 6y ago
  The Artist's Way would strongly disagree.
alexilliamson 6y ago
I just listened to the WTF episode with Jerry Seinfeld and he talks about how early in his career he started writing jokes for several hours every day. He gave the impression that most other comics don't do it that way. Seems like it worked?
- Eyght 6y ago
  Meanwhile Mitch Hedberg was convincing himself that his joke wasn't funny if the pen was too far away.
- mulmen 6y ago
  A compelling correlation but how do you know which way the arrow of causality points?
  - alexilliamson 6y ago
    I certainly do not know! Just wanted to share the story
nestorD 6y ago
For me making a habit of thinking about problems, writing my ideas and organizing them has been extremely valuable in all fields where I applied it (I am a PhD student in computeur science and act as a consultant for some magicians). I do not think that you can make a habit of producing good ideas but if you produce enough ideas you will end up producing at least a few good ones, it is only a matter of time. Also having a good storage system let me revisit ideas that were imperfect at a later point in time when I might have the correct frame of mind or knowledge to improve on them. This mean that I end up producing more good ideas on the long run. Finally, I try to accumulate knowledge. I found the ideas of other people to be a great source of inspiration (either because I misunderstand them at a cursory glance, leading to creation, or by building on their concepts). Furthermore, keeping files on ideas I find interesting appears to be a force multiplier to improve the quality of my output: the more tools I have and the more problems I can solve.
jariel 6y ago
Absolutely. The weird thing to get is that not only is it a 'muscle' - that it's a downright grind! It's just work. Bach wrote more music than any individual will ever hear! And so it's like mining - some rocks, some gems, a lot of in between.
- justaguyhere 6y ago
  Other than producing as much as possible - what exercises can one deliberately do to become more creative?
  - jariel 6y ago
    Grinding does make it harder for true, raw creativity. I would say being in a good mood, and being carefree - completely non-judgemental of one's own thoughts. So being in an environment were 'nothing matters'. Even going to an office, there are 100 little things we are doing to be professionally conformist. So avoiding that. Sometimes it's hard for organised people to feel comfortable with disorganisation. So trying to get in a state of mind where it doesn't matter. Doing something that is 'not serious' can help with this. So if the project has literally no purpose this may help creatively though it can really hurt the impetus to 'get it done'. It seems like a trope, but getting to the place of the 'inner child' is certainly real. Remember when you had zero responsibilities and didn't plan ahead even 10 minutes? Totally care free. That space is hard for a lot of people because I think we feel it will make us fully 'child like' or that we lose our 'adult' demeanour. Or will be construed by others to be 'irresponsible'. Doing something that's closer to raw creativity. Having fun in photoshop, experimenting with filters etc. - this has nothing to do with anything but a weird lesson I learned long ago there was to just 'let go' of whatever you're trying to do, and just 'go where it takes you', i.e. to be open to whatever your subconscious or a bit of randomness is happening, as opposed to the construct you might have in your head. In improv they have this notion of 'yes, and' - which is to say whatever the other actor says, you have to go along with. It's really amazing to see how that works, and how minds can form coherency out of that. The more proficient one is with the tools: code, frameworks, audio eng. DAW, photoshop, words, paint, musical instrument - the less mind space they occupy and the more you can do what you want. And of course 'just doing'. Sometimes literally putting pen to paper, trying something even if you have no clue what you are doing, is a neat place to start. Also looking at other people's work. In design, going to Behance to see other people's work is really inspiring. It's neat to see how creative frontiers are ever expanding.

Swizec 6y ago

If it takes 10 at bats to hit a good article/picture/tweet/HN comment/whatever ... who’s more succesful? The guy who tries once a week or the lass who tries 10x per day? Nobody remembers the failed attempts because they likely never even saw them. The good shit spreads.

ghaff 6y ago
It's also hard to know in advance what content is going to find an audience. I've written things that were really interesting to me but didn't get much pickup. And I've written things--usually on topics that are hot at the moment--I considered to be tossed off cookie cutter content that's gotten tens of thousands of pageviews.

frereubu 6y ago

There’s a fantastic book called “The Creative Habit” by the choreographer Twyla Tharp if anyone is looking for a focused and clearly written “how to” manual for this. It became something of a bible for me when studying sculpture.

pszndr 6y ago

Creativity is illogical and chaotic. Things that work for one, won't for another. Trying to find reason in it might be pointless. Getting it down to a methodology might be ideal for some, but that's because they might be more logic-oriented than emotion-oriented Ideally you should find how you can extract the most out of your intellect and use that. There's a right way and a wrong way, but not on a collective level, only in an individual one.

sitkack 6y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Against_Method https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Against_Method
scotch_drinker 6y ago
The Artist's Way would strongly disagree.

alexilliamson 6y ago

I just listened to the WTF episode with Jerry Seinfeld and he talks about how early in his career he started writing jokes for several hours every day. He gave the impression that most other comics don't do it that way. Seems like it worked?

Eyght 6y ago
Meanwhile Mitch Hedberg was convincing himself that his joke wasn't funny if the pen was too far away.
mulmen 6y ago
A compelling correlation but how do you know which way the arrow of causality points?
- alexilliamson 6y ago
  I certainly do not know! Just wanted to share the story

nestorD 6y ago

For me making a habit of thinking about problems, writing my ideas and organizing them has been extremely valuable in all fields where I applied it (I am a PhD student in computeur science and act as a consultant for some magicians). I do not think that you can make a habit of producing good ideas but if you produce enough ideas you will end up producing at least a few good ones, it is only a matter of time. Also having a good storage system let me revisit ideas that were imperfect at a later point in time when I might have the correct frame of mind or knowledge to improve on them. This mean that I end up producing more good ideas on the long run. Finally, I try to accumulate knowledge. I found the ideas of other people to be a great source of inspiration (either because I misunderstand them at a cursory glance, leading to creation, or by building on their concepts). Furthermore, keeping files on ideas I find interesting appears to be a force multiplier to improve the quality of my output: the more tools I have and the more problems I can solve.

jariel 6y ago

Absolutely. The weird thing to get is that not only is it a 'muscle' - that it's a downright grind! It's just work. Bach wrote more music than any individual will ever hear! And so it's like mining - some rocks, some gems, a lot of in between.

justaguyhere 6y ago
Other than producing as much as possible - what exercises can one deliberately do to become more creative?
- jariel 6y ago
  Grinding does make it harder for true, raw creativity. I would say being in a good mood, and being carefree - completely non-judgemental of one's own thoughts. So being in an environment were 'nothing matters'. Even going to an office, there are 100 little things we are doing to be professionally conformist. So avoiding that. Sometimes it's hard for organised people to feel comfortable with disorganisation. So trying to get in a state of mind where it doesn't matter. Doing something that is 'not serious' can help with this. So if the project has literally no purpose this may help creatively though it can really hurt the impetus to 'get it done'. It seems like a trope, but getting to the place of the 'inner child' is certainly real. Remember when you had zero responsibilities and didn't plan ahead even 10 minutes? Totally care free. That space is hard for a lot of people because I think we feel it will make us fully 'child like' or that we lose our 'adult' demeanour. Or will be construed by others to be 'irresponsible'. Doing something that's closer to raw creativity. Having fun in photoshop, experimenting with filters etc. - this has nothing to do with anything but a weird lesson I learned long ago there was to just 'let go' of whatever you're trying to do, and just 'go where it takes you', i.e. to be open to whatever your subconscious or a bit of randomness is happening, as opposed to the construct you might have in your head. In improv they have this notion of 'yes, and' - which is to say whatever the other actor says, you have to go along with. It's really amazing to see how that works, and how minds can form coherency out of that. The more proficient one is with the tools: code, frameworks, audio eng. DAW, photoshop, words, paint, musical instrument - the less mind space they occupy and the more you can do what you want. And of course 'just doing'. Sometimes literally putting pen to paper, trying something even if you have no clue what you are doing, is a neat place to start. Also looking at other people's work. In design, going to Behance to see other people's work is really inspiring. It's neat to see how creative frontiers are ever expanding.