Creativity Block

I got home today (3 apples down) really excited to start reading 'Out of our minds' by Ken Robinson.

His talk on TED is still my favourite and I have been looking forward to getting his books ever since I discovered that site courtesy of Presentation Zen.

I have had to force myself to put the book down so that I am not too stuffed tomorrow, and so I can vent some of the energy he has bubbling in me on this blog.

The start of the book is about how fast the world is changing and has changed. Our grandparents lives were not that different from their grandparents. Ours are world's apart from our parents childhoods and our children will struggle to imagine the world we grew up in. The big thing that he looks at is what this means for how we think about education and learning and what is important.

When last did you need to do mental maths in your head? We use excel to do vastly complicated calculations. Instead of walking to a stream, getting water and spending the day hand washing clothes, we pop them in the machine, grab a glass of wine and a book or watch a movie, then they are done. Tough life. The things we used to have to learn are not going to be what matters any more. The rate at which computers, technology and nanotechnology are advancing, we will barely recognise our own world even 10 or 20 years from now.

What you can't replace though is creativity... that is the the distinctly human illogical mindset that allows us to solve all sorts of problems without the computing power. We need to feed our creativity.

One of my favourite Robinson stories is of walking into a classroom of 5 year olds and asking how many can draw? All their hands go up. How many can write... maybe one or two. 10 years later, you go into a classroom of 15 year olds and ask those same students who can write and all their hands go up. Who can draw? Maybe one or two.

Rubbish.

We get taught to stop being creative because we are so scared of not being the best. Of not adding value. We don't do the things we enjoy. We make excuses and we delay acting. Inertia. Blocks. Barriers. Boundaries.

It's time that changed. That thing you used to enjoy doing. That thing that used to put you in your element, that made you smile... do it.

Exciting times.

Picasso Problem

Identifying blocks to creativity is the first step to obliterating them. I like to call one block I have noticed the Picasso Problem. The incredibly prolific artist didn't just find a niche and produce lots of work. He kept reinventing himself and he kept producing.

The total number of artworks Picasso produced has been estimated at 50,000 comprising 1,885 paintings; 1,228 sculptures; 2,880 ceramics, roughly 12,000 drawings, many thousands of prints, and numerous tapestries and rugs. - Wikipedia

Portrait of Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler - Pablo Picasso

Source - Wikipedia

Whether extreme confidence or just a complete lack of respect for anyone else's opinion, he was not held back by the fact that he couldn't do something or that people would be 'judging' him. He just carried on. This fearlessness meant the creative juices gained momentum and he became used to breaking new ground. I am sure he considered much of his work 'mistakes'. Rather, others would have considered paths he went down mistakes but in experimenting some of the stuff would have worked and some of it wouldn't and he would have been learning all the time. A current artist friend of mine reminds me of this type of approach. John Bauer from Cape Town lives a few houses down from where I was before I crossed the pond. He lives in amongst his art and his house is bulging (and overflowing) at the seams with work. There is no such thing as a mistake in John's world. He dives into Porcelain in every way possible and becomes intimate with any of its possibilities. Rummaging through his house you will find a little magic.

John's Studio/House/Gallery/Playground is bursting at the seams with work

An example of one of John's bowls from a 2011 series

There is a momentum to creativity. I believe part of the trick to getting that going is just getting that going. If you want to write better - write more. If you want to learn to paint, you have to pick up a paint brush. All this sounds condescendingly obvious but I think what holds us back is a fear that what we produce won't be of a good quality. Perhaps this comes from our early years at school as things increasingly became for marks. The more we get evaluated, the more our identity gets tied up with the work. Since creative pursuits are so personal and there is no obvious right and wrong it can get you incredibly wound up. There are some techniques you either can or can't do. That can be corrected with a little work. When it comes to the juice of your work though, you can feel like when someone crits your work, they are critting your soul. So many don't produce. This isn't just external. We are often our own worst critic and so don't experiment, play and flow. 

We want every utterance to be creative genius or not at all. De Botton talks in 'How Proust Can Change Your Life' about how different Proust's later drafts were from early drafts. In conversation he was not nearly as eloquent as once he had finely crafted the work. You write the tenth draft by writing the first draft first. Steven Pinker's new book 'The Sense of Style' gives a guide to how to think about refining your writing whether you are an Academic, a Lawyer, a Teacher, a Marketer or you are writing for writings sake. The first step though is that you need to get words on a page. You need to solve the Picasso Problem. You can't wait for creativity to come to you. You need to do the work. Perhaps inspiration isn't an epiphany, it is an afterthought.

There is a beautiful film about the life of Amedeo Modigliani who was a rival of Picasso. Picasso became very successful and so some of the other obstacles to creativity (like lack of money) fell away. The movie does touch on some other sources of inspiration. Getting a little banter and rivalry going can be a great impetus. You may be lucky enough to have a muse. Pablo's solution to the problem of how to start, was to start. Every day.

How do you get better?

I only really started this blog with a post entitled 'Scared'? after Stuart had given me a lot of grief. I wanted to write, but I wanted to write stuff that was deep, interesting or funny. I wanted to write stuff that people would want to read, and I yet I just didn't write. Part of it is 'Creativity Block' and part of it is just a desire for everything you do to be fantastic.

In 'Outliers', Gladwell talks about how the Beatles spent much of the start of their career just singing other peoples songs. But they spent hours and hours on stage until they got good enough to start experimenting.

Stuart writes about his umming and aahhing over the tone of his posts. I must admit, when I started blogging more regularly, and particularly when I was working through thoughts about the role of government and capitalism, or the power of the free market, I really enjoyed the interaction with Stuart and his brother Greg in the comments section. I enjoyed it, but the tone was quite aggressive. Greg doesn't comment on my blog as much since it became more of a 'Yay Internet' blog as Stuart calls it.

When listening to people who enjoy debating, you are often struck by how little they are listening, and how much they are waiting for their turn to speak. Disinterested seeking of the truth where you are your own biggest critic is very difficult. Genuinely trying to hear, empathize and think through another persons perspective is a rare remarkable skill. But you also don't want to never venture opinions. I think it comes down to making those statements, or bold conjectures, and then being your biggest critic.

What I worry about is that we become so worried about how we say things and the tone of how we say it, that we don't say them. That the discussion sits in little folders that only you see. When Stuart mentions the fact that he has posts sitting there that he hasn't put up, I think that is just silly.

I do think there is a very important place for reviewed, reworked, updated and well thought through essays. But I also think you need to get your thoughts out there to be worked through.

Had I the IT skills, and a few more dollops of motivation, I would like my blog to be a combination of blog posts written (as I do) in 20-30 minutes and posted. Essays that are well thought through. Audio conversations, and talks. Presentations. Basically as many different avenues as possible. If I really got motivated, maybe even a book.

But what I do think is important is that you find a way of getting it out there, of getting into the habit of trying. Then be your own worst critic and try and improve.

I for one think Mr Torr does a good job both of stating his opinions strongly, and of criticizing them.

Waiting for Inspiration

We have incredibly powerful imaginations. This lets us play. When we let go and dive into that wonderful place between reality and our dreams, we empower ourselves to release some false realities. We empower ourselves to push beyond what we know. Because there is more.

Children know this. They have not yet defined themselves and so filtered out any potential source of joy. Today they may be a fireman. Tomorrow a princess. As we get a little more serious and a little bit more sure of our reality, our confidence grows that we 'understand the way the world works' in our own little niche. We stop playing. We look for facts.

Creativity requires a little play. By definition you can't be doing something new if you have done it before. We need to look to our imaginations. There is a temptation to wait for inspiration to strike. The mood to set in. The epiphany to burst light and energy into your thoughts. Waiting   can      lead    to         more              and                        more                                    w a  i   t    i    n      g.

Professional writers can't afford to believe in writer's block. They sit down and are often on deadline - so they write. Sometimes what they write is incredible. Sometimes it isn't. The first draft may be awful and then get honed. 'How Proust can change your life' tells of the number of edits Proust used to go through until his finely honed texts were finished. The Epiphany becomes hard to identify. The hard work less so. 

Picasso's story is rather inspirational. He was prolific. Besides always trying new things, his trick seemed to be that he was always trying. He didn't do a lot of waiting. Creativity becomes a habit. I have tried to follow that approach with this blog as I attempt to improve my writing. The best way to become a writer is to write. Unfortunately that means you get subjected to my first draft posts. It is a blog after all so I am not going to apologise too profusely. The discipline of writing a post every day means I am always thinking of ideas. I am listening more. I am watching more. Then I sit down and write. Typically it will take me anywhere between 30 and 90 minutes. Then I publish. That act of pressing the publish button normally is sufficient to bump the calluses off my eyes and catch a couple of typos. Which I can then correct (possibly after a friendly message from you). I don't believe little mistakes should stop you trying to develop a creative habit.

First drafts aren't great. But the idea that you can wait for a fully formed idea to smack you in the face with its neatly tied little pink bow is just plain silly. Play. If you are too serious to play, you are being silly, and as a very very serious person - silliness should not be tolerated.

My very very serious person face

Creativity/Interest Block

Strangely even though I have a new found desire to read and write a whole bunch more, I still am not all that prolific a reader. Stuart seems to plow through books and on the face of it he is one of the laziest people I know. What's up with that.

Reason is, Stuart is not REALLY the laziest person I know. He is just lazy once things count. He is one of the most interested people I know... chances of having a boring conversation are very small, even if it requires that you be interested in all sorts of things like milk bouncing off the surface of tea.

I am super productive when it comes to things that count, like studying. I can get up on weekend mornings and do 4 hours of studying before Lunch.

But I haven't done one painting in the 2 years I have been in Joburg. I don't read a hell of a lot and I definitely have to struggle with `writers block' if I try write regularly.

That would be nice to change... There are so many interesting books out there and I would love to have the focus to sit down and read a book for 3 hours. Or write. Or paint. Or sketch.

But I don't HAVE to, I WANT to. But it is a want that takes effort.

Maybe this is why we pay for education. We pay to feel guilty/obliged...

As for the creative stuff... I think part of why we don't do that is because we feel like we are being judged.