On Creativity
The mysterious stuff that inspires and moves us
The FedEx center lies in a low-hung building with a smattering of street lamps throwing an orange hue on the ‘OPEN’ sign. On the right side is a boutique bike shop and across the street is a relatively tall Library building.
It was getting close to closing time when I pulled into the parking lot. I quickly got out of the car, pulled on a light jacket, and swung my bag over my shoulder. I had to mail some documents.
“Where are you mailing these documents to?”, enquired the old gentleman helping me with the order. I reply. “Oh. I have never shipped to this country before”, he said. I forget the exact details of some concerns with the mailing of the package.
What struck me most was the curiosity and energy with which the older gentleman helped me. In my previous experiences at this same facility, I had only witnessed bored looks and empty words of ‘how can I help?’. But, here was someone who took pride and did it with genuine joy. I am still amazed to this day.
What has this got to do with creativity? Sometimes it hides in plain sight and takes a bit of imagination to recognize. Please bear with me as I take a small detour.
In my technical life, I had the good opportunity to work on some challenging problems. Over the last decade, I have co-invented over 50 patents that have been a result of serendipitous insight and creative thinking. I will share some of the points that have helped me in this process.
Explaining or teaching someone
Your mind loves to make connections. Different parts of the brain are activated when you are teaching vs. thinking (purely, my opinion). It is almost as if your mind can take a step back while some part of it is teaching. Some of my best creative ideas have come from teaching others.
Physical exertion
Periods of rest following physical exertion are an interesting phase. A warm shower after a long run is great for unlocking ideas that your subconscious mind has been working on.
Applying good ideas from one area to another
This is an often neglected one. If you have watched any popular sitcoms, you will notice that they often borrow plot lines from previous sitcoms to drive an episode. You can think of it as ‘stealing’ – but there’s a lot more to that. In order to even borrow such ideas, you need to understand what’s best in that field. Gaining such knowledge is not easy and can take years of work. Think of it this way – in order to connect the dots, you have to first find the dots.
Finding ideas vs. Generating them
In his Masterclass on writing, Malcolm Gladwell suggests that the primary purpose of an author is not to come up with ideas but it is to find the ideas.
Your creativity can be how you lay out the path for your audience to uncover the idea candy. You can also be creative in trying to find the ideas. A chance conversation, random Wikipedia article, or a thousand other ways to uncover ideas.
Being Bored
In my previous article, I mentioned that boredom is a boon. It is a solid way to train the mind, and uncover new channels of creativity. These channels are not visible when the mind is stimulated.
So, when you are bored doing something – embrace it. Lean in and let the magic unfold. Einstein worked at a patent office — for crying out loud.
That brings me back to where I started this story at. The joy and curiosity exhibited in doing a mundane task as mailing a package is evidence. It is evidence of an active, creative mind at work. My creative joy is in doing simple things.
Over the last few days, I have been enjoying reading Kris Bedenian’s work. There are quite a few beautiful gems pretending as simple posts in her work. Thanks for sharing them, Kris!
And, my thank you to Trista Signe Ainsworth for this prompt. It was a wonderful coincidence that her prompt was aligned with what I have been thinking about!
