LifeDev

photo credit: BrokenBat

It never ceases to amaze me how many myths float around the internet concerning creative people and creative thinking. Many of these myths probably come from outdated business practices or mindsets, but others are honest-to-goodness  public perception of creative people. Well, today we’re going to set the record straight.

The answers to these myths might surprise people, as us creative folk aren’t as different as you might think. So let’s dive in, shall we? Oh, and feel free to leave other myths in the comments below. I don’t want to leave any out.

1. Creative people are weird.

Ok, this one may be the closest to the truth than any of the others (at least in my case). The problem is that everyone is a creative person. It may be a hard pill to swallow, but even the most stuffy, straight-laced person is a creative person. It’s just how we use our creativity. So the statement “Creative people are weird” suddenly turns into “All people are weird”.

And what’s so wrong with being a little odd, anyway?

2. Putting a bunch of people together in a large room will produce creative ideas.

Ugh. This might be one of the worst myths. Creativity isn’t a pattern, and you definitely can’t artificially create it in a meeting room. Collaborating creative ideas is usually done in a setting where ideas are quickly bounced back and forth, and a board room full of people arguing and trying to talk at the same time is hardly optimal.

Studies have shown that working alone or even in virtual groups is much better than in face-to-face meetings with a bunch of people.

It’s not that some meetings can be very good in terms of brainstorming ideas, it’s just that most businesses don’t really know how to have a productive brainstorming session.

3. Only creative people have creative ideas

Many of the best ideas ever were put into motion by some of the most common people. Why? Because great ideas build on common concepts. All anyone needs for a killer idea is to satisfy their own need or a problem. Innovation is usually born from a need, not “creative thinking’. It’s all about connecting the dots, not making the dots.

4. Deadlines spark creativity

In school it was a common practice amongst my friends to say that there was no greater motivator or source of inspiration than a fast-approaching deadline. Usually, that meant that they wrote a crappy paper.

Some organizations still keep this mindset. They impose unreal deadlines on their employees in the hopes of stressing the creativity out of them. It has been my experience that whenever anything is squeezed out of a person, the result is usually crappy (pun intended). You just can’t force creativity.

While deadlines can be good for finding simple solutions and just getting a project done, you can’t impose creative thinking on someone. You can inspire creativity, but that’s about it.

5. Competition is better than collaboration

Sometimes bosses create an environment where the employee with the best idea is rewarded, so that there’s always a competition amongst ideas. While this method can work, it works for all the wrong reasons. By keeping ideas to themselves, the ideas aren’t allowed to be refined by anyone else’s input. Instead, greedy workers silently work on ideas and horde them until they’re released to a “meh” reaction.

Collaboration gives an extra something to even the best ideas. Without it, the idea is limited to just one perspective could have been helped along by a couple more great minds.

6. Creatives are Messy

Creatives are sometimes known for the messy, “carefree” surroundings that we work in. Organization typically isn’t something that is high on the priority list of a Creative.

While this can be true, it’s also a stereotype. I like to consider myself a fairly organized person, and have many other extremely creative acquaintances who are some of the most organized people I’ve ever met.

Anyone can be messy and unorganized.

7. Structure is bad for creative thinking

Everyone likes the idea of working on a “blank canvas”. No boundaries, just limitless possibilities to start creating.

Ha!

Even a blank canvas has four corners. There are always limitations to any project. Limitations shape how the project or idea will be developed. And it’s not a bad thing. Structure gives you the opportunity to think outside the box, because without structure there is no box! Just let that marinate for a bit.

The real creativity comes when you’re able to work around the structure and limitations place. Structure also ensures that the project isn’t too wide open and the scope isn’t set to broad.

8. An idea WILL come in one sitting

Many people sometimes assume that if they set aside a block of time to think, an idea will surely come. This hardly ever happens. Ideas usually come when you least expect them. One never knows when an idea will happen, and odds are it will be at the worst time. That’s why you have to capture them when you have the chance.

9. Creativity requires high-level thinking

Eli Whitney claimed that he had the idea for the concept of the cotton gin by watching a cat try to pull a chicken through a wire fence, and only some of the feathers were pulled through.

Was this high level thinking? I hope not.

It was watching a slightly macabre (or comical, depending on your preference in humor) scene on a farm. The stuff that knee-slapping stories spawn from. No, Whitney just happened to see the right “scene” that triggered the idea in his head for that “Eureka!” moment. This is true for many great ideas. You don’t always need Einstein’s chalkboard and quantum physics to have a great idea.

10. The only motivator for creative thinking is money and fear

If you work for a business that has this mindset, run far, far away. True motivation can never come from either of these sources. Like we stated earlier, the you can’t force creativity, but you can encourage it. Here are a few things that might foster some creative thinking:

• Art
• Interesting websites
• Photography
• Great literature
• Beauty
• Seemingly “pointless” side projects
• Clean, clutter free surroundings

Essentially, a clean, stimulating environment is the best place to really get those creative juices flowing.

11. Ridiculous ideas are worthless

False! Some of the most ridiculous ideas end up being some of the best creations we’ve ever seen. You can’t afford to discount anything when it comes to ideas.  Ridiculous ideas aren’t worthless… you just never know which ones are going to take off.

Also, “pointless” projects aren’t always so pointless. It’s these side projects that introduce new ideas and concepts that might not have been around otherwise.

Just remember: the Pet Rock turned it’s inventor into a millionaire. I rest my case.

12. Only certain jobs use creativity

It’s amazing how many people discount “professional” creativity as something reserved for people like designers and writers. Not true! In fact, I’d argue that just about any job can be helped by a healthy dose of creative thinking.

13. Creative people always have great ideas

Most creative people only have a few great ideas out of a barrel-full. It’s these few “gems” that make the process worthwhile for the dreamer. Like any part of life, failure is a great thing and is even encouraged. Failure drives us to try harder the next time.

14. I’ll never forget my ideas

If you’re like me, you can’t even remember what you had for breakfast. Yet every time I have a great idea, I fight the urge to “just remember it”. Yeah right.

Not only do ideas sometimes come at the worst possible times, we can’t rely on our brains to hang on to these ideas. There’s just too many things that happen in a given day, and as our days grow more and more hectic, relying on our noodles to remember our ideas is risky business. Here’s a (slightly obscure) way to look at effective idea capture.

15. More and better technology will yield more and better ideas

As our lives become more connected to technology with things like iPhones, Blackberry’s, Twitter, and a slew of other new technologies, the more apparent it is that technology doesn’t help with creativity, it actually hinders it.

Technology doesn’t do anything for creative thinking. In fact, it can sometimes slow it down. Constantly staring at a screen with tons of distracting things like dings and popups won’t get you thinking creatively. It zones us in on the computer screen (or phone) and keeps us scatter-brained.

While it could be argued that technology helps with idea capture, the best things for creativity sometimes is breaking away from the technology. Reading a book, talking a walk, exercising, and other common tasks usually lend themselves to better ideas than technology ever could.

This guest post was written by Derek Ralston of Life Evolver.

Imagine this- you are a highly successful, innovative entrepreneur, and one day, a raging fire burns six of your factory buildings two the ground, and guts seven others, costing you $106 million dollars. Insurance will only cover 30% of the damages. What would you do? This is exactly what happened to Thomas Edison in 1914 (dollars of damage adjusted to today’s value).

Edison responded to the fire by proclaiming he would resume manufacturing within ten days and began mapping out his rebuilding campaign immediately. While others saw the fire as a huge devastation, Edison saw it as an opportunity and saw the possibility of new direction and improvements in his factory design. He even used it to take advantage of the new factory design developed by Henry Ford. Edison’s life is a perfect example of living optimistically.

The Case for Optimism

Dr. Martin Seligman, the director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Positive Psychology Center, and author of Learned Optimism, has studied optimists and pessimists for 25 years. His research has found:

Optimists

• Less depression than pessimists
• Better results than pessimists in most areas of life
• Longer lifespan
• Healthier than pessimists
• Better than pessimists at work and in school
• More friends and better social lives

Pessimists

• More depression than optimists
• Inertia rather than activity in the face of setbacks
• Feels bad subjectively–blue, down worried, anxious
• Poor physical health
• Self-fulfilling; pessimists don’t persist in the face of challenges and thus fail more frequently, even when success is attainable
• Even when pessimists turn out to be right, they still feel worse than deluded optimists

Seligman’s research also determined that optimism is something that can be learned, so if you are currently living pessimistically, the good news is that you can change!

Now that you see some of the benefits of living optimistically, here are three tips from Edison on living optimistically:

Tips from Edison on Living Optimistically

1) There is no such thing as a failure- there are only unexpected outcomes which will provide valuable guidance for future work

Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time. -Thomas Edison

Edison believed that most people gave up to soon and walked away from success, accepting failure. He viewed negative events as temporary setbacks on his inevitable path to success. To live like Edison, coach yourself to not take setbacks personally, and instead think of them as temporary glitches on your way to success.

2) Decide with full commitment to accomplish something

Nearly every man who develops an idea works it up to the point when it looks impossible, and gets discouraged. That’s not the place to become discouraged. Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. -Thomas Edison

After trying 10,000 times to develop an electric lamp, Edison proclaimed, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Without Edison’s full commitment and optimistic attitude to develop an electric lamp, the solution may not have discovered until much later. When you are fully committed, providence moves in. William H. Murray wrote about this in The Scottish Himalayan Expedition:

The moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would not otherwise have occurred. Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it! Boldness has genius, magic, and power in it.

3) Look on the bright side of everything

Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit. -Napoleon Hill

Imagine how Edison’s family, employees, and investors would have felt if he responded negatively to the devastating factory fire mentioned earlier in this post. When you look on the bright side of everything, as Edison did, you and those around you are better able to persist through many of life’s challenges. You can make the conscious choice to focus on the bright side or the dark side of anything in life- and your focus will often become self-fulfilling.

Derek Ralston’s blog Life Evolver (feed) to snag more helpful insights into making positive, sustainable changes in your life.

photo credit: Jimee, Jackie, Tom & Asha

photo credit: tjroberts79

“Part of being creative is learning how to protect your freedom.” - Hugh Macleod

As we approach tomorrow’s holiday, I thought it would be appropriate to touch on the topic of personal freedoms. While we try not to blow our digits off tomorrow, America as a whole will be basking in her personal freedoms. While we’ve pretty much got the personal freedoms part sewed up, we don’t take a great deal in preserving our work freedoms. Let me explain with an example.

A close friend of mine asked me if I was going to be at my house around lunchtime, and I struggled to weigh the options. Sometimes I like to work at a local coffee shop/bookstore, while other times I camp out around the house. After a solid 20 seconds of me trying to make a decision had passed, my friend suddenly chuckled and replied, “Why am I even asking you? Who knows what you’ll feel like tomorrow.”

He couldn’t be any closer to the truth.

The power of freedom (in your job)

The beauty of being a freelancer is that while you still have to work like everyone else, the location doesn’t have to be important. Where you work can be a great shot of productivity for those wanting to add a little spice to your work day. But more importantly, there is something that every creative person should understand: adding variety and spontaneity to your day can adds a powerful shot of productivity and overall contentment.

Protect your work freedom: avoid unnecessary commitments

By trying to decide where I wanted to work the following day, I wasn’t taking into account that I might not feel like working at home the next day, even though it sounded like a good idea the night before. I was giving myself an unnecessary commitment. Sometimes it’s best to have a few things unplanned to your day. Spur of the moment decisions give a feeling of control that you might not normally have. And control is one of the main reasons that people become freelancers in the first place; nobody really likes being told what to do or how to do it. You have to protect this right, even from yourself at times. It’s quite easy to over-plan the day, suffocating your creativity.

So if you’re feeling a little bored and uninspired at work, try un-planning an aspect of your day and making a spontaneous decision later. A little freedom can go a long way.

Have a happy and safe holiday, everyone!

Glen

So, recently I’ve been getting some very constructive comments from people about LifeDev. The one recommendation I keep hearing from people is to change the tagline of the site. Up until a few minutes ago, the tagline of the site looked like this:

“Productivity for Creative People” is a great tagline, but unfortunately I tend to write about many other topics other than productivity that creative people like myself find useful. (A quick glance at some of my latest posts proves this quickly.)

The problem with the tagline was that it pigeon-holed me into one very, very specific range of topics (which I never really adhered to anyway). So I’ve decided to modify it slightly. The tagline now looks like this:

While the writing will be centered around helping creative people, we’re not just going to be talking about productivity. No sir. We’ll be hitting on the many aspects of life that creative types like you and I wrestle with every day. Yes, there’s still going to be a lot of writing about productivity. But this gives me freedom to branch out a tad more at the same time.

Now here’s where you, the good readers of LifeDev, can give me a little direction. Are there any topics that you’d specifically like to see us hit on? What type of posts interest you the most? Also, I’d love to hear any more feedback on the tagline.

You guys are awesome.

I don’t normally re-post links from around the web on LifeDev anymore, but I’ll make an exception for this. Good friend Chris Guillebeau has written an exceptional guide on how to achieve your goals, A Brief Guide to World Domination. It’s truly awesome. It’s also free, so there’s really no reason why you shouldn’t at least check it out. Here’s a taste:

Who should read this report

I should warn you now that this report
is not for everyone.  In fact, it’s probably
not for most people. Instead of writing
for the general public, I spent about 35
hours writing these pages for a small
minority of people interested in living
life on their own terms while making a
dramatic, positive difference in the lives
of others at the same time.
In short, I wrote it for people who are
serious about ruling—or at least chang-
ing—the world.

A Brief Guide to Changing the World

photo credit: Twistiti

“Most men pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that they hurry past it.” - Soren Kierkegaard

As people try to get through the day, it’s sometimes quite easy to get so focused on the tasks that have to be done that we’re not taking the time to enjoy our life. There is definitely a fine line between working hard and hurrying.

The Art of Pace

As a distance runner, it’s incredibly important to know how to handle pace. Knowing how to pace yourself in a race is crucial, as it’s not only a form of strategy, it also ensures that you’re able to finish the race. It doesn’t take a genius to know that if you start a marathon with your 3 fastest miles ever, the odds of you finishing the other 22 are slim to none. The same is true with working. If you work the first three hours non-stop, blinking at your computer screen without taking any breaks, the last 5 hours are probably going to be crap.

Chunking the Day

Instead, try breaking apart the work day in sections. Block out chunks of time for work, and chunks of time for play. And be sure to treat the play times with just as much importance as the work times. Because they are. They allow you to work strong throughout the day, and keep you from turning into your head into a giant pile of mush after a month’s worth of work.

Remember, life isn’t just work. We have families and friends, and other parts of life that are more important. Work just allows us to exist. Nobody ever got to the end of their life and wished that they’d been able to put more hours in at the office.

Sometimes we just need to hear that ;)