5 things I do to get things done
This year I went to Lisbon to do a Pecha Kucha style presentation. It was the Pecha Kucha Nights organised by Inês Vidal and her colleagues. The chosen theme was creativity. I decided to talk about a few things that make me feel like I am on the right track in terms of being more creative and getting work done.
As most of you might know, there are times when one has very annoying blocking moments, and it seems that nothing works and that no ideas appear.
To understand what is creativity I did a bit of research.
The origin of creativity is still quite unknown and this gives room for some mystical interpretations. Most people who go through this process understand this aspect of creativity. Often we do not know where that great idea or connection is coming from. But we could say that this unknown part is only 10% of the creative process. John Cleese talks about creativity here (link) and he describes creativity as a way to operate, how to do things, and not something that happens from thin air.
Most of us have to work hard to create the best conditions to achieve more creative results to solve our problems.
According to a Mihaily Csikszentmihalyi, an hungarian psychologist who studied creativity, there is a state called ‘flow’ where he identifies that this is where creativity happens. During this state one has a feeling that time stops, we feel true happiness. The same scientist tells us that to reach ‘flow’ we must have the necessary skills for the challenge that we propose ourselves to do. So it is vital to work hard to improve our skills and master the methods inherent in your business.
Here is a list of some of the things I do to help create that state of flow and a more fruitful process of doing the work!
Find a place that you can isolate yourself and be quiet. It can be your studio or another place where you are allowed to be yourself and make mistakes without fear of social judgment. Create your own paradise. Quiet means that for a good chunk of time you should turn off all distractions.
Set a period of time with no distractions to stay with your problem during that time. Play with the problem, find different solutions, play. You need enough time to stop the mind from thinking about other trivial things, and then let your mind flow to the problem for some time. Feel free and enjoy your time. Here is important to know that no solution is wrong. Play with people you like and trust.
The third is to improve our abilities in what we want to be good at. To improve your craft it takes hard work, so work, work, study, draw, repeat, ask for feedback. Show up even when you don’t feel like going to work, be professional about what you have chosen to do, and do it well. Learn all you can about your craft. Read books all the books you can on the subject.
Meditation helps you to keep focus on a problem without wanting to stick with the first solution, essential to find more creative solutions and not give up.
Practicing meditation will help you to cope with the normal anxiety of an unsolved problem, resisting the temptation to go with the first solution. You will learn persistency, concentration and relaxation. Meditation will help you to relax and step back to see the whole picture.
Finally, after we have dealt with all the factors above we now can increase our challenges. You can set new goals that make you wake up in the morning and work long hours for the pleasure of doing so, thus more easily to enter into the state of flow, where creativity happens more easily, and also we will be happier now because we are rewarded with positive feedback of a job well done. One way to challenge ourselves is to do something we fear, something we do not know whether we will be able to, take small steps towards the unknown. Thus paving the way for new connections in the brain, just more likely to create something new, a new interpretation of existing things.
In short, creativity is a way of acting, a way of thinking, not just something that just happens. Now it’s time to implement.
If you are passionate for what you do, work hard, relax and meditate, and let it flow, inspiration will come!
