Blocking adults for life
In the previous article we discussed how school blocks our creativity — but does it stop there? Not really. As we move along in life, another important phase introduces several other blockages — our work life. Once again, we are born creative and we unlearn to be creative.
Creativity has never been more important. We live in very dynamic times, technology is taking over several jobs, but there's one thing that can't be replaced — our ability to create and innovate.
On the other hand, there has never been more opportunities for creativity. The world's population is still growing, which means more people to cater for, more niche markets to address, more problems to solve.
If you have not read the previous articles on the creative process, the creative myths, and the educational blockage, make sure to check them out!
The specialist blockage
This blockage refers to a specific step in the creative process — the Input step. Problems of output are problems of input.
"Innovation is usually the result of connections from past experiences. If you have the same experiences as everyone else, you are unlikely to look in a different direction", Steve Jobs.
Creative people are often perceived as curious people. Curiosity allows us to keep growing our ideas repertoire, and a big repertoire enhances our chances to create new combinations — curiosity is the mother of creativity. We are born curious and we unlearn to be curious.
As we saw in the Myth's article — People usually associate creative ideas to those that appear out of nowhere, but those ideas were there before.
Throughout our lives — specially during our work life — we learn to be diligent students instead of curious human beings. We end up becoming specialists on what we do — which is ok — but we neglect generalized knowledge, essential to creativity. We need to develop what is called a T-shaped knowledge, as Tim Ferriss would say — being a generalized specialist.
Blockage: Be a specialist. To solve a specific problem, we need to be a specialist in that subject.
Unblocking: Be a generalized specialist. Be curious. Ideas from other areas can help you solve specific problems.
The adult blockage
If we analyze the creative process, we notice something interesting. Kids are very good in the Combination and Output steps — they can combine ideas quickly and expose them without fear. At the same time, children have limited Input and Feedback capabilities.
Conversely, when we become adults, the Input and Feedback steps grow. We have now a life of experiences behind us to serve as inputs, and we can master the art of feedback.
But what happens when we neglect our inner child? We reduce our capacity to combine ideas, and we become afraid to share them out in the world. When we become adults, we tend to become too adults.
"The creative adult is the child who has survived", Ursula K. Le Guin.
Kids live in a world of play while trying to combine existing things into new things. We are born having fun and we unlearn how to have fun.
How often in our work meetings we hear — jokes aside... or... ok now lets get serious. Maybe getting serious is what is blocking us from innovating in the first place.
Blockage: Playfulness and work life do not belong together.
Unblocking: We need to free our inner child if we want to be more creative.
The I am busy blockage
This blockage is probably the most important one. How often do we say or hear — I am so busy, I don't have time. More than we should.
Ever since the industrial revolution and the 9-to-5 work life, a myth has been created around being busy — as long as we are busy, we are creating and we are producing. Unfortunately production is not measured by time, it is measured by results.
Similarly, creativity cannot be measured by time. How much time is worth an insight?
Insights are time leaps. Often the time spent to have the insight is nothing compared to the time saved after the insight is put to action. We as — busy adults — constantly live in the automatic pilot, lacking the awareness to stop and think about our tasks at hand.
Creativity is about finding balance between pendency and tendency. It is about investing time in the present so we can have insights that saves us time in the future.
Another misconception on this subject is the effect of pressure on creative moments. We tend to think that, to create, we need time and space — and pressure will ruin it.
In reality, pressure can really contribute to our creativity, assuming that the task's challenge level is well balanced with our current abilities — a.k.a. flow state.
Blockage: Productivity is measured by how much time you work.
Unblocking: Productivity is measured by work output, not time spent on the task.
Don't be blocked by corporate life
If you want to be more creative, expand your universe. Read different books, watch different series, listen to different podcasts, have different conversations.
Playfulness and work can coexist. Don't be afraid to expose ideas that might sound unusual. Whenever we hear — Are you crazy — we might be in the right direction. Keep pushing.
Stopping to think and plan is not a waste of time. It is a gain of future time. If we really want to be creative, what we truly need is ample time to incubate and restricted time to create.
Next article we will finally discuss the unblocking! How can we mix all of the ideas on the previous articles to improve our creativity? Check it out here!
