How to be more Creative

"Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration."
-Thomas A. Edison

I find it difficult to be "creative". I enjoy "improving" upon something created by someone else but when faced with a blank canvas, I have no idea what to paint. With this blog it helps me to see an inspiring topic on the Internet which I can then research and comment upon. Once there's a topic, I can write pages on it.

Where do new ideas and new topics come from? The website MarcAndAngel has some ideas.

1. You need Knowledge. It's hard to be creative in a vacuum or in a state of ignorance. "most creative breakthroughs rest on the shoulders of everything that came before it."  Artists keep scrap books for ideas. Charles Darwin was stumped for years on what "caused" evolution; then while reading Malthus' work on Population and competition for resources, it dawned on him that "survival of the fittest" would explain why some animals prospered while others went extinct. Isaac Newton wrote that he could see further because he "stood on the shoulders of giants". Well today those giants would sue for unsanctioned (and unpaid) use of their ideas under Intellectual Property Rights laws.

2. You need Passion. "Enthusiasm is the lifeblood of creativity." It is hard to be creative when bored. Creativity takes time and lots of effort which you're more likely to do if it's for something you're passionate about.

3. Don't repeat the past. Build upon the past (topic #1) but don't be limited by it. "We must step outside of our comfort zone and attempt unfamiliar activities if we hope to achieve breakthroughs in our future." One graphic designer at TED.com said that he shuts down his company every 7 years for a year-long sabbatical. He lifts the company out of the rut it gets into by exposing everyone to new ideas and new experiences and a little fun that will inspire them for the next six years.

4. Don't fear failure. "If you hope to exercise your creativity, you must get over your fear of failure."
I hate editing my own work. I want it, expect it, to be perfect the first time I write it. There's no "passion" for me in deleting my own work. But quality work requires drafts, edits, complete rewrites, tossing out chapters, etc. With artists we remember the "perfect" paintings, like the Mona Lisa, and are unaware of the thousands of faces DaVinci sketched in his note books, and the many other portraits he did that are not remembered today. We forget that DaVinci was always experimenting and has some big failures (one majestic mural he did 'melted' when the new paint mixtures he used failed to set and dry properly)

5. Take a break. You won't be super creative when exhausted (though you might have a breakthrough while dreaming). Some of the biggest discoveries come from the subconscious when you take some time off from the problem.

6. Test your output on someone else. Isaac Newton kept his discoveries on gravity and planetary motion locked in a drawer for decades. He had no clue how rare his insight was until Kepler asked to see his results. On the other hand, some inventors think their invention or art is the best thing in the world and resist any feedback from friends before submitting it to the world as-is with flaws.

7. Don't fence me in. As an opposite to #6, don't let friends or critics tell you what you can NOT do. "They may suggest that your creative ideas are impractical and ridiculous because nobody really cares."  While constructive criticism is healthy, avoid negative criticism about what is impossible or unprofitable. They might be right but they might also be wrong and you'll be the one that shows the world something new.

Bottom Line

As Edison quipped in his famous quote, genius (e.g. invention, creativity) takes a lot perspiration. I'm amazed when I visit art museums around the world and keep seeing the "same" paintings. Just how many haystacks and water lilies did Matisse paint? How many bath scenes by Mary Cassatt? These artists did the same subject over and over again to practice their technique, to discover something new. They worked hard for the fame they achieved.

How do you measure success?

"Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t at all. You can be discouraged by failure or you can learn from it, So go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because remember that’s where you will find success." – Thomas J. Watson, IBM CEO

One of our human failings is that we tend to remember wins and forget losses. We take credit for success and blame chance for failure. For example, a study of “professional” sports gamblers revealed that they took credit when their team won. “I knew it.” But when the team lost, it was a “fluke”, or a bad call, or some other rare occurrence. College students when tested, felt sure that they could predict (better than chance) the results of coin tosses. No way would they settle for just 50%.

Because we favor wins over losses, we often place an artificially high standard for success. Professional golfers were asked how often they sank a 6-foot putt in competition. One guessed he sank 91-92%. Another said no one should be considered a pro unless they sank at least 80%. The average, measured at one Pro tournament, was 54%. The Pros, when told, refused to believe the number.

I was reminded of these stories when a friend wrote in her blog that Washington, while a noble man, “also was a poor military strategist, losing many major battles in the war.” I disagreed and did some research. Of the battles Washington commanded, he won 7 out of 13, an average of 54%. Just as reliable as the professional golfers.

I tried googling for statistics on military generals but couldn’t find anything with win-loss ratios. Does history emphasize the final outcome and not the path along the way?

Consider another sport – baseball. A good battling average is .300 while .400 is now considered impossible. This means the best of the best hitters will only suceed every 1 in 3 times at bat. Most will strike out over 70% of the time. Babe Ruth is remembered as a Home Run King. But he was also the Strike-out King of his day with a terrible batting average. For the Babe it was a home run or nothing.

Bottom Line

How should you meaure success? Two ways come to mind.

1. Know what the average success rate is for others. Then you can decide what level you want to compete at – average, top 25%, top 10%, etc.
2. Or forget numbers and consider instead: did you achieve your objective? Washington lost some battles but won the war and earned the respect of leading generals like Napolean. The 300 Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae lost but succeeded in blocking an army of over a million Persians for several days.

What in life would you like to succeed at?

Sticky Ideas

“Even when freshly washed and relieved of all obvious confections, children tend to be sticky.” - Fran Lebowitz

I just finished a great book, listening to the CDs while commuting to work. It’s called “Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die” by Chip and Dan Heath. These brothers studied urban legends, advertising, and successful teachers, scientists, and leaders to find out what makes ideas click with people. Why do you forget your cousin’s phone number but remember word for word a funny story she told you?

The authors found that successful ideas that “worked” often used several of six techniques:

1. Simplicity
   Stick to one core message in plain language. Avoid the “curse of knowledge” and technical jargon.
2. Unexpectedness
   People will quickly forget something that is “common sense” or just plain common. Use uncommon sense and the unexpected instead.
3. Concreteness
   People remember concrete things, not abstract things. Use physical nouns and hit as many senses as you can.
4. Credibility
   Why should people trust your message?
5. Emotions
   Emotions grab the attention and bypasses the analytical brain filters.
6. Stories
   People love, remember and will retell a good story.

Example:
One of the many examples used in the book is Kennedy’s statement, "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth."

Simple? The message in plain language with common words.
Unexpected? It was a shock. No one had done this before and he’s started the clock ticking
Concrete – definitely! “man” to “moon” before the end of “this decade”
Credible? This is the US president setting the goal.
Emotional? Yep – it had “wow” appeal
A story? – in miniature. He’d didn’t just say a man to the moon, but included a safe return to describe a complete journey.

Did this idea stick? Certainly and even beyond Kennedy’s death. It inspired a nation and the goal was met in 1969.

Bottom Line

You might not be a Madison Avenue advertiser but if you are a parent, teacher, coach, team leader at work, etc, then there are times when you need to make a point and want that point to be remembered and followed. This book is filled with great stories and examples of how to make your point successfully.

The PM Survival Guide

"Survive Anything!" - Popular Mechanics

Popular Mechanics, the magazine, maintains an amazing survival guide on their website at www.popularmechanics.com/survival. Topics include:

• How to Survive Anything Mother Nature Throws at You
• 5 Steps to Get Ready for Disaster (Not Stuck in It)
• 22 Steps to Save Yourself When Natural Disaster Hits
• 7 Steps to Eat, Drink and Be Smart When Worse Comes to Worst
• 4 Steps to Power Your Home When the Grid Fails
• 5 Steps to Fix Your Home After a Crisis
• 107 Pieces of Survival Gear for Your Car, Home and To-Go Bag
• The 10 Worst Disasters of the Last 101 Years

Bottom Line

The PM Survival guide also contains several quizzes to test your knowledge. Try them out and see how well prepared you are.