A popular post on the blog of designer Jared Sinclair offers guidance to anyone interested in fresh thinking. Creative, fresh thinking is what the IdeaFestival is all about, so naturally we thought we'd share it with you.
Here's a snippet:
Creativity is a way of operating, a habit of the mind — not a talent. When you grasp this fact, it becomes painfully clear that the way we organize our time and our interactions with colleagues often undermines the very creativity we’re supposedly chasing after.
Creative sessions should be kept formally separate from the hurried mundanity of getting things done. When we need to solve a problem that requires creativity, we should deliberately shut out all of that noise and stress. For a clearly-defined interval of time — Cleese suggests an hour and a half — we enter a state of humorous, open-ended play. Within this cocoon of play, we strive to think of as many ways to view a problem as we can muster.
The point is not to solve the problem (though that will eventually happen), but merely to explore it. The urge to find a decision and pass judgement will destroy the fragile creative process.
The blog post reminded us of a talk that Jamie Holmes will deliver at IdeaFestival 2016 on the value of uncertainty. Don't miss him!
Read Sinclair's post after the jump.
Stay curious™
Wayne