Having met and been exposed to some of the most innovative and creative people around during my time with the IdeaFestival, I like occasionally to reflect on what I've learned. A couple years ago I put it this way in a post, "The IdeaFestival Is about "This Too.'"
I've learned from many people at the IdeaFestival. From Nassim Nicholas Taleb, I learned history will occasionally deliver overwhelming news from the clear blue. It just happens. I learned from Jane McGonigal that games can be used to make a better reality rather than as a means of escape. I learned from Teller that knowing secrets behind the curtain didn't diminish the joy of staring slack jawed at dancing golden spheres. I learned from Burt Rutan that with supreme imagination and determination, we can trip to space in safety and return in comfort. Someday, I'll do that. The elfin and poised Daniel Tammet argued during the most recent IdeaFestival that when we think in similes and puns, we're thinking not unlike a savant. I learned that his prodigious mathematical and language abilities are not so far removed from yours or mine.
I learned that there isn't a mind to waste....
So in the spirit of the holiday, today I wanted to pass along some of the things I've learned while working with the IdeaFestival.
Whether one is an entrepreneur or artist, productivity comes from habits and routines. Work matters. Creative productivity, however, often comes from changing up the routine. Creativity Post:
The best ideas come from living life. From talking to others, reading, and watching and trying and testing and traveling and experimenting. Even an interaction at the grocery store or an observation at school can be the seed for an article or research inquiry or character background, if I’m paying attention.
It reminded me that discomfort will often let you in on a secret, if you're paying attention.
Breakthroughs are not about process, but changing a mindset, about looking at the same problem from a different angle, as Kris Kimel talked about in this video. For any business, an over-reliance on process can leave it vulnerable to the change it didn't see coming. Yes, you get more of what you measure. But not everything of value can be measured.
From entrepreneurs, I've learned that an abilty to concisely and memorably explain an idea is the difference between having it remembered in the future and having it forgotten. As an introvert, I'm still working on speaking up - as well as unapologetically spending the time alone that will let me be my best.
From Stephen Cave and other philosophers who have appeared at the IdeaFestival, I've learned that reason can take one anywhere, that uncertainty is a friend, doubt a friendly antagonist and that a radical skepticism should be avoided. Belief is indispensable.
It's just about putting one foot in front of the other.
From IdeaFestival 2013 speaker Maria Konnikova, I learned that observation is still the most useful and accessible of tools, if we can but manage to live in the moment. In an age of endless distraction, it's not as easy as it sounds.
Daunting challenges are conquered one step a time. From Philippe Petit I learned that it's the first - and last - steps that matter most.
Watching the fantastic Creative Capital artist Robert Karimi (pictured here) in October, I realized that enthusiasm flowing from a love for what you are enthusiastic about can win over an audience.
In the midst of dire statistics about growing economic inequality, I learned from Tyler Cowen that because information is so widely available, the humanities (and some technical expertise), may be more important than ever. For this humanities major, that observation was comforting.
From Oliver Burkeman, I learned that at the summit of human kind is not happiness, but meaning, which can be had in nearly any circumstance. And from interative artist Raphael Lozano-Hemmer I learned that the pleasure of great art isn't isn't about information. It's about communion, about a set shared experiences. What we know depends in part on how long we can sit quietly with each other.
I've learned that poets are systems thinkers and that One Big Idea can be all consuming, if not an outright danger, because creativity and new beginnings can mean, and so often do mean, letting go of ideas.
Have a great weekend!
Stay curious.
Wayne
Image: Geoff Oliver Bugbee