Creativity.. Tasting the word, it almost feels magic. It brings about change, new ways of working, new products, walking on the moon, Iphones, new food, reorganizations, bio fuel, etc etc – actually it impacts us wherever we look and whatever we do. Maybe you also feel pressure to be more creative at work? Invent new things or new ways of working? Or design a killer presentation that impresses everyone?
Through one of my coaching networks I stumbled over a video of John Cleese, talking about creativity. “Great, a creativity guru, must be good!” Other than getting a good laugh, I did feel quite encouraged after the 36-minute video and I would like to share my take-aways with you.
- The good news for me was that according to Cleese creativity is not a “talent”. You learn it and you need to get into “operation mode”.
- The most creative minds are those who enjoy what they do, they just play – even playing without purpose.
- This playing gets you into an “open mode”, and this is where ideas are created. And to get into an open mode, you need space and time. You set a start time and a finish time for your open mode – and this is your oasis (can only be disturbed if the building burns down).
- Running around ticking off actions on your lists, will most likely not get you into an open mode.. (guilty as charged)
- You also need “closed mode”, which is typically the action mode; you action your ideas.
- There is no “bad” idea, or “impossible” or “crazy”. Nothing is “wrong”, it’s just part of the process. Use your intuition.
- Humor helps! And to have the confidence to laugh about your mistakes.
This makes me think of the terms we use in coaching; “doing” versus “being”. In our busy, frenzy modern world being contactable everywhere any time, we are mostly into the “doing”. Whereas how I understand Cleese, creativity comes from the “being”. You need space and time.. And it is possible to create that space and time, it is a matter of organizing your day, e.g. blocking parts of your agenda, at work and home. The way I see it, there may be more benefits from creating “open mode” time; what comes to mind is feeling joyful and being more in balance – shutting out the “noise”. Actually, “shutting out the noise” may also lead to being more effective. Not to mention humour, humour gives energy. Lots of positive effects here, I’m getting creative just thinking about it!
If you would like to see the video, you can tap in “John Cleese on Creativity” on YouTube, there is a 36-mins version and a 10-mins version.
