Creativity is like Sudoku
“…it’s like Sudoku” is a phrase I'm told I’ve been using somewhat often recently. Oddly, I don’t even play Sudoku. The point is, it’s a problem that can’t be solved all at once; you just have to start. Somewhere, anywhere. And have your eraser handy. The phrase comes from a zefrank video, which is easily one of my favorite descriptions and analogies for the creative process:I’m interested in this…confidence to start things, because I look at creative projects like they were Sudoku puzzles: you can stare at them as long as you like but you won’t suddenly see all the numbers. You have to start. You have to find one box to fill in, and from that, another one reveals itself. You might not be able to solve all of them, but as long as you know its possible, you’ll keep trying. And no matter how many you solve, each new one begins with a bunch of empty spaces. [02:24-02:50]
If you haven’t seen it, the entire video is really a great listen.
I got thinking about the video again recently after hearing Mitchell Resnick, from the Lifelong Kindergarten group at MIT, speak about the work they are doing to help children grow their creative mind. He stated “At the root of creative thinking is the ability to create”. I believe this was in the spirit of what zefrank is saying, but I wanted to exchange the word ‘ability’ in favor of ‘willingness’. The sort of research on creativity that zefrank points to in his monologue emphasizes the importance of self-motivation in creative acts:
“…the intrinsically motivated state is essential for high levels of creativity…” Teresa Amabile, Creativity in Context, p. 102
Further, not only does external motivation not help, it can even have the opposite effect.
While a person’s natural capacity for divergent thinking surely has an effect on the level of originality, when comes at least to basic creativity it seems that the belief that one is – or is not - creative is a self-fulfilling prophecy. You just have to be willing to try, to start.
I'm supposed to be creative for a living. But it's impossible to be motivated every moment of everyday. Motivation can easily be swayed by disinterest in projects, personal distractions, mood, weather... Reflecting on my own moments of creative ebb at work, lack of motivation, not muse, is really at the heart. I've found that the best way to cheat this is to create artificial project deadlines, or promptly schedule work sessions with team members. Basically, force myself to start. Yes, technically it's an external motivation to begin, but I know that at least once I start, solutions will appear and the satisfaction in making new things and ideas will slowly impel real internal motivation, obsession. Start.
Labels: creativity
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