So when I say, create
an oasis of quiet, know that when you have - your mind will pretty soon
start racing again!
But you're not going to take that very seriously. You just sit there for a bit tolerating the
racing and the slight anxiety that comes with that...and after a time your mind
will quiet down again.
Now. Because it takes
some time for your mind to quiet down it's absolutely no use arranging a space/time oasis lasting 30 minutes -
because just as you're getting quieter and getting into the Open Mode you have
to stop and that is very deeply frustrating.
So you must allow yourself a good chunk of time. I'd suggest
about an hour and a half. Then after you've gotten to the Open Mode - you'll
have about an hour left for something to happen. IF you're lucky.
But. Don't put a
whole morning aside. My experience is that after about an hour-and-a-half you
need a break.
So it's far better to do an hour-and-a-half now and then an
hour-and-a-half next Thursday and maybe an hour-and-a-half the week after that
- than to fix one four-and-a-half hour session now.
There's another reason for that. And that's factor number three - Time!
Yes, I know we've just done time. But that was HALF of creating our oasis.
Now I'm going to tell you about how to use the oasis that
you've created.
Why do you still need time?
Well, let me tell you a story. I was always intrigued that
one of my Monty Python colleagues who seemed to be - to me - more talented than
I was - did never produce scripts as original as mine.
And I watched for some time and then I began to see why. If he
was faced with a problem - and fairly soon saw a solution - he was inclined to
take it. Even though, I think, he knew the solution was not very original.
Whereas if I was in the same situation - although I was
sorely tempted to take the easy way out and finish by 5 o'clock - I just
couldn't. I'd sit there with the problem for another hour-and-a-quarter, and by
sticking at it would, in the end, almost always come up with something more
original.
It was that simple. My
work was more creative than his simply because I was prepared to stick with the
problem longer.
So imagine my excitement when I found that this was exactly
what MacKinnon found in his research!
He discovered that the most creative professionals always
played with a problem for much longer before they tried to resolve it - because
they were prepared to tolerate that slight discomfort ...this anxiety ....that
we all experience when we haven't solved a problem.
You know - I mean - if we have a problem and we need to
solve it...until we do we feel -inside us - a kind of internal agitation. A tension - or an uncertainty - that makes us
just plain uncomfortable.
And we want to get rid of that discomfort. So, in order to
do so, we take a decision. Not because we're sure it's the best decision - but
because taking it will make us feel better.
Well. The most
creative people have learned to tolerate that discomfort for much longer. And
so - just because they put in more pondering time - their solutions are more
creative.
Now the people I find it hardest to be creative with are
people who need all the time to
project an image of themselves as decisive.
And who feel that to create this image they need to decide everything
very quickly and with a great show of confidence.
Well. This behavior I
suggest sincerely - is the most effective way of strangling creativity at
birth.
But please note; I'm not arguing against real decisiveness.
I'm a hundred percent in favor of taking a decision when it has to be taken -
and then sticking to it while it is being implemented.
What I'm suggesting to you is that, before you take a
decision, you should always ask yourself the question; "When does this
decision have to be taken?"
And having answered that - you defer the decision until then
- in order to give yourself maximum pondering time...which will lead you to the
most creative solution.
And IF - while you're pondering - somebody accuses you of indecision
say, "Look, Babycakes! I don't have
to decide 'til Tuesday, and I'm not chickening out of my creative discomfort by
taking a snap decision before then. That's
too easy."
So, to summarize: the third factor that facilitates
creativity is time, giving your mind as long as possible to come up with
something original.