Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide

by John Cleese

Donald MacKinnon asked a number of architects whom they considered to be the most creative ones in their profession. Then he went to these “creative” architects and asked them to describe to him what they did, from the moment they got up in the morning to the moment they went to bed at night. And then he went to a number of uncreative architects (though he didn’t tell them that that was why he was talking to them) and asked them exactly the same question. The conclusion he came to was that there were only two differences between the creative and the uncreative architects. The first was that the creative architects knew how to play. The second was that the creative architects always deferred making decisions for as long as they were allowed.

Children at play are totally spontaneous. They are not trying to avoid making mistakes. They don’t observe rules. It would be stupid to say to them, “No, you’re not doing that right.” At the same time, because their play has no purpose, they feel utterly free from anxiety (perhaps because adults are keeping an eye on the real world for them). Most adults, by contrast, find it hard to be playful—no doubt because they have to take care of all the responsibilities that come with an adult’s life. Creative adults, however, have not forgotten how to play. Now, let’s look at the second characteristic of the creative architects. Most people are very surprised to learn that this involves deferring decisions for as long as possible. Doesn’t this mean that creative architects are, by definition, indecisive? Isn’t that a bit impractical and unrealistic? No! It simply means they are able to tolerate that vague sense of discomfort that we all feel, when some important decision is left open, because they know that an answer will eventually present itself. Let me elaborate. I once wrote a script for a training film about decision-making, and talked to various experts on the subject. They explained to me that if you have a decision to make, the first question you must ask is: “When does this decision have to be made?” You live in the real world, so there is always a cut-off point. But once it’s been agreed when that real-world decision has to happen, why make it before the deadline arrives...

The greatest killer of creativity is interruption. It pulls your mind away from what you want to be thinking about. Research has shown that, after an interruption, it can take eight minutes for you to return to your previous state of consciousness, and up to twenty minutes to get back into a state of deep focus.

But perhaps the biggest interruption coming from your inside is caused by your worrying about making a mistake. This can paralyse you. “Oh,” you say to yourself, “I mustn’t think that because it might be WRONG.” Let me reassure you. When you’re being creative there is no such thing as a mistake.

As a general rule, when people become absolutely certain that they know what they’re doing, their creativity plummets. This is because they think they have nothing more to learn. Once they believe this, they naturally stop learning and fall back on established patterns. And that means they don’t grow.