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This is how I began to discover that, if I put the work in before going to bed, I often had a little creative idea overnight,
the creative architects knew how to play.
the creative architects always deferred making decisions for as long as they were allowed.
The greatest killer of creativity is interruption.
that time is running out, or that you don’t think you’re clever enough to solve whatever problem it is that you’re trying to deal with.
You create boundaries of space to stop others interrupting you.
You create boundaries of time, by arranging, for a specific period, to preserve your boundaries of space.
that the longer you sit there, the more your mind slows and calms down and settles. Once
When we’re trying to be creative, there’s a real lack of clarity during most of the process. Our rational, analytical
The Buddhists have a phrase for this—“Beginner’s Mind”—expressing
We came to understand that the blockages weren’t an interruption in the process, they were part of it.
Gregory Bateson once said, “You can’t have a new idea ’til you’ve got rid of an old one.”
“Brevity is the soul of wit.”
Your thoughts follow your mood
when people become absolutely certain that they know what they’re doing, their creativity plummets.
The trouble is that most people want to be right. The very best people, however, want to know if they’re right. That’s
Kill your darlings
As to when you should seek a second opinion, my view is that you should do so when you have reached a point of sufficient clarity for someone else’s judgement to be of practical help.
If you’re writing a narrative, tell the rough outline to someone. Take note of when they lose interest. That’s where the story’s gone wrong!
