Curiosity fuels creativity – exploring unrelated stimulus and being open to where new ideas might come from generates fresh thinking. It’s all about being conscious of your surroundings, noticing things and making interesting connections every day, in and out of work.
Of course, this is much quicker and easier in the digital age. It’s hard to remember when Google wasn’t one’s first port of call for pitch research, patient insights came from market research not Twitter, and when it took six months to get an advisory board together IN PERSON rather than via Google+.
But magic still happens in the physical as well as the virtual world. On a recent work trip to San Fran, a little black book on sale at the airport jumped out to me, and ‘Steal Like An Artist’ is now one of my most inspirational reads. It was a case of being in the right place at the right time and being open to what was around.
The author is Austin Kleon and here are his easily applied top tips for being creative.
1. Steal like an artist. The artist is a collector. When you see something you love, put it in your collection and save it for a time when you might need a little inspiration.
2. Don’t wait until you know who you are to get started. Copy your heroes. Examine where you fall short and how you are different. Use the difference to transform your own work.
3. Write the book you want to read. In short, do the work you want to see done. Design the campaigns you want to work on.
4. Use your hands. Use computers to edit work but don’t generate ideas sat in front of a screen. Get out and about. Bring an idea to life by making it real.
5. Side projects and hobbies are important. Practice productive procrastination. Don’t rush to implement the first idea you come up with.
6. Do good work and share it with people. Your initial idea is going to be even better if you give people an opportunity to build on it.
7. Geography is no longer our master. Your brain gets too comfortable in its everyday surroundings. Embrace flexible working. Get out of the office. Travel.
8. Be nice (the world is a small town). You are only as good as the people you surround yourself with. To be creative, you need curiosity, stamina, a willingness to look stupid and kindness. Don’t get frustrated if people don’t get your concept first time. Show patience and focus on your internal conviction not on getting external validation.
9. Be boring (it’s the only way to get work done). Embrace the routine – it frees you up to have an active imagination.
10. Creativity is subtraction. Chose what to leave out. Don’t get stuck on ideas. Accept that 10% of the ideas you’ve had are going to win the pitch and be gracious about letting the other 90% go (along with all the blood, sweat and tears that went into their development).