How to avoid inadvertently draining your creativity in 2023
In the age of reels and TikTok a spark of creativity can light up the internet and create a whole new fad in just a few minutes….
Anyone with a camera and at least some observational awareness of the quirks and peculiarities that humans possess has at least a good shot at going viral.
But, before you know it everyone has jumped on the bandwagon and parodied the idea into submission.
The meme gets repetitive strain injury and eventually we get bored.
Iteration after inane iteration strips away the ingenuity of real creativity to its bare bones and reveals just the husk of an original idea…
After that, all that remains is a one-dimensional, second-hand impression of culture as conspicuous in its amateurishness as that monkey Christ fresco in Valencia.
Poor monkey….
Maybe short-form, click-bait content is not the best place to go looking for examples of genuine creativity in the first place.
And yet, there are still moments of innovation and novelty that catch us pleasantly off-guard as we are stirred from the mindless scrolling that characterizes our generation.
I may be a year late to the party but on the eve of Blue Monday, my spirits were momentarily lifted by the collaborative compilation “TikTok guy holds his girlfriend hostage”.
It perfectly encapsulates the power of associative thinking — the free-flowing, non-linear web of ideas and that arises from compound creativity — put more simply, collaboration.
Collaboration was once the bedrock of any successful creative project — from comedy troupes and circus shows to ad agencies and screenwriters guilds it was an invaluable tool that could leverage, magnify and regenerate ideas like an infinite glitch.
That heady cocktail of neurochemicals that comes from working creatively with others will reap exponential rewards and just can’t be replaced through solitary work.
But, as we’ve spent more time alone over the last few years, it seems to be losing vogue to more self-important tendencies.
The holier-than-thou, self-proclaimed ‘monk-mode’ purists and other internet-lurking detractors will say:
- that over-stimulation is the antithesis of creativity.
- that you should rid yourself entirely of cheap dopamine and work alone
- and that to be truly creative you have to get really really… bored.
As someone who has spent a lot of time alone over the last few years, I couldn’t agree less. Let me explain…
The Wellspring of Creativity
From the visual masterpieces of Quattrocento Florence through to hi-tech breakthroughs in Silicon valley, collaborative networks have long served as a barometer against closed-mindedness and rigid ways of thinking.
The crowd-sourced pooling of new, untested (and often left-of-field) ideas provides a steady stream of novel ideas that can be road-tested and tweaked along the way.
Allowing input from others and tinkering with an idea collectively allows for the possibility that maybe our perspective is not necessarily the best one…?
By tapping into collective intuition, group flow states and emotional intelligence, the collaborative process reaps huge rewards in creativity by giving us exponential content to work with.
At it’s core, divergent thinking or associative thinking is just that — the ability to indulge our expressive qualities and solve problems in a less prescriptive way.
Similarly, when we are not focused exclusively on results, but self-expression and experimentation (i.e play with others), we start to find patterns and correlations between disparate ideas as others bridge the gaps that our minds can’t bridge alone.
So how do we work with others to tap into our innate child-like creativity and move away from regressive, solution-based problem solving?
Here are three tips that might just get those synapses firing together…
Join an Improv. Group
Once the preserve of drama societies and Edinburgh Fringe matinees, the benefits of joining an improvisation group are becoming slowly unavoidable to rigid thinkers and introverts alike.
With collective vulnerability and an absence of judgement something incredible happens — ideas flow uninhibited.
In various games, participants are encouraged to build on the contributions of others and find ways to incorporate suggestions into a sketch rather than shutting them down. ‘Yes and…’ is one of the most enduring games in which “no” is just not an option, leading to a radical synthesis of ideas, and positive feedback loops.
This creates a virtuous cycle of group flow in which the sense of self diminishes and a shared common purpose is elevated. When it is easier to collaborate and develop a concept than it is to shut it down Linguistic Determinism kicks in.
It shouldn’t need to be added- please don’t take your half-baked improv. show to the masses. This is for you, not for them.
They’ll do better finding out about the rewards of group flow on their own…
Embrace Linguistic Determinism
The richness of the English language is something that we take for granted. The sheer number of descriptive permutations available leaves non-native speakers bewildered.
At the same time, if language is a tool, the structures of which can limit or empower the identity of the speaker, then English speakers have a winning ticket.
We all perceive the world differently and our choice of vocabularly reflects this. Collaboration with others who have their own, organic lexicons acquired through a lifetime of experiences can lead to rapid learning and exponential creativity.
Through one’s ability to articulate clearly and expressively seemingly unrelated ideas and theories can be conflated, creating something original altogether.
Additionally, when we are in a state of flow we instinctively become more confident in our skills and assertive with others.
In this state, the words we use begin to change and imagination starts to take over. The richness of the English language in particular, when used in a persuasive way to motivate and inspire others is a force to be reckoned with.
Although this can and has been used for maleficence, it’s clear that LD brings net gains when used creatively in collaboration with others for blue sky thinking and innovative practices.
If you’re not clicking with people creatively, you’re not using language that resonates with them.
Switch up your environment
There is a correlation that exists between entrepreneurs and digital nomads that goes beyond ones ability to earn money remotely.
Any self-made business owner may proudly share that adaptability, anti-fragility, and agility are the only A’s that they have to their name in their rise to the top. What this alliteration really highlights is an ability to move freely between locations, circles and social dynamics. Exposure to new places inevitably leads to exposure to new people and people have their own ideas.
We know already, from the oft-cited Atomic Habits how a curated environment can cultivate virtuous behaviours but with rock hard habits comes calcified thought patterns and feedback loops.
Linear behaviours engender brittle, linear thinking.
Diverse environments lead to diverging people and thus divergent thinking.
When lock-down mark one brought the world to a grinding halt in March 2020, I, like many tourism professionals went from working on my feet with new people every day to a zoom goblin almost overnight.
In the grand scheme of things, losing my newly created business was irritating, but losing the privileged access I gained to spontaneous interactions, novel stimulation and serendipity on a daily basis was catastrophic.
Hindsight is truly sardonic — take recessions for example; we will only know for sure if we are in one right now in about six months time. Similarly the free-lancing lone-wolf may realise too little too late that their real purpose and lifeblood is derived from feeding others first.
Working remotely as a freelancer is now almost universally touted as being the holy grail of flexible working for the creative, discerning professional.
And yet, it is just possible that we’ve thrown the baby out with the bathwater.
