The Stages of Creative Enhancement

There are two common errors that most individuals, including myself, commit when it comes to the development of creative work. For one, we’re easily distracted. As to be expected, it is much easier and gratifying “in the short term to check our email, or sit on the couch and watch Netflix” (Kadavy, 2017). Unbeknownst to us within these moments, these tasks consume our energy and leave small amounts of it behind for our creative endeavors. Secondly, many of us tend to be disorganized to certain extents. We sometimes don’t work according to organized stages and patterns. These two errors in conjunction hinder our creative abilities.

To solve the two problems mentioned above, we must set up organized stages that enhance our creative insights. To help with this, I will refer to David Kadavy’s article, “Arrange your time and tasks according to these seven categories, and you’ll be a creative machine.” Kadavy is the author of the critically acclaimed book, The Heart to Start, and host of the “Love Your Work” podcast where he frequently interviews entrepreneurs and creators about topics surrounding their creative abilities.

Stages That Enhance Our Creative Thinking

According to Kadavy, we should apply the following stages in our lives in order to enhance our creativity:

1. Prioritize

2. Generate

3. Explore

4. Research

5. Recharge

6. Polish

7. Administrate

Prioritize

Kadavy argues that we must prioritize our endeavors. “To have the space for creative work, you need to have a clear picture of what you’re doing in any given moment. The clearer your priorities, the more focused you can be on the task at hand” (Kadavy, 2017). He is basing that off of the scientific fact that the human mind cannot multitask. In other words, in order for your mind to open up to your creative potential, you need to be focused on one activity at a time and eliminate distractions during that time.

Kadavy is spot on when he stresses the importance of prioritization and organization. I have implemented this prioritization stage within my daily routine since the starting of my college career. It has essentially allowed me to organize tasks that I deem important and create schedules to do certain tasks at times I find suitable. This stage allows for the creation of comfortable spaces in which I am always devoted to one activity at a certain time, which enhances my creative processes as my mind favors working on one assignment at a time as opposed to juggling many assignments simultaneously.

Generate

After the completion of our schedules, Kadavy suggests that we should generate ideas about the tasks we’ve prioritized. He states, “Great insights certainly come randomly, so this is why you need to roll the dice as many times as possible. Build a creative habit. Make a daily deliverable, whether it’s 100-words a day, a 30-second song, or a new twist on a Negroni” (2017). In other words, in order to generate creative insights, you need to experiment and do daily creative activities prior to your main tasks. The activities essentially turn into habits that open up your mind to the formation of creative insights. These activities allow you to build a sense of comfort with the larger tasks at hand and allow you to smoothly transition into the creative procedures that relate to the tasks.

Kaday is completely right about his depiction of this stage. With my limited experience with deliverables, I can safely say that they are beneficial in enhancing creativity. Being told to free write in English classes prior to beginning discussions about the actual topics of the classes has led me to creatively think about problems when they are later presented and formulate creative solutions for those problems. Doing simple math problems to build confidence and comfort has led me to think of creative solutions when I encounter difficult problems afterwards.

Explore

Moving on from the generation stage, Kadavy formulates that the exploration of the ideas related to your tasks “can fuel you to work harder, it can take you to uncharted territory, and following your curiosity can replenish your creative energy” (2017). Simply put, in order to reach the peaks of your creativity with the tasks you’ve prioritized, you need to explore ideas that are unorthodox. Breaking out of your bubble and introducing yourself to new ideas can allow you to combine, insert, and delete aspects of ideas to eventually come up with immense creative insights.

In my opinion, this stage is important in most, if not all, aspects of life. The ability to explore and venture off into the unknown to discover new concepts and designs is beneficial for all as it results in the growth of people and their intellectually creative capabilities.

Research

In terms of research, Kadavy wrote, “To solve a creative problem, you have to learn whatever you can about that problem…When you Research after you Generate, you answer the questions you encountered while trying to solve the problem” (2017). Put another way, research should be conducted after attempts to have been made to solve the problem. This way, a sense of familiarity has been developed with the problem which could lead individuals to conduct research in creative manners to come up with unique solutions.

This is exactly how research should be done on all tasks. Kadavy’s research suggestion can allow us to completely grasp the details of our problems and concoct great solutions to them. Examples of this include our practice plans for school-related tests. We can view our practice exams or textbook questions as diagnostic tasks. They serve the purpose of familiarizing us with the problems and concepts that will be present in our incoming exams. Whatever concepts we find troublesome within the diagnostic tasks, we can conduct research on them to better understand them.

Recharge

In relation to rest, Kadavy states, “When you rest, you allow your unconscious mind to work on your creative problems. You also refuel your energy to Priorities clearly, and Generate smoothly” (2017). In simpler terms, sleep is needed for creativity to function at its highest potential. Without sleep, our organizational skills along with our creative abilities will be hindered.

If you’ve read my last blog post, you will understand that I have value sleep in high regards. Kadavy is completely right when he stresses the importance of rest. As mentioned in my last blog post, sleep deprivation significantly reduces our creative capabilities and impedes our success with tasks that require creative insights.

Polish

When Kadavy mentions the stage of polish, he states, “A great idea won’t work if you don’t execute it well…When you Polish, the crusty rocks you mined while Generating, transform into gleaming gems” (2017). In other words, a creative idea isn’t ever complete when it’s generated. Like many things, it needs to be revised and edited to remove any potential errors that exist.

Kadavy is brilliant for including this stage in his written piece. He knows that even the most creative ideas have errors, whether they be minor or major. Any work can be improved through constructive criticism, self-review, etc. Through the process of revision, a piece of work gains the ability to reach for perfection.

Administrative

Within the last stage, Kadavy stresses the importance of balancing our priorities. He states, “There are bills to pay, invoices to send, and lightbulbs to change. When you Administrate, you make it all work, so you can keep doing what you’re doing” (2017). In other words, there are many tasks that relate to these creative stages. We are responsible for fulfilling these tasks in creative manners regardless of how abundant the work may seem.

This final stage is quite possibly the most important one. Implementing the previous stages into a singular task is easy but life doesn’t consist of only one task. The difficulty increases when you have to implement all of these stages in multiple tasks. We are required to do a multitude of assignments on a daily basis and we have to find ways to implement our creativity within those assignments. We have to be efficient and creative simultaneously as that is the only way our creative potential will flourish.

References:

Kadavy, D. (2017, July 28). Arrange your time and tasks according to these seven categories, and you’ll be a creativity machine. [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://medium.com/the-mission/arrange-your-time-and-tasks-according-to-these-seven-categories-and-youll-be-a-creativity-machine-b142d2fff65