Curiosity Over Creativity
How to conquer your creative stress
In his prolific lifetime, Isaac Asimov wrote nearly 500 books on topics ranging from his beloved science fiction series to a two-volume work explaining the collected literature of William Shakespeare to a reader’s guidebook to the Bible.
Yet whenever he was asked which his favorite book was, he often joked, “the last one I’ve written.” He wasn’t a scientist or a theologian or a literary critic. He was simply a writer with an incredible curiosity for ideas.
Recently the MIT Technology Review published a long-forgotten essay written by Asimov back in 1959 about the creative process and how people get new ideas.
His writing offers a glimpse into the often ignored difference between creativity and innovation.
“The great ideas of the ages have come from people who weren’t paid to have great ideas, but were paid to be teachers or patent clerks or petty officials, or were not paid at all. The great ideas came as side issues. To feel guilty because one has not earned one’s salary because one has not had a great idea is the surest way, it seems to me, of making it certain that no great idea will come in the next time either.”
Today there are plenty of people who have a job responsibility for creativity. They are called Creative Directors, or Designers, or just plain “creatives” — a random designation the advertising industry routinely applies to separate those who are allowed to develop ideas and those who aren’t.
All of these artificial barriers around creativity make it seem like a goal in itself. We sometimes believe all of our problems would fix themselves if we could just become more creative.
Sadly, this logic is flawed.
More creativity often leads only to more noise. Brainstorms generate dozens of unrealized ideas. The ease of self-publishing leads to a ubiquity of mindless babbling books. All in a naïve quest for more creativity.
What if we focused on teaching and celebrating curiosity instead?
When noted chef and food pioneer Ferran Adrià was once asked what he likes to have for breakfast, his reply was simple: “I like to eat a different fruit every day of the month.”
Imagine if you were able to do that with ideas.
Part of being curious is asking questions to earn greater knowledge of the world, even if that knowledge doesn’t seem immediately useful. In other words, curiosity means seeking and acquiring useless knowledge.
Curious people save ideas the way travelers collect frequent flier miles — as momentary rewards for later redemption. The patterns linking these ideas together often emerges only with time and thoughtful contemplation.
The real key to innovation may lie less in the theatrical white board ideation session, and more in the simple choice to embrace our own curiosity in those moments when it is most easily forgotten. So how can we best do this?
✓ Consume “Brainful Media”
Sadly we are surrounded with “brainless media,” including reality shows featuring unlikeable people doing unlikeable things (sometimes on islands, sometimes in our backyards). While sometimes entertaining, brainless media also encourages vegetation instead of curiosity. Curiosity is far better developed by consuming “brainful media,” such as a short documentary film or an inspirational 17-minute talk from TED.com.
✓ Empathize With Magazines
Curiosity comes from seeing the world through someone else’s eyes, even if it’s uncomfortable. I often use niche magazines to learn about unfamiliar things. Simply walking into the magazine section of a bookstore or visiting www.magazines.com offers plenty of options. For example, The Progressive Farmer, Model Railroader and House Beautiful are three vastly different magazines. Flipping through the stories, advertisements and imagery in each will do more to take you outside of your own world than almost any other quick and easy activity.
We as people are naturally curious. At times, embracing that curiosity can take a backseat to the expectation of being more creative. If that creative guilt comes, learn to take a step back. Pick up a random magazine or buy a fruit you’ve never had. Learn to ask a question instead of answering one. And always choose to be curious.
Excerpted from the new Wall Street Journal bestselling book Non-Obvious: How To Think Different, Curate Ideas & Predict The Future by Rohit Bhargava, from Ideapress.
Available for purchase from Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
Rohit Bhargava is a trend curator and the author of five bestselling books on how to create more human brands and less faceless organizations. The annual result of his curiosity and idea collection is his “Non-Obvious Trend Report,” which features 15 new trends changing how we buy, sell, or believe anything — and has been downloaded and read more than half a million times.
