The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Creative Mind (Blackout Poetry Project — Part 2)
Never forget your towel.
“The world is a thing of utter inordinate complexity and richness and strangeness that is absolutely awesome. I mean the idea that such complexity can arise not only out of such simplicity, but probably absolutely out of nothing, is the most fabulous extraordinary idea. And once you get some kind of inkling of how that might have happened, it’s just wonderful. And … the opportunity to spend 70 or 80 years of your life in such a universe is time well spent as far as I am concerned.” ~ Douglas Adams
Orderly chaos.
Predictable unpredictability.
Definable infinitude.
The universe is a personification of oxymorons.
So is the creative process.
The parallels that could be drawn between the two realms are limitless, and it more than justifies the reason to gather creativity lessons from the abode of constellations.
And what better place to mine for such intergalactic wisdom, than the breathtaking work of genius, that gave the “Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything”, for the “Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything”?
Grab your spacesuits, because we’re about to hitchhike our way through the marvelous world of Douglas Noel Adams, with his hidden lessons to guide us through every step of the creative endeavor.
(Note: In Part 1 of the Blackout Poetry Project, Lewis Carroll took us through his Wonderland, revealing his own set of hidden nuggets of wisdom for the product folks. Head here to get them.)
1. Uncertainty
“Breathe, smile, and get on with the change. To get through an illusion, all you need is time.”
Every one starts with a blank page. But only those who keep doing what they do, persistently — instead of waiting for the muse to smile upon them — will fill up the black page and move on to the next. And the next. And the next.
2. Serendipity
The secret home of Gold is conveniently zipped between a string of meaningless coincidences.
What may seem as utterly random and asynchronous events, are in fact levers that are nurturing and shaping a yet-to-be-revealed idea.
3. Collecting the Dots
Stolen, buried thoughts, at that precise moment, stumbled, recovered, burst and explained a new piece of reason.
If creativity is all about connecting the dots, then one must, in the first place, have those very dots to connect. As a wise man once said, creativity is like breathing — you need to inhale new experiences, in order to exhale new ideas.
4. Boredom
The remarkable had moved out. The interesting had found the ceiling. The moment stared at itself, as it had earned something to connect with.
The exciting beginning paves the way for the humdrum middle. The in-between of things. The inescapable treading of the elephant herd of minutes. But it’s precisely this monotonous counsel of boredom, that our work cannot do without.
For boredom is an invasion of time into your set of values. It puts your existence into its proper perspective, the net result of which is precision and humility. The former, it must be noted, breeds the latter. The more you learn about your own size, the more humble and the more compassionate you become to your likes, to the dust aswirl in a sunbeam or already immobile atop your table. ~ Joseph Brodsky
5. Perspective
While the crew was simply finding something to land on, the ship’s Chief identified solid gold.
Creativity is about looking at the same things that others are looking at, but with a different eye.
Insight comes, more often than not, from looking at what’s been on the table all along, in front of everybody, rather than from discovering something new. ~ David McCullough.
6. Change
The galaxy made a bona fide attempt to sound frightening. The window of change knew that it had the opposite effect to the one intended.
“It cannot be done.” “It doesn’t work around these parts.”
When you understand what has to be true, for you to be able to bring about the change that you seek, the summing up of outside opinion is futile.
7. Futility
Failure and futility beamed happily for a few moments. The idea did press-ups, finished working out, and took to jumping in again.
Whenever things look bleak, and you find yourself in a blind alley, just remember, that “every step and misstep is a step forward” to your future.
8. Mistakes
Days drift deep in the inky blackness of an unexpected error. Late one night, a soul, silent and alone, starts to edge in the direction of discovering the wonderful.
Setbacks should not blunt our determination. A way out, no matter how elusive it might seem, is always in order. Keep. Striving.
9. Revolution
The barrage of disbelief flipped backwards and forwards in consternation. An unnamed reach for revolution was beginning in earnest. The past muttered in its deep guttural rumble, “What’s that?”
The shedding of disbelief is hard.
From an old lens, change can seem unreal. The past, in its timely gestures, tries to restrict us to what was possible. But we must learn to see, for the same past holds the stories that render us enchanted with the language of what is possible.
10. Satisfaction
“There you are sir,” said the sudden sensation of great stress. Life communicates the possible with a sense of respect for the long trek to satisfaction.
Stress, of a sort, is good. Just hold on to your towel.
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Akash and Sadhana are product marketers at Chargebee. You’ll find them writing about the lessons, observations, and stories on the business of SaaS on the Chargebee blog.
