Timeless Mission 4: CREATIVITY
This week, we dive into a subject that has puzzled many before. Will we find some timeless material? Let’s find out.
Dear timeless peeps,
Do you think you’re “born” as a creative person? Is it genetically determined? Or can it be learned and practiced?
If you believe the first, I’ll save you 5 minutes: this one is not for you.
I believe the second. I believe that creativity is a muscle which can be developed and trained.
Why?
- I’ve personally seen examples of people who went from total nobheads to highly creative, out-of-the-box thinkers.
- There have been periods in my life where I felt very inspired and creative; but more periods where I was in “auto-pilot” mode. And I could never really explain why.
Why is this important?
- Even if you’re not in a “creative profession”: creativity is about being ingenious. This is applicable everywhere. If you master this, you can handle any situation in life.
- Oh yes, it can also postpone the robots taking your job by another 15 years or so. Might become a life-or-death situation ;-)
Reason enough to dig in and find some great material on the interwebz.
Join us!
I’m lining up my 5 favorites on Creativity, but it’s not Timeless-worthy yet.
If you remember an interesting piece, don’t hesitate to upload it in our database! You might get featured in next week’s blog…
My 5 Timeless Favorites on Creativity:
- Creative Confidence
You Exec (2015), 8min read
This is actually a summary of Creative Confidence, an amazing book on how to build up your creative muscle. The headline ideas are in the summary. If it tickles you, I would encourage to check the book aswell: there’s some gold in there! - Fear of bad ideas
Seth Godin (2009), 1min read
1 minute!! Simple ideas are always the best. According to Seth, bad ideas are also good. Because they’re necessary evil to create good ideas. Don’t let them scare you away! - How to be Creative
PBS (2013), 9min watch
A great little edit of 4 different perspectives on the creative process. My main takeaway: creativity is a process, it’s not magic. The process is different for everyone. However, there are principles & tricks that can guide you through. 9 minutes well spent! - The Madness in the Detail
Sam Dillemans (2009), 7min watch
Not much commentary needed… This clip either touches you or you hate it. You can guess which side I’m on. - Maker’s schedule vs. Manager’s schedule
Paul Graham (2009), 5min read
This one’s a little different. What’s the link between creativity and productivity? Can we schedule being creative? According to Graham, there’s two types of schedules in this world. It’s important that you atleast know which side you’re on…
Up to you now…
The usual: I’m counting on you guys to get a list together that we’re actually proud to share with the world.
- Read one of the pieces on the Creativity page. Let others know what you felt about it by giving it a Rating.
- Make me look ridiculous by Uploading way more awesome shit into the TWDB, Timeless Wisdom DataBase.
Adios?
Most certainly not. You will hear from me exactly one week from now with an update on our fourth Timeless Mission (Already! Time flies when you’re having fun…)
Your fellow Timeless geeks,
Gilles & Thomas
Why Timeless?
As you may know, we’re trying to find and preserve truly valuable content on the web. The first blog post gives some more context on the idea of an open database of “wisdom”. In short: we’re trying to separate the signal from the noise on the web. We’re not looking for the next hype or trend; we’re looking for principles that can be applied in many different circumstances.
Gameplan
First and most crucial step: find the wisdom. On today’s over-crowded internet, ruled by the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and other hype-machines… this could prove hard enough.
Here’s the plan:
- Every week, I start things off with my 5 personal favorites on a certain theme.
Productivity, Decision Making, Health, Creativity, Entrepreneurship, Relationships, … y mucho más! - If you have great material on this subject, you can upload it into the database. Sharing is caring!
- We check out each other’s favorites and rate them on their timeless value.
- Subject by subject, we build up “hit-lists” of wisdom to preserve and expand.
- Maybe most importantly, we all learn a shit ton of each other in the process.
