In 1976, psychologist Silvano Arieti wrote a book entitled “Creativity:The Magic Synthesis.” Arieti specialized in two fields: creativity and schizophrenia. Honestly, the two are probably not as far apart as we would first believe. Arieti’s book summarized nine conditions that he felt were necessary for creativity:
- 1. Alone. Being alone allows us to find ourselves, as well as to be open to new kinds of inspiration.
- 2. Inactivity. We have to find time to get out of our routines. We need time to focus on “inner resources”.
- 3. Daydreaming. Creating the space to allow ourselves to explore our thoughts and dreams; to just freestyle and not have the pressure of constraints to limit or stagnate our creative process.
- 4. Free thinking. Finding ways to allow our mind to wander in any direction. Doing this gives us permission to explore topics that are not in our normal routines or thought processes. Doing this helps us find connection points between things we may not have connected and concepts we wouldn’t naturally link up.
- 5. State of readiness to catch similarities. Seeing things from our creative lens and not our analytical lens; looking at things differently.
- 6. Gullibility. Suspending judgment allows us to explore ideas without treating them with prejudice.
- 7. Remembering and replaying past traumatic conflicts. Conflict creates more and new creative concepts.
- 8. Alertness. Having our antenna up allows us to the ability to find relevance in things we may not normally be recognizing.
- 9. Discipline. Finding the ability to do the work necessary to realize and then, systematically plan the execution of our ideas.
We all love the times we are “in the flow” – when creativity is flowing and we are just able to ride the rhythm. But often that rhythm is broken. Especially when we are busy, tired, or under stress. Being intentional with these nine tools can help us rejuvenate our creative process and find that rhythm we are looking for to create our best work.
For me, I know that daydreaming and envisioning new things are the times when I am both most creative and most productive. Daydreaming gives me such an energy and a sense of excitement that carries me through the more mundane aspects of seeing that daydream through to the finish. The dream I envision, whatever it may be, gives me the motivation to go from dream to finished product.
If I were a boss hiring creatives, looking at this list of “conditions” would be very frustrating. None of those 9 things would contribute DIRECTLY to my bottom line (with the possible exception of discipline – depending on how that word was defined).
I see the other side of it – that they INDIRECTLY do – but still, hard sell, man… hard sell.
These are conditions for creating creativity, not how we work our 40,60 or 80 hours a week. These are the catalysts for ideas and ideas create the work. However, I would bet that it is very possible you would be looking for a creative employee if you could not find ways to break the norm and find some non-traditional ways to allow your employees be their most creatives.
Creative employees are frustrating…they break the status quo and make us uncomfortable.
Sometimes, with the constant cycle of creativity in the church setting (i.e. Sundays come every seven days), I’ve found the need to create creativity. Especially if the week has been filled with other issues/challenges/needs. The ideal is to be able to share the work and have some breaks from the constant responsibility. However, when that’s not feasible, I typically turn to either my “idea bucket” and/or some music to jump start creativity.