
So I need to be sad, bored and happy to be creative - in3xes
http://i.imgur.com/Ttv2cBH.png
======
analogmind
To be really creative, you need to stop reading Hacker News frantically and go
out and explore nature, other people and your own thoughts.

~~~
Toenex
Yes, but what framework should I use for that? ;)

~~~
Shengbo
You can just join billions of other players in the F2P Massively Multiplayer
Offline game called "Outside". More info here:
[http://www.reddit.com/r/outside](http://www.reddit.com/r/outside)

~~~
totalrobe
You are playing a dangerous game if you think it's F2P

~~~
jamesoneill
Tell me about it. I started that game a while back and at first I was having
fun in the starting area right outside my house but soon I exhausted most of
what there was to do there. I decided to try visiting one of the more
populated areas but it seemed like the game was designed so that getting there
without use of a vehicle would take a ridiculously long time. The game
developers wanted me to pay cash for their "public transport" system which was
crowded and not all that reliable so soon I was hooked and had spent a even
more of my money on a vehicle of my own. As it turns out even that requires
"fuel" and "maintenance".

~~~
slaman
I just play the internet minigame. It's cheap and pretty in-depth.

------
hownottowrite
Orbiting the Giant Hairball (1998) was a great guide to being creative in a
world structured to squash creativity: [http://www.amazon.com/Orbiting-Giant-
Hairball-Corporate-Surv...](http://www.amazon.com/Orbiting-Giant-Hairball-
Corporate-Surviving/dp/0670879835)

Hugh McLeod's How to Be Creative manifesto (2004) is also an amazing guide
[http://changethis.com/manifesto/6.HowToBeCreative/pdf/6.HowT...](http://changethis.com/manifesto/6.HowToBeCreative/pdf/6.HowToBeCreative.pdf)
(you can buy it too [http://www.amazon.com/Ignore-Everybody-Other-Keys-
Creativity...](http://www.amazon.com/Ignore-Everybody-Other-Keys-
Creativity/dp/159184259X))

------
adwf
Welcome to the social sciences, where the facts are made up and the points
don't matter...

~~~
_delirium
Fwiw, these are the disciplines involved in the three studies:

\-- Sadness/creativity link: a business school professor

\-- Boredom/creativity link: several psychologists

\-- Happiness/creativity link: several psychologists, a physician, and a
neuroscientist

[We can also add "journalist" as another layer in there.]

~~~
jsta
Does anyone else find it amusing that the business school professor wants
everyone to be depressed?

------
andyfleming
Tomorrow: "Scientists find creativity studies plagued with bipolar
participants"

------
siddhartpai
What's it with creativity today ?

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8916115](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8916115)

~~~
medecau
Dead.

~~~
vetler
That's sad. Now I feel creative!

------
JonnieCache
See also: [http://kill-or-cure.herokuapp.com/](http://kill-or-
cure.herokuapp.com/)

~~~
yaddayadda
"deodorant causes cancer"

"being southern causes cancer"

"being black causes cancer"

"being male causes cancer"

"fatherhood causes cancer" / "childlessness cause cancer"

"work causes cancer"/"working causes cancer"

"bras cause cancer"

"bacon causes cancer"

"burgers cause cancer"

I feel sorry for deodorant-wearing, southern, black, working fathers (or not)
that cross-dress and enjoy bacon-burgers - they clearly don't stand a chance
against cancer! Who knew?

@JonnieCache - Thanks for sharing! Kill or cure does a great job highlighting
how research can be contradictory, as well as how research headlines are often
made sensationalist.

------
TeMPOraL
In other news, I need to be in a quantum superposition with coding:
[https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/216352/guys_youre_not_he...](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/216352/guys_youre_not_helping.png).

------
thinkingkong
Maybe creativity has less to do with your frame of mind, and more to do with
creating opportunities to come up with novel / interesting solutions to
problems. If youre angry then youre removing some internal barriers to
complacency. If youre happy you feel positive about yourself and give your
thoughts and pondering more worthwhile attention. If youre bored you ruminate
and your mind becomes preoccupied with some track of thought.

The routine, seeing the same people, constant distraction style of living
we're all so used to doesnt seem to provide us with those opportunities.

------
nl
Don't listen to music[1]. But don't conform[2].

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1995698](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1995698)

[2]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6909189](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6909189)

------
wvh
I had the same confusion after seeing the headlines, but after reading the
respective articles, I think the point is that happiness and non-focussed
dreamy state are helpful in freely exploring problems and links semi-
consciously – sort of finding ideas in the back of your head – while the
sadness (and anxiety) is needed to focus and keep trying to succeed in hard
disciplines.

Moods correlate with states of focus and attention, and hence some states of
mind are more useful in particular phases of the creative process.

I think it makes sense to some extent, as a happy person has no needs and can
let their mind float aimlessly while an unhappy person wants to strive, focus
and achieve to change his/her condition or to at least forget about the state
of mind he/she is in.

------
FreezerburnV
Might I add yet another bit of input on how to be creative? John Cleese had a
few words to say about being creative a while ago:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMpdPrm6Ul4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMpdPrm6Ul4)

~~~
ky3
One of the best bits: "Look babycakes, I don't have to make the decision until
next Tuesday. And I'm not chickening out of my creative discomfort by taking a
snap decision before then -- that's too easy!"

I've observed that many hacker types flinch from the megahertz, ironically
enough, as a way to keep up with the speed of the systems they've built.

Killing creativity is the least of it. Many snap judgments rot the brain.

------
thewarrior
All said and done there is a definite link between creativity and mental
illness :

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creativity_and_mental_illness](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creativity_and_mental_illness)

------
iamcreasy
I think it's highly subjective. What worked for the sample space might not
work for me or you. That's why I always take these type of researches as a
grain of salt, and try to figure out what works for me and what doesn't.

I believes many of these claims will be debunked as the 'The Human Connectome
Project' and 'The Human Brain Project' nears completion. But I think many
things like creativity will always remain subjective.

------
Red_Tarsius
The only insightful article I've ever read on creativity is from Douglas
Hofstadter's Metamagical Themas – love the anagam! – column: "Variations on a
theme as the essence of imagination". Anything written by Hofstadter is gold
and this is no exception.

link:
[http://www.bgrosjean.com/files/Metamagical_Themas.pdf](http://www.bgrosjean.com/files/Metamagical_Themas.pdf)

------
pervycreeper
The headlines, indeed, are mutually discrediting. Probably the later ones were
submitted in response to the others.

All these studies suffer from inadequate efforts to properly operationalize
the concept of "creativity". On the bright side, I believe that information
sciences and statistics can shed a great deal more light on this particular
problem in the near future.

------
nz8877
I think it's just manifestation of huge diversity among us. Once I started to
appreciate the idea that we're not the same inside, I can see some very
fascinating differences in the way we operate, think, see the world, etc.

Our brains are only superficially similar - isn't it as simple as that?

EDIT: fixed (hopefully) grammar mistakes.

------
in3xes
The validity of studies which say 'do X to get Y' is questionable. I simply
skip them.

------
icanblogshitz
There are two kinds of people - those who are creative, and those who blog
about being creative. If the ones who blogged about it actually spent time
building and implementing things, they would be creative too. Whether they are
sad, happy, or whatever!

------
andreiursan
to add to the list: to be more creative a broken sleep might help. Why Broken
Sleep Is a Golden Time for Creativity [1]

[1]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8574616](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8574616)

~~~
jon-wood
As the parent of an eleven month old baby I'm going to dispute that a lack of
sleep does anything but make you reliant on caffeine, and useless at doing
anything that requires actual thought.

------
increment_i
Were these articles written in response to each other - as you sometimes see
on HN?

~~~
Springtime
Seeing as the Wired article posted today was from 2010 while the original two
Nautilus pieces are from this month I'd imagine it was submitted as a
response.

------
sidcool
I put the same think in an image: It's funny how all are at the same page.

[http://i.imgur.com/C866csJ.png](http://i.imgur.com/C866csJ.png)

~~~
jblok
It looks like you are using some horribly outdated OS/Browser. If I had to
guess, I'd say IE7/8 on Windows XP. For reals?

~~~
dpacmittal
That font rendering, someone save my eyes.

~~~
cinitriqs
Perhaps... it's just a very low res screenshot... (or was that your joke
anyway? ;) )

~~~
sidcool
I just had to reduce the % resolution of the browser to fit both links in the
same view.

------
dahart
Maybe the lesson is that to be creative, you have to create something, and it
doesn't matter what mood you're in...

~~~
stronglikedan
Or perhaps, to be creative, you simply have to be inspired.

------
apolymath
what you really need is time to think in order to be creative. Doesn't matter
where or how you get it, just as long as you have the time to conjure it up.

------
doyoulikeworms
feel emotions (sad, happy) and take the time to process them (boredom) to be
creative?

------
MistahKoala
Counter-arguing via HN, maybe?

------
bsmartt
No, but you do need OS X.

------
leppie
So bipolar then?

------
mrwnmonm
i was about posting this :)

------
dschiptsov
This is exactly how meme-based science looks like.

My 2 cetns - to be creative you must suffer a lot.

Half of "good literature" would be my data-set evidences. Making models and
plotting the plots I will leave to those who love doing this.

------
ATiGr
lol, nice snapshot!

------
petercooper
a.k.a. being a typical human.

------
dunehead
And now there are four post about creativity.

~~~
pthomaid
Maybe three posts and a meta-post...

------
unclesaamm
As a long time HN reader, this post sticks out to me as the first time that
I've seen imgur reach the front page. I wonder whether we can get a "no
images" rule to prevent this place devolving into reddit?

~~~
mc808
There is almost certainly a penalty applied to imgur links. Either it was
lifted in this case due to relevance or it just got that much momentum from
votes.

