
The No. 1 Habit of Highly Creative People - evac
http://zenhabits.net/creative-habit/
======
sudont
Nope. The most effective habit of highly creative people is persistence, the
ability to work and work and work while resisting burn-out.

The best graphic designers I’ve ever met would put in 8-10 hour days, then go
home and work on their personal projects. It was effective, they all had _at
least_ 3 AIGA awards and about 10 HOW awards, each.

~~~
AndrewMoffat
On a side note, it seems like people value persistence more than creativity
because it's more attainable by everyone. We can't all be creative freaks like
Tesla, Van Gogh, or Einstein, but we can all work really really hard at what
we do. Telling someone to "be more creative" doesn't have the same effect as
"be more persistent"...you either have it or you don't with creativity.

It's almost like the naturally creative are cheating somehow, and there's a
quiet resentment towards them by those of us who are non-creative-but-
persistent, as if we want to forget that natural creativity gives a distinct
advantage that can't be duplicated by persistence alone.

I think a couple of the posts in this thread exemplify this attitude.

~~~
macrael
But who are these "naturally creative people"? I think the point the parent is
making is that no matter how effortless it may seem, the very creative
actually put in a lot of hard work to be so. That's been my experience.

~~~
Mz
I really can't say whether or not I am "naturally creative". But I routinely
come up with "creative" solutions (polite euphemism for "something no normal
person would have thought of", and often not appreciated by others as it is
"disruptive" behavior). I think solitude is valuable not for having ideas per
se but because it removes some of the pressure to conform and allows you to be
"out of step" with others (without having to fight someone every step of the
way over that detail). It is these "out of step with the crowd" answers that
are typically labeled "creative".

When I was trying to figure out how to get myself well after being diagnosed
late in life with a form of cystic fibrosis, I intentionally chose to _not_
join any online support groups for CF or otherwise expose myself overly much
to conventional views of the problem. I did this because I was already doing
better than I was supposed to be and so was my oldest son (who has the same
thing) and I wanted to figure out what we were doing right and improve on it.
I felt that listening overly much to the mantra that "people like you don't
get well" would have put me in danger of believing such brain-washing and
thereby helping it to become self-fulfilling prophecy. I also felt that
listening overly much to the conventional framing of the problem would pollute
my thinking and deny me the opportunity to come up with a more
accurate/effective view of the problem. Einstein supposedly said something
like "You cannot solve a problem from the level of consciousness that helped
create it." So I didn't want to be immersed in or exposed too much to the
thought processes of all those folks who believed the problem to be
unresolvable. I felt clear thinking on the matter was my only hope of
salvation. The pay-off was huge. (And I'm an extrovert, so this was not a
particularly easy path for me to follow. Had my life not literally depended
upon it, I don't think I would have pursued such a path with so much
persistence.)

~~~
macrael
I didn't mean to call the OP's point into question, I think that solitude can
be incredibly helpful for creative work. I just think that effort is
incredibly important.

~~~
Mz
Oh, sorry, it wasn't meant that way at all. Just something about your phrasing
got me to thinking is all. I considered posting it on it's own, instead of as
a "reply", but that sounded out of context to me.

Not some kind of 'rebuttal'. Just talking.

Thanks.

------
solipsist
The article left out the following quote of Albert Einstein:

“ _I lived in solitude in the country and noticed how the monotony of a quiet
life stimulates the creative mind_ ”

------
narrator
Unplugging and just staring at the wall for a couple of hours alone is good
for creativity. It tends to lead to a good mental environment for "image
streaming". "Image Streaming" is watching a movie in your mind made up of as
many memories and things you can imagine pieced together, usually focused on a
particular topic. It's basically a way to access the enormous power of the
right-side of the brain.

------
JoeAltmaier
Ok, maybe its not #1, but it is important.

Newton did his best work hiding out in his country house during Plague season.

Einsteid flourished in a Patent office - nobody bothered him much, he could
spend all day thinking.

------
iamwil
Actually, I've found that the "Top idea in mind" is how I do it, and figured
someone would have mentioned it already.

<http://www.paulgraham.com/top.html>

I just never put a name into it, until I read that essay. When you mull over
something in your mind all the time, you're bound to come up with something as
you get more new pieces of information in your day to day life.

------
daimyoyo
I think the fact that most historically creative people were nite owls, and
the fact they score better on iq tests (see
[http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200911/intelligence-...](http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200911/intelligence-
the-evolution-night-owls)) could be linked to the solitude that inevitably
happens when you're up late.

------
pmichaud
The habit is "solitude."

~~~
Andrew_Quentin
and the opposite, connecting with people.

------
Stormbringer
I think solitude and deep thinking time are crucially important to
programming. However, I have been becoming more and more aware that
programming is also _performance_ art (audience of our peers), by which I mean
that programming is also a social activity.

In order to be appreciated, it must be shared.

------
dzuc
Might I recommend: David Bohm wrote a very accessible book on creativity--what
it is, how it works, etc.

[http://www.amazon.com/Creativity-Routledge-Classics-David-
Bo...](http://www.amazon.com/Creativity-Routledge-Classics-David-
Bohm/dp/0415336406/)

------
mbesto
I love this idea that somehow creative people are somehow "special"; I really
like the articles preface of "Creativity is a nebulous, murky topic that
fascinates me endlessly — how does it work? What habits to creative people do
that makes them so successful at creativity?"

Here is a good interview with Craig Wynett ("Chief Creativity Officer") at
P&G, in which he attempts to explain how they at P&G are trying to approach
creativity from a scientific approach:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLBJ9pda7TA>

In my opinion, cognitive science will be a huge topic in marketing in the
years to come.

------
ramidarigaz
Really? I don't think so. Some of the coolest ideas I've ever had have come
during discussions with friends. I'm most productive when I'm alone, but
rarely do I have creative ideas by myself.

------
alexwestholm
The article notes that solitude should be balanced with participation and
awareness of one's space. Upon reading that, I realized that's why sites like
HN are so valuable to me: I get both without much hassle.

------
dave1619
I resonate with the article. As I've grown in the practice of tranquil and
contemplative solitude, my creativity has grown. "Creation comes from within,
inspiration comes from without."

------
etal
This is also called "flow" or being "in the zone" -- focusing on one thing,
intensely, without interruptions. It's one more reason to lump programming in
with the other creative arts.

------
pier0
Stopped reading the article when I saw listed as a highly creative person the
"actress best known for her awesome work in Buffy the Vampire Slayer".

~~~
dmoney
She also writes and produces The Guild ( <http://www.watchtheguild.com/> ) and
its associated comics. I think the show qualifies her as both creative and a
successful web entrepreneur.

------
byteclub
Or, to put it another way: meditation.

------
gareth_at_work
creating != producing

------
mcnemesis
to a good extent, creativity == (ability to generate alternatives && identify
/ pick out the best)

and i believe 'ability to generating alternatives' is one of the most
important issue here, as often times, most / all existing solutions to a
problem have failed or are poor, and it is then required of a 'creative'
person to come up with alternatives - obviously the bonus is when the best is
picked from these alternatives.

