

Creativity requires isolation - oxplot
http://blog.oxplot.com/2011/11/creativity-requires-isolation.html

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pg
I think it requires both isolation and time with colleagues/audience, but with
fairly high walls between them. I.e. you need to be able to go off and work on
something by yourself, and then when you're finished, show it to other people.

(This is one reason YC asks founders to move to the Bay Area, but not to work
in our space. We want founders to be able to talk to other founders, but not
all the time.)

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christphrdunder
I find, personally, creativity requires 3 modes, and maintaining a balance
between and within each mode: Input, Output, Sleep.

 _Input_ :

-Objective research: (left-brained) Keep your idea of the problem and the reality of the problem in sync, or else any solution you come up with is useless, no matter how creative.

-Creative inspiration: (right-brained) Reductionism is a great tool, except when it runs amok. If you could truly understand everything, you could never be surprised by anything. "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science."

 _Output_ :

-Left-brained: This is what the author of this article seems to refer to. Spending time proceeding step by rational step through a large problem. This process requires high focus, so isolation often helps.

-Right-brained: aka "stop thinking about it and just do it [by feel]." Our left-brains revolt at the idea of doing something without having thought through every possible decision and outcome in terms of every scientific field and level of abstraction. But at some point we form habits, and, for the sake of time, we should be incredibly grateful for this. If you form good habits you can trust, your efficiency can skyrocket.

 _Sleep_ :

-Running other threads while you're awake: The classic example of this is "Eureka!" Some of us seem to do our best thinking while showering, driving, exercising, cleaning, or studying another science. Refine your meta-heuristics by working in a very different problem domain.

-In a bed: dreams: a _very_ different problem domain. Go through a few thousand of them.

Lastly, it's important to consider the contiguous time I spend in each of
these modes 3 modes. If I spend a week in relatively isolated, left-brained
output, it's quite likely I'll feel creatively sapped by the end, and will
need to spend the following week almost solely in input. By the end of that
week, my brain will be so overflowing with ideas that I can't even listen to
music without wanted to silence the input so I can get back to output.
Oscillating at extremes is extreme. Whereas, while socializing an idea I
effectively go from input to output (mostly right-brained, off the cuff) every
few seconds. Both feedback loop lengths - and everything in between - have
their advantages and disadvantages.

Ultimately, it's about finding a balance both between and within each mode.
All things in moderation, including, of course, moderation.

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hsmyers
What works for one may not work for others. There have been just as many (if
not more) 'ah-ha' moments while interacting with others as in isolation. I've
also noticed that creativity can create it's own isolation. World tends to go
away while on a real creativity bender. Again different strokes etc.

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re_todd
Yeah, at first I agreed with the article, but then I realized I've had many
creative moments while interacting with peers. Maybe when I reach a "writer's
block" like coding moment, I then feed of the interaction with others. But
only if "others" are firm friendly and encouraging. If I'm working with
someone who takes a perverse joy in shooting everyone's ideas down, then all
my creativity grinds to a halt until I get away from that person.

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funnyboyjazz
Creativity, in most experts' views, is generally the marriage of novelty and
usefulness. In order to accomplish something creative, one must go through a
process of divergent thinking, to create many varied options, then convergent
thinking, to narrow down the options that make the most sense, or fit the
challenge (even if the challenge is only how to create something that is new
and useful). Both in divergence and convergence, incubation is a very useful
tool, but it is hardly essential in every creative process. So, no, creativity
does not require isolation. However, it is my contention that imagination
(divergent ability) may flourish when one is disconnected from the "outside
world" for some time. edit: grammar

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ggwicz
I feel like to be creative you just need to enjoy what you're doing.

It's like the idea of a to-do list: it's a list of things you don't really
want to do, because the things you want to do are done already.

If you're doing something you love, you'll be too busy doing it and being
creative that you won't have time to go, "am I being creative?"

Creativity doesn't require isolation. It requires happiness and motivation.

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bluekeybox
> I feel like to be creative you just need to enjoy what you're doing.

Enjoyment is not sufficient. Someone may enjoy playing video games, but it's
hardly creative unless the game is designed in a specific way.

Enjoyment is not necessary either, at least in the beginning. There are many
things at which I was (at least somewhat) creative which I didn't enjoy doing
when I first started. My enjoyment of those things actually followed my
realization that I could be creative doing them. (If you want to know
specifically what it was: it was marketing. I had a horrible aversion to it at
first, until I realized that it is in fact a form of creativity).

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gaurav_v
Can't playing video games be creative? I haven't played very many, but it
always seemed to me that videogames were designed as highly engaging technical
challenges, and you could certainly employ some degree of creativity in
solving (winning) them. It's arguably not the most productive use of creative
juice...

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bluekeybox
I wasn't saying that playing video games does not engage the creative part of
one's brain whatever it is. I was simply saying that at the core of creativity
is _producing something that you can show to others_ , and that the biggest
pleasure you derive should be not so much from being engaged into the process
of creating (many great artists in fact literally _suffered_ expelling inner
demons/whatever when they made art), but from being proud that you have
something to show. Otherwise you won't be pulled in one direction (to show
something great to others) but in many at once (by whatever tickles your fancy
during the creative process), which means you won't be as productive, which
means you won't be as creative as you could be, which means that you will
eventually stop valuing creativity because people in general are biased to
value only those things they are good at.

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tewolde
I have always seen creative as coming from two different sources, what I call
"local creativity" and "way out left field" creativity.

To thoroughly explore a potential area of opportunity requires local
creativity and this is best done with intense focus and concentration.

There are times though when you get stuck, you achieve a kind of local optima
but the solution still doesn't feel right. This is where the second type of
creativity fits in, and it is specialized for taking a much broader
perspective than the conscious mind can handle.

This of course requires a completely different approach, as focus and
concentration is definitely not welcome here. To get with this you need to
disengage your conscious brain and let the subconscious take a crack at it. I
find this is best done by using physical/mental distraction such as going for
a walk, running, taking a shower or interacting with others.

A good nap does wonders too.

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SkyMarshal
Reminds me of William Deresiewicz's speech at West Point on leadership
requiring solitude. For anyone who hasn't seen it:

<http://theamericanscholar.org/solitude-and-leadership/>

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funnyboyjazz
As to his second paragraph on "preconditions to be creative": Again, no.
Amabile (1983) in "The social psychology of creativity" postulated three
components of creative performance: (a) domain-relevant skills, (b)
creativity-relevant skills, and (c) task motivation. Yes, you may need
sufficient knowledge in a specific domain to increase your chance of acheiving
creative "eminence" within it, but it does not preclude you from doing so if
you are not an expert. One must understand the science of creativity before
they can say they have creativity-relevant skills, which this author
unfortunately does not seem to have.

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1point2
Are you baiting? _One must understand the science of creativity before they
can say they have creativity-relevant skills_ wow fella. Did Picaso (sp?) or
Bob Marley have those 'well maybe they did', they were just doing what they do
- bet they studied their domain - bet they did not study the science of
creativity (whatever that is - is it a science?), they just were creative
people - ya either got it or ya ain't - needing to understand the science of
creativity means one ain't. Oh sorry I see what u did - I don't think Amabile
said you had to understand it - I think she means you have to have it - having
creativity and understanding it are (I imagine) quite different. But they are
just words eh? The creative among us don't care - they just do. Refactor edit.

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1point2
Can't help it - Kids (little grownups) can be very creative - what do they
care of the science or even the process - they make it up as they go along. I
think that maybe that's how some of the creative people in our times are
creative. In their 'own little world' is a term often used.

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randall
Pretty interesting. The times when I've been most "business-ly creative" have
come when I've moved from huge dense cities with lots of people to show my
work to (NYC, SF) to relative "middle of nowhere" places (Fayetteville, North
Carolina and Ogden, Utah).

I totally identify with this, and think it's actually true.

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adaml_623
For me creativity requires stimulation. Music is especially good.

Of course maybe I should try a few hours of silence sometimes.

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oxplot
Thanks for everyone's feedback, some good points and pointers. I've linked to
this page from my post.

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phzbOx
I've somehow created my best piano song when drunk; so I guess alcohol might
also help creativity.

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CubicleNinjas
What a narrowly defined definition of creativity. :(

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NHQ
Seems like all I ever read in blogs is an author adducing results from their
own experience to everybody on the planet, with a prescription to go with it.
If I were a psycho-scientist, I would call it "one pill to swallow them all
syndrome".

