John Cleese on Creativity

One of the best talks on creativity I’ve heard. Definitely worth the ~30 minutes.

We like to do easy things.

It’s easier to do trivial things that are urgent than it is to do important things that are not urgent (like thinking). And it’s also easier to do little things we know we can do, than to start on big things we’re not so certain about.

And creativity is hard. There’s discomfort and anxiety:

If we have a problem, and we need to solve it, until we do we feel inside us a kind of internal agitation, a tension, an uncertainty that makes us just plain uncomfortable, and we want to get rid of that discomfort. In order to do so, we take a decision. Not because we’re sure it's the best decision but because taking it will make us feel better.

Well, the most creative people have learned to tolerate that discomfort for much longer and so just because they put in more pondering time their solutions are more creative.

The trick is to live in that discomfort:

[Donald MacKinnon] discovered that the most creative professionals always played with the problem for much longer before they tried to resolve it. They were prepared to tolerate that slight discomfort and anxiety that we all experience when we haven’t solved a problem.

John goes on to clarify:

Please note, I'm not arguing against real decisiveness. I’m 100% in favor of taking a decision when it has to be taken, and then sticking to it while it’s being implemented. What I’m suggesting to you is that before you take a decision you should always ask yourself the question, “When does this decision have to be taken?” And, having answered that, you defer the decision until then in order to give yourself maximum pondering time which will lead you to the most creative solution.

And if while you’re pondering somebody accuses you of indecision, say, “Look baby cakes, I don’t have to decide until Tuesday and I am not chickening out of my creative discomfort by taking a snap decision before then. That’s too easy.”

Love it.