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Psychologist Vera John-Steiner devoted several years of her work to find an answer to the question: "How do creative people come up with ideas, and how is their creativity fueled?"
She interviewed more than 70 people now living and famous for outstanding ideas or creative projects, and also analyzed the diaries and notebooks of 50 geniuses of the past (among whom were Tolstoy, Einstein, etc.)
At first, she thought that she would find some way that could lead the creative mind to inspiration, and even wanted to name her book "The Leap", meaning the breakthrough, which, as she believed, occurs in the head of a genius before he exclaims "Eureka!"
In reality, everything turned out to be completely different.
There is no time when a fully formed answer comes to mind.
Illumination happens gradually.
Great ideas seep into the world drop by drop, through a lot of trial and error.
Keith Sawyer wrote in her book Zigzag: Unexpected Discoveries on the Path of Creativity:
“An original idea starts with sketches in notebooks or on scraps of paper, and only then, gradually, they mature into something pure and powerful. One thing that distinguishes great creative people - artists, actors, or scientists - is how often they write down or jot down on paper their unexpected thoughts, images, and ideas. It can be anything: a single phrase or an unexpected observation, a piece of dialogue, a character trait. Great works are not born through sudden insights, they are nurtured by their creators for a long time, when the same images scroll through their heads over and over again."
John-Steiner has heard about this in almost every interview - in different interpretations.
Albert Einstein, for example, claimed that he thought in visual images: "Words do not play any role in the process of my thinking, thoughts are born in me in the form of signs or images that I can then combine into a single picture."
English writer Jessica Mitford admitted that she is in constant "dialogue" with her unfinished things: “The very first thing I have to do is read what I wrote the day before and make corrections. Only after that I understand where to move on."
Artist Ben Shan describes the creative process as "a long and exhausting tug of war between idea and image."
Poet Mae Sarton wrote: “When we write poetry, we learn a lot. There is nothing boring about redoing what has already been written."
The creative process is never straightforward and smooth.
Successful creative people are in constant "dialogue" with what they are working on at the moment. They start sketching long before the idea is fully formed, and they have to go through many "zigzags" before a great idea comes to light.
How can all of the above be useful to us?
- Do not hope that one day the enlightenment will come by itself.
- Write down all your ideas without delay. (Not surprisingly, many geniuses carried notebooks with them.)
- Don't dismiss unformed ideas. Most of the ideas can turn out to be good - they just need to be worked on.
- Do not treat the idea that came to mind first as the only correct one. In its "original form" it may be unsuitable for implementation.
- Do not hurry. By setting a deadline for yourself, you won't get more creative.
- Play with your ideas: decompose, combine, turn upside down, collide with each other.
And then, quite possibly, you will also have something brilliant.
She interviewed more than 70 people now living and famous for outstanding ideas or creative projects, and also analyzed the diaries and notebooks of 50 geniuses of the past (among whom were Tolstoy, Einstein, etc.)
At first, she thought that she would find some way that could lead the creative mind to inspiration, and even wanted to name her book "The Leap", meaning the breakthrough, which, as she believed, occurs in the head of a genius before he exclaims "Eureka!"
In reality, everything turned out to be completely different.
There is no time when a fully formed answer comes to mind.
Illumination happens gradually.
Great ideas seep into the world drop by drop, through a lot of trial and error.
Keith Sawyer wrote in her book Zigzag: Unexpected Discoveries on the Path of Creativity:
“An original idea starts with sketches in notebooks or on scraps of paper, and only then, gradually, they mature into something pure and powerful. One thing that distinguishes great creative people - artists, actors, or scientists - is how often they write down or jot down on paper their unexpected thoughts, images, and ideas. It can be anything: a single phrase or an unexpected observation, a piece of dialogue, a character trait. Great works are not born through sudden insights, they are nurtured by their creators for a long time, when the same images scroll through their heads over and over again."
John-Steiner has heard about this in almost every interview - in different interpretations.
Albert Einstein, for example, claimed that he thought in visual images: "Words do not play any role in the process of my thinking, thoughts are born in me in the form of signs or images that I can then combine into a single picture."
English writer Jessica Mitford admitted that she is in constant "dialogue" with her unfinished things: “The very first thing I have to do is read what I wrote the day before and make corrections. Only after that I understand where to move on."
Artist Ben Shan describes the creative process as "a long and exhausting tug of war between idea and image."
Poet Mae Sarton wrote: “When we write poetry, we learn a lot. There is nothing boring about redoing what has already been written."
The creative process is never straightforward and smooth.
Successful creative people are in constant "dialogue" with what they are working on at the moment. They start sketching long before the idea is fully formed, and they have to go through many "zigzags" before a great idea comes to light.
How can all of the above be useful to us?
- Do not hope that one day the enlightenment will come by itself.
- Write down all your ideas without delay. (Not surprisingly, many geniuses carried notebooks with them.)
- Don't dismiss unformed ideas. Most of the ideas can turn out to be good - they just need to be worked on.
- Do not treat the idea that came to mind first as the only correct one. In its "original form" it may be unsuitable for implementation.
- Do not hurry. By setting a deadline for yourself, you won't get more creative.
- Play with your ideas: decompose, combine, turn upside down, collide with each other.
And then, quite possibly, you will also have something brilliant.
