Answering the question, where does creativity come from? can become quickly heady as well as trite. I prefer to take a functional look at creativity, rather than consider it a mystical enigma. What I’ve found is that a creativity is a natural state of the human mind, and the way one sets their mind taps into creative thought, or blocks it. I’ve been working with my creative mind for a long time, and I wouldn’t consider it to be a mystery. However, while I know how it works, I don’t believe creativity can be directly commanded or controlled.

If you’re growing a garden, you can’t command the plants to grow, and you can’t force the crops to be delicious. A gardener sets the conditions for a healthy garden, and works with the uncontrollable variables of weather and soil, as well. In the same way, an artist sets the conditions for creative thinking to come about, works with the uncontrollable variables of the environment, and is ready when creative thought comes. That’s not always convenient, when it comes to design work, so the marriage of art and commerce has always been a shaky relationship.

THE SEAT OF CREATIVITY

There is a side of our minds that is very unknown to us. If we were conscious of everything happening in the brain and in our bodies, we would be too busy and not able to drive cars, or even assemble sentences. We’re lucky that most of our functions are automatic and unconscious. That way we don’t need to command our stomachs to digest or our hearts to beat. It is my experience that the most creative thought, by its nature, lives in the unconscious realm, along with the tummy and the ticker.

We are at our most creative when we dream, and it is the very time that our conscious mind is at its most disengaged. Wake up and recount a dream, and it quickly fades, because it is often so disjointed and wild. Creativity is a balance of consciousness and unconsciousness. This is why artists are so often daydreamers (We’re walking around with half our focus on the wackiest of imaginings, so you need to make sure we’re paying attention to you before you talk to us.). So when we want creativity to occur, we need to disengage the consciousness – give it a back seat, let it rest, tell it to stop trying to control things for a while.

Working with deadlines, trying to be creative on command, or direct the stream of consciousness can be futile, for that reason. It’s what makes commercial design so tough sometimes, and why creatives so often get burned out on the job. I’ve become used to setting some expectations for what I will create, then letting go of the expectations altogether, and seeing what naturally arises. Once my unconscious mind is left to assemble something, I’ll grab on to the reins and guide it my way. It’s much like riding an elephant – an analogy I use often: I want the elephant to go somewhere, but ultimately, the elephant goes where it wants to. If necessary, I’ll get off the elephant.

And, hey, creative thinking isn’t always good. It’s rather deconstructive. For example, we don’t really want anyone to operate heavy machinery “creatively.” Similarly, for anything to get done, we have to stop thinking creatively and execute a plan. There isn’t a lot of creative thinking involved in carrying out orders. The army pounds independent thought out of the minds of it’s soldiers for a reason. Business requires the same focus of execution, and that’s why artistic types are so often terrible with finances. Reciprocally, that’s why the creative-minded businessperson is a rare bird. It’s okay – everyone is naturally creative, we just have tendencies and preferences that suit our lives best. Our built-in propensity for creativity largely depends on how we were raised, and what we were taught to believe. But there are ways to set the stage for creativity in our own minds, and in our work environments, so that creativity can occur when it’s wanted.

SETTING THE CONDITIONS

How does one cultivate a creative mind? With gardening, we know water, fertilizer and sunlight are the base ingredients. With creativity, we could say the base ingredient is curiosity.

Curiosity is the act of putting a question mark on what you observe.

The sky is blue? Is it? Why don’t I observe it closer, with a curious eye, and see what I notice about it that isn’t blue….

That man is smarter than me? Is he? Hmmm… Let me look at him with curiosity and see what contradicts this notion of “smarter than me.”

I’m a nice person? Am I? Hmmm… I wonder how I am not nice. What does “not nice me” look like?

Curiosity is as simple as it is dangerous. When you can put anything into question, everything is up for questioning. Curiosity can spawn deconstruction and reconstruction. It makes us laugh, makes us think, and makes us crazy. It unhinges beliefs, which are rules that the conscious mind relies on to function. So it gets into foul territory with those who want a predictable universe. And that’s why it must end somewhere along the line. Design needs to be predictable in order to function. So the curiosity must end, and what is known must be integrated into the new crazy thing that has been created.  What’s more, the creation won’t actually reach others if it keeps being deconstructed and wondered about. So in the midst of the creative process, there is an end to curiosity, as things are decided upon and put into action.

Another way I like to set the conditions for creativity, and get curious, too, is to let go of whatever thoughts I’m holding on to. It could be a thought that my way is the best way, or that time is running out, or that I have more energy than I do. When I let go of sticky thoughts and surrender to what is actually occurring – bringing my attention to what is presently happening – I’m setting my consciousness to a state of patience and ease. It works for me, and it helps me collaborate creatively. It’s not always convenient that I need a break, or want to work outside for a while, but I’ve noticed that going with the flow is usually what’s best for the whole project, and others in it. It’s very wonderful indeed to find a work environment that allows this kind of flow to happen, and it is those companies that are the most fruitfully innovative.

Those are two ways that work for me, when I want to be creative. I can forget that I can’t force innovative thinking at the drop of a hat. If anything is frustrating about creativity, it’s that I wish I could command it more directly. But to me, creativity is not magical – its a matter of partnering with what I can’t control.