Most see innovation as generating ideas that can change the world. But few think of innovation as the practical implementation of ideas.

As a business, innovation is paramount if you want to thrive. But if you define innovation as simply having ideas, I’ve got bad news for you – ideas without execution are worthless. 

If you imagine an idea as a pizza with 8 slices, I put the execution of an idea at roughly 6 slices. The 2 remaining slices would represent idea generation (I’m referencing the 80/20 rule of course). 

So how do you know how to focus your energies and where?

If you want to build a business with the capacity to ideate great ideas and introduce new innovations into the market, here’s a helpful way to look at it.

Innovation is about thinking and doing

Overarchingly, innovation can be looked at like this. 

With any creative endeavour, two things need to happen. The initial idea has to be born and it then needs to be implemented. 

Without those two events, ideas won’t get done.

I once worked with a manager who was brilliant at generating ideas.

Every other day, she would bring new ideas to the table about how we could improve the business, introduce a new process or product, or birth great ideas for current client projects. 

I, on the other hand, thrived on seeing ideas through or finding a way to implement ideas in general, so I’d like to think that we made a great team. 

Let’s give our roles catchy labels, like ‘creator’ and ‘finisher’, which I’ll use throughout the article.

The bottom line is this: if you wish to have an innovative business – you need a creator and a finisher or – learn how to be both.

Skills that identify great creators

Were you triggered reading that comparatively speaking, idea generation is worth only 20 percent versus 80 for implementation?

You and I know that without the idea, there would be nothing to execute.

And yet, with my manager’s story, creators tend to forget or lose interest in their ideas –  quickly moving on to thinking of new ideas to generate. 

An excellent example of a creator ‘archetype’ would be Richard Branson.

He is very good at finding novel ideas. But will probably be the first to admit that he enjoys the chase of a new idea more than he does the process of implementing those ideas. 

Hence why he looks to partner with others who excel at executing his ideas and then he moves on to the next. 

Creators tend to talk about the big picture and a big vision. And they get frustrated when asked about the details of how something would work (after all – that’s not for them to be concerned about). 

Skills that identify great finishers

When thinking about these two ‘archetypes’, I was always aware that I’m a much better finisher than a creator. Generating those initial ideas is often a struggle for me.

Finishers tend to be great at seeing something through to the end. They can analyse data and insights and deduce the most optimal plan of attack, or the most likely roadblock causing an issue.

They can do this because of their diversified knowledge and analytical mind – I often refer to this kind of varied knowledge as a ‘Deep Generalist’.

Creativity, in general, is about combining unrelated concepts, ideas, and knowledge into something fun, unique, and daring – the more diversified your knowledge is – the more room for generating creative ideas.

And although it’s certainly useful for a ‘creator’ to tap into that, in my experience being a Deep Generalist predisposes you to be a finisher.

How do you identify your ‘ideas’ type?

Over the next few statements pick the statement you identify with more.

A – I am more creative than most. Creativity should be left up to me.
B – Everyone is creative, and we can benefit from overlapping expertise.

A – I expect others to trust me and my ideas and not ‘interfere’.
B – I build my process around collaboration, involving everyone.

A – I lead with my core expertise, that’s why people come to me.
B – I lead with curiosity and learn new skills if they improve the outcome.

A – I go for the big reveal of ideas to wow everyone with my genius.
B – I share progress often and take stakeholders on a journey with me.

A – Creator, Specialist, Visionary
B – Finisher, Deep Generalist, Mechanic

Did you identify more with answers A or answers B?

You may disagree that some statements don’t correlate with my labels at the end. 

And that’s fine. I’ve grouped them based on my experiences, interactions with other designers, and feedback on my content over the years. What is true for me, may not be true for you.

What I do know to be true is after having met, coached, and worked with hundreds of creatives I’m yet to meet someone who is a great creator and a great finisher at the same time. 

But of course, just like with any personality-type quizzes any of us have ever done, you will find that none of us are 100% this or that. The truth is not black and white but greyscale. 

And if you have recognised a finisher or creator in you, it doesn’t mean that you have to ‘wear your stripes’. Here are some practical ways to supplement those ‘weaknesses’.

Tips for supplementing your ‘weakness’

Ideas for creators

1. As a creator struggling to keep track of your ideas, a useful practice is to document each idea in a big book of ideas. Even go as far as categorising them for easy reference, if you like. 
2. With your ideas book as a reference point, for every 10 ideas you’ve listed during a specific period, shortlist at least 1 of those and find a way to be involved in the execution of it.
3. You can use something like the Eisenhower Matrix to prioritise the ideas that you want to focus on implementing – think of which ideas would bring the most impact to you and others.
4. You can also prioritise ideas you want to action using the Stop, Start, Continue framework to help you work out how you can juggle those ideas best and how you can prioritise your schedule.
5. I know that you’re probably also struggling with the Shiny Object Syndrome, and watching the video lesson titled ‘Exercise 7: Shiny Object Syndrome‘ from my latest class will be helpful to deal with that.

Ideas for finishers

1. Creativity is just like going to the gym – the more you do it, the stronger you become. So make a habit of generating ideas. Create a challenge for yourself whereby you generate X amount of ideas per day à la James Altucher’s ideas practice or Michael Bierut’s 100-day Challenge. 
2. As a finisher, I’ve always struggled to come up with ideas until I have created a boundary around which to ideate within. Often, even random boundaries can help me to spark new ideas. I often break out the SCRIPT Get Ideas Deck – a type of random stimuli with prompt questions helping me see a challenge from different perspectives that create an artificial ‘boundary’ jump-starting the creative process.
3. Partner up with someone who is a great ideas person, start hanging out with them, and become curious about how their mind works and how they generate ideas – you might just start to adopt some of their creative habits and become more of an ideas person yourself.

Final thoughts on innovation, ideas, and business

If we bring all of this back to the context of your business, you might find that you are excellent at generating ideas. 

But you have so many loose ends that you get overwhelmed about which ideas to work on next, especially if you are a solopreneur or someone who works in a small team. 

And the opposite may also be true. As a finisher, you may struggle to find novel ideas to inject into your business to have it thrive and succeed.

Self-awareness is the key to success. That is, knowing your flaws and your biggest strengths.

So if your team is comprised primarily of creators, you’ll find that you are spinning your wheels and not getting much progress happening in those areas. 

And if your team is comprised primarily of finishers, there will probably not be much innovation. 

You can hire others who will complement your strengths and offset your weaknesses externally or you can find other creative ways to partner with others. 

As a parting thought, I’ll leave you with this great snippet I came across in James Clear’s newsletter recently.

‘The generalist becomes more powerful when they develop a specialty where they can apply their broad insight. The specialist becomes more powerful when they develop a broader surface area of knowledge to connect with their expertise. Which side are you favouring right now? Would you benefit from a broader area to apply your already honed skills? Or do you need deeper skills to unlock your general knowledge?’

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I get asked for book recommendations on brand strategy and creativity so often that I created this book list last year that I still send people to.

The interesting part about both these lists is that the books I tend to recommend aren’t specifically on brand strategy or brand building.

But they will most definitely improve your strategic decision-making ability. 

Brand strategy as a skill lies somewhere between critical thinking, creative thinking, problem-solving, intuition, and business know-how. 

And the books below cover a selection of these topics so that you can dive deeper into and improve your brand strategy game.

Rather than promoting my Amazon affiliate links with you to try and make a few bucks, I’d much rather you find the most accessible way to access these books yourself. 

If you do want to support me (and as always, get something of value in return), there are ways to do that at the end of this post.

Six books don’t seem like a long list. But believe me, each one will open a new perspective, a new way of looking at things, and a whole new ‘multiverse’ for you to pursue.

Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite by Paul Arden

A short, but punchy book to show you that there’s always a different way to look at things. In part, thanks to this book, I always aim to show different and unexpected perspectives on all things branding with my content creation.

Lateral Thinking by Edward de Bono

My fascination with how humans capture and develop their creativity began with this book and many others by Edward de Bono. Learn how creativity works and become a master strategist.

The Art of War by Sun Tzu

A classic read on how to master the art of strategising. The vital concepts covered here apply to participating in price negotiations, launching a business, or building a winning brand.

Alchemy by Rory Sutherland

One of the key men behind Ogilvy & Mather, Rory is a brilliant creative thinker, and this book will give you a glimpse of a different perspective on branding, advertising, business, and creativity.

Problem Solved by Michael Johnson

Practical examples are one of the best ways to see how something works, and Michael covers many of the communication challenges here we all face as brand builders.

Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson

One of the key concepts I learned from this book (something that deeply impacted how I approach brand building in general) is the ability to stay agile and not getting locked into tunnel vision.

Bonus recommendations

If you’ve devoured these already, and need another helping, many of my colleagues and peers whom I trust have shared additional recommendations that are worth checking out. 

• The Crux by Richard Rumelt, shared by Paul Lewis
• Net Positive by Paul Polman, shared by Nick Budden
• The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber, shared by Michael Janda
• Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath, shared by James Eccleston
• Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull, shared by Paul Oxborrow

In summary

• Lateral Thinking by Edward de Bono
• Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite by Paul Arden
• The Art of War by Sun Tzu
• Alchemy by Rory Sutherland
• Problem Solved by Michael Johnson
• Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson
• The Crux by Richard Rumelt
• Net Positive by Paul Polman
• The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber
• Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
• Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull

Which ones have you already read? Which will you add to the list or read now?

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If a Creative Director, a client, or even a partner/friend gives this unkind feedback, it can be extremely hard to take. But it’s even more unkind when you start to label yourself in these ways.

This will almost always diminish your creative effectiveness unless you have some ways to counter it. And the good news is – you can. I have put together a list of creative mindsets, tools, and techniques that I wish I adopted earlier in my 20+ years of design career.

I wanted to share it because I often see creatives brewing in their own stew, lamenting about their creative block, imposter syndrome, lack of ideas, or even deeper than that – feeling like they’re not fulfiling their creative potential.

But there are plenty of ways to empower your creative genius to shine. And while I don’t claim that they will all work for you – these mindsets have helped me deal with the ‘dark side’ of creativity.

Take each for a spin and see how it fits. While some of these sound counter-intuitive, you might just find a solution to a year-long creative handicap.

Make friends with your own identity

You know that Golden Rule ‘treat others like you want to be treated’? It’s well-meaning, but in my opinion, fairly inaccurate. Everyone will be much better off if we treat others as they need to be treated. Like those 5 Love Languages. Why? Because everyone is different. What works for me may not work for you.

That’s why I’m very careful about sharing these tips not as the end-all-be-all cure for your problem but as a potential solution you could try. We all have certain traits, preferences, and life experiences. Meaning that different tactics and tools may be more or less useful, depending on our own identity.

Ever since taking my first personality test (and even before that when reading horoscopes my mother sent), I was fascinated to see how some of my identified traits help me to be better at follow-through. Or how certain characteristics make me appear cold and uninterested to those I’m talking to.

I am captivated by human nature. Always learning about what makes humans tick. I think that is why designers are best placed to create businesses of the future – we understand humans.

But it should all start by understanding yourself first. What makes you tick? What makes you unproductive? What habits, behaviours, or interactions tend to lead to successful outcomes? Naturally, this learning is an ongoing process. But the sooner you define your own identity, the more success you will have as a creative (and human being in general).

There are lots of tests you can take. More sources mean more opportunities to spot patterns and similarities. From ‘just for fun‘ tests to more career-specific ones, and more entrepreneur-focused tests. These are not meant to lock you into a box – but to help you spot your strengths and areas for improvement.

Lose your perfectionism

Do you sometimes feel like it’s your job to have a brilliant idea in the first few minutes of thinking about a problem? You might suffer from perfectionism. Do you believe that you need to get every detail perfect before sharing it with anyone? Yup – you’re riding the perfectionism train.

We are putting so much pressure on the end result because we expect it to be judged harshly. That fear won’t necessarily evaporate, no matter how long you do this. But it might get easier if you focus on your effort. You can control the effort you put in, but not always the results.

Think about playing chess with an opponent. You may plan to play ‘the perfect game’, but you’re also dependant on what your opponent will do. So you can’t expect a ‘perfect’ outcome every time – however, you can control your preparation and effort. Focus on that.

Procrastinate like a champion

Like many designers, I used to beat myself up for my ‘laziness’ because I’d often procrastinate throughout a mentally or creatively challenging task or project.

Hustle culture advocates demonise anyone who isn’t fanatically working their bones off every minute of every day. And it’s hard not to feel guilty even for going to the loo, or doing something else even remotely ‘unproductive’.

But what I’d found with my work is that structured, balanced procrastination enables me to explore and discover better ideas and solutions. Just like with design, where white space is required, you need to embrace these moments of planned boredom within your creative process.

As I mentioned, being ‘boring’ is one of the worst things you can be described as a creative, but there are plenty of studies conducted that boredom done right enhances creativity. Forcing yourself to work every minute might sound noble and productive, but it will very quickly lead to burnout and resentment.

Fill up the creative tank

As a 10-year-old, I used to hate reading. My mother would need to force and threaten me to read even 3 or 4 pages for school. Even attempting to read supposed classics such as Adventures of Tom Sawyer didn’t transform me into an enthusiastic reader.

It wasn’t until late into my 20’s that I’d voluntarily picked up a book.

You might already be an avid reader, and you might say “Well duh, books are amazing”, or you might be the way I was and think “Nah, you’re not convincing me”.

If you’re the latter, think about books as your superpower to connect dots. After all, creativity is all about connecting dots – combining sometimes unrelated concepts, ideas, and knowledge into something fun, unique, even daring. More books = more creativity.

If you’re the former, you also need to ensure you’re not just sitting in your area of comfort with your Harry Potter series and the like. Pick up books from different industries and of different genres. Pick up a few books on business. Books on technology. Personal development. Anything that gets you outside of your comfort zone tends to open up further possibilities for your creative up-levelling.

Block out time for deep work

It can be hard to imagine any kind of structure or process to creative work.

But contrary to popular belief, inspiration doesn’t come out of the blue. It often comes once you’ve allowed yourself to focus on some deep work related to the task to achieve that ‘flow’ state. Typically that’s something that requires a lot of mental energy and focus.

If you are constantly getting interrupted by notifications, it can be challenging to gain that flow state. Even for the most talented. So schedule (literally schedule it in your calendar) 3-5 time slots of at least 2–3 hours of interrupted work throughout the week. This is when you ‘lock yourself away’ from all distractions and disturbances.

That doesn’t mean NOT taking breaks to stretch or get up from the computer every now and then. It just means picking one main task to focus on and removing any notifications and other distractions.

Unlearn the answer

Even today, after 20+ years of working with clients I often still worry that I won’t know an answer to something important. I fear they will call me out as a fraud, take their money and leave.

Here’s a secret – it’s not your job to know everything about your client’s business or industry.

And even if you do feel you have your answer – bite your lip. Often our answers are based on our assumptions. And that lens we’re viewing everything through prevents us from spotting a glaring obstacle, insight, or opportunity.

Practice becoming a good ‘mechanic’ – seek to understand all the components of a problem first before you dive into solutions. How do you do that? Ask better questions.

Ask better questions

We often see this kind of advice from brand strategy experts and coaches on social media. But what does that even mean?

While there’s no magic-cure-all-solution, there are some general question guidelines you can try. Questions can help you gather more info so you can provide better recommendations.

And why-led questions can help you get more insights into someone’s decision. Good creative directors will often ask designers: “Why did you select this colour/typeface/image?”. But a why question puts us in a defensive state of mind. We automatically feel like we need to justify our actions. Emotions flare-up. You lose your objectivity. Your cognitive ability is diminished.

Next time you get a why question, imagine they’d asked “How did you arrive at this colour selection?” – and focus your answer on the process that got you there. Much easier to answer, while still providing the necessary insights.

A well-constructed how or what question can help you build trust with the other person while providing you the necessary info to make the next steps. It works whether you’re dealing with a client, a creative director, or even asking for feedback. “What does success look like to you for this project?” or “How will we know when we’re off-track.” are great questions.

You can also benefit from a how-question when generating ideas for yourself. Rather than thinking about a vague task “I need a great idea for this logotype” try rephrasing to a process-oriented how: “How might we create a logo that communicates X?”.

Deal with today first

One of the handicaps I see with designers, and especially with solopreneurs and freelancers, is that they get overwhelmed by the massive task they have in front of them.

When you start to think about everything that needs to get done with a project, it’s hard not to. This renders most of us frozen, unable to perform.

But remember how you eat an elephant? You focus on the first few steps you need to accomplish, rather than the overall goal. Accomplishing each small task will inevitably lead you towards completing the overall task as well, without feeling overwhelmed.

Assign specific goals and subtasks for your bigger task, prioritise them and get to work.

For me personally, I found that a prioritised To-Do list helps me to focus my energy. Although, instead of treating the To-Do as a ‘To-Day’ list, I think about it as a Weekly list. That means you’ll have the opportunity to allow for plenty of planned procrastination moments, time blocks for deep work, and other inevitable distractions you’ll be faced with during your days.

Remember: most people overestimate what they can achieve short-term (i.e. in a day) and underestimate what they can achieve long-term (i.e. in a week/month). The compound effect of small accomplished tasks will help to build the momentum to achieve those bigger goals.

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Naturally, you are hungry to find out what happens next, eagerly awaiting the next week’s show.

This is in part how the Zeigarnik effect and Uncertainty reduction theory work. Two fascinating phenomena. I’ve learned about them through my work in branding and my interests in neuromarketing and user experience design.

In a nutshell, both stimulate a nagging feeling inside that we seek to fill, whenever a task is incomplete or a situation is uncertain.

And it got me wondering, could these also lead to our expectations that there’s a dream job out there for all of us?

Where does a perfect job come from?

When I was about 12 I was passionate about 2 things. Building LEGO and playing video games. Back then I thought, “Wouldn’t it be cool if someone paid me to play video games? That would be my dream job”.

I grew up in the ’90s, and back then this dream seemed ridiculous.

To support my two passions (to buy more video games to play and more LEGO models to build) I picked up any odd job. Emptying trash for local shops or digging holes for the city’s Botanic Garden. Looking back – I was a pretty entrepreneurial kid at 12.

Today, Millenials actually do get paid to play video games. The Esports industry is getting revenue upwards of $1 billion. But somehow, my passion to play LEGO and video games professionally doesn’t occur to me anymore.

Is it possible that a dream job is not something final, and something that can evolve over time?

Charles Darwin was educated at a church boarding school and trained to become an Anglican priest but through a series of circumstances and choices…well, got on a path that’s taken him to form a virtually opposing view to that of the church.

The perfect job as a work in progress

By the time I was in my 20’s I’d developed a passion for coding websites and designing logos. “That’s it, I thought! This is what I’m meant to do – I’ve found my calling”.

Those inspirational quotes like “Find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” described how I felt. I enjoyed it immensely. I got paid for it. Other people found value in it and I felt useful.

At the time, when my peers talked about lacking purpose or direction, I felt in equal measure smug and surprised.

But it turned out that my ‘calling’ was not without hurdles. Managing expectations was tough. Dealing with the occasional rude client was painful. And often I hated the work I produced or didn’t want to finish a project I took on.

I learned that sometimes even a ‘dream job’ isn’t necessarily where you feel like signing Sunshine, Lollipops, And Rainbows all day long because everything is oh so perfect. Often, a dream job is one that we choose to do despite the hurdles that it entails.

Still though, to try and make my life easier I started devouring books and content on idea generation, creativity, client relationships, and soft skills, as my dream job was starting to feel like a work in progress again.

The perfectionism mindset

If you consider yourself a perfectionist, that makes two of us.

Well, in truth, I’m a recovering perfectionist. As a designer, I always wanted to get everything pixel perfect. It drove my productivity down and made me more frustrated than it made me proud.

Having read so much literature on creativity and business ventures I have learned about the power of releasing work before you feel 100% ready. And then, using the learnings from the feedback you get (whether that’s your client or potential customers) you either improve this design-product-brand or apply the lessons in your next attempt/s.

Concepts such as the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) created a huge mindset shift for me not just in my day-to-day work, but how I approached my life overall.

Perfectionism meant holding on to certain expectations that may or may not be met. And so I decided I didn’t want to live my life like that anymore.

Work(ing) progress towards dream job/s

Fast forward to today. During more than 15 years in my field, the nature of my work continued to evolve constantly. Although I remained closely tied to the design and branding industry, in the last couple of years my passion for design has eased off somewhat.

Possibly because I’ve uncovered a new passion – helping other designers to find their creative confidence. I feel like this could be my new ‘dream job’.

Two of the most common root challenges that we uncover within my coaching students are a lack of purpose and a feeling of burnout.

“I don’t have a clear direction in life, I need focus”.

“I’m feeling stressed, overworked, and burnt out”.

Does either of these statements sound familiar?

It’s no surprise. The former is a fruit of those cat posters telling you to “follow your passion” and the second is the unfortunate over-glamorisation of the hustler culture that’s encouraging youngsters to “work through the pain” and “hustle hard”.

The aha moment

From my personal experiences “follow your passion” is a dangerous piece of advice. It assumes, much like the Zeigarnik effect and Uncertainty reduction theory that things must be ‘complete’ or final in order for us to enjoy them.

The “hard work beats talent” mantra might be valid to a degree, but not when it’s approached with fanaticism. If we are working so hard to either reach our dream job or create one, but we are broken by the time we get there, is it all worth it?

Over the years, what I’d found with any of my creative endeavours is for them to be successful I needed to juggle and balance two contradictory mindsets.

Working hard and letting go.

In other words, having a process and a plan, putting in the work, but at the same time trusting that the right outcome will be achieved despite uncertainty.

And today, as I sat down to write this it hit me that this is how I’ve approached my views on the concept of a ‘dream job’.

While I believe that a true calling or a ‘dream job’ exists for a select few, for the majority of us, a dream job is more like a work in progress. And that’s great. To me, reaching some final destination or an outcome sounds so…well, final. I’d much rather keep on learning, growing, and discovering new dream jobs along the way.

Now over to you

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Of course, it depends on how you define creative block. It can be described as a barrier to inspiration, preventing you from accessing your creativity. But far too many people use it as an excuse.

I’ve worked with some creative types that were so reliable in being able to generate innovative ideas that it was worthy of at least a small dose of envy.

Then there were others, sometimes referred to as the ‘primadonnas’. They acted as though they were waiting for a higher calling to visit, and of course, they weren’t to blame that they missed a deadline. ‘I’m just waiting for this creative block to pass’ they would say.

For me, creativity is less about a serendipitous moment of magic, a channeling of a higher calling or innate talent, and more about responsibility and discipline.

That is of course good news.

It means that contrary to popular belief, creativity isn’t just for a select few. So long as you can take responsibility for your creative process and implement some discipline into your routine, everyone can ‘become creative’ and avoid creative block altogether (or combat it if it does show up in some form).

Creativity starts with understanding your process

Sure, there are times when you don’t have the energy to ‘be creative’ – but often that comes down to one of two things.

1) Either not understanding or having a properly defined creative process that enables your creative self to do your best work (i.e. not optimising your days based on your circadian rhythms, not measuring your peak performance hours, not having clarity which daily rituals and routines create a more favourable environment for your creative self);

OR

2) Knowing your process but choosing not to follow it, not optimising your day to day, or basically letting yourself off the hook (i.e. staying up till 2am eating ice cream and watching sitcoms when you know historically speaking that kind of routine makes you sluggish and ‘uncreative’ the following day)

If you fall in the first category, start by measuring the times when you do feel productive, inspired, and ready to create and try and understand the events and routines that created that environment. Likewise, document what types of things you may have done to lead to ‘creative block’. If you see patterns of feeling lazy and unmotivated the day following binge-watching Netflix till 2 am eating ice cream, that would be a sign.

If you fall into the second category of understanding your most favourable routines but choosing to avoid them, you might need to focus on your discipline.

Creativity is a process, not an event

For as long as musicians, painters, writers, and other creative types existed, they struggled with a ‘creative block’ of some kind.

But while some seem to put their hands in their lap with the words “Oh well, I can’t create while I have this block”, others see it as part of the process.

We all have periods when we don’t feel like creating, or feel like the ideas are just not there. But if we create according to our process, and not our mood, amazing things can happen.

Writer Barbara Kingsolver, the Pulitzer Prize nominee shares:

“It’s a funny thing: people often ask how I discipline myself to write. I can’t begin to understand the question. For me, the discipline is turning off the computer and leaving my desk to do something else”.

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield is another great testimony about how a disciplined process of creation is in itself a way to combat creative block.

When you start to create, regardless of your mood, eventually something will come to exist. The end result doesn’t always have to be a masterpiece – take the pressure off.

Taking the pressure off ourselves

Claude Monet was known to destroy a lot of this work due to frustration. And here lie the other culprits of ‘the creative block’. Perfectionism, judgment, and expectations.

Striving for perfection is one of the reasons many creatives freeze at the sight of a blank page. The expectation of coming up with a genius idea each time you sit down to create would be overwhelming for anyone.

But as Jodi Picoult shares, you can’t edit a blank page. “You might not write well every day, but you can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.”

You can combat the fear of a blank page by giving yourself permission to create garbage. Not judging or evaluating what you’re creating or expecting a masterpiece from the get-go.

Creating something of value, something polished and engaging is a lot like growing plants or trees.

You have to plant the seeds. You have to tend to them, water them, get rid of pests and weeds. Often, it means sitting on your hands and knees in the mud before you can marvel at your beautiful blossom.

9 actionable ideas to overcome creative block

I’m afraid that without understanding and applying the above mindset shifts first, no amount of ‘quick-fix’ solutions I could give would help you in the long run. Someone like me could give you the theoretical steps to take and mindsets to learn, but without implementation, you’re unlikely to solve your creative block, especially if it’s turned into a chronic problem.

As the saying goes, you can’t outsource your pushups, so to supplement those more theoretical concepts, here are 9 actionable ideas to help you overcome creative block.

1 Make it into a daily routine

We’ve spoken about the importance of discipline and process, but how do you go about making it a reality when the ‘huge elephant’ is too much to swallow? You eat it one piece at a time, of course.

Start by committing whatever feasible amount every day to make progress on your project/s. 30 minutes as soon as you wake up, or 15 minutes directly before lunch, any small amount of work daily can help you make progress on your work. So long as you make a habit out of it – the best way to accomplish this – set it in your calendar. As Japanese author Haruki Murakami says, “The repetition itself becomes the important thing.”

2 Adopt the experimentation mindset

Before you hit it big, your risk is low, the upside is big: no one has any expectations of you. American chef Anthony Bourdain wrote his first book when he worked in the kitchen. He said the certainty that nobody would read it is what allowed him to write it so freely.

We talked about how the perfectionism mindset can block you creatively, but how can you turn it into an actionable practice? Take a leaf out of Edward de Bono’s book and suspend judgment. Every time you sit down to create, set up a milestone to hit, with the view of only judging or evaluating the validity of the idea/s until you hit that quota. It could be working for 100 minutes straight. Or generating 100 ideas. Or 2,000 words. Experiment with the different benchmarks for yourself, but forbid your mind from evaluating until that target has been hit.

3 Add skin in the game and accountability

Similar to the idea quota, another tactic that can work is if you externally commit to something. It could be joining a challenge, sharing the progress of your project publicly, or investing $$$ into an idea (i.e. 36 days of type, 100 days of haiku poems, $1,000 into a 12-week social media content course)

When you are invested in something things become more interesting (and more motivating). There’s a reason why free online courses get much smaller completion rates compared to expensive courses. And if you share your projects publicly, even it’s still WIP (Work In Progress) the added accountability can keep you motivated. And as an added bonus you might even get some excellent feedback from your community to help you make it even better. That’s why I love the concept of MVP so much.

4 Make sure you’re solving the right challenge

If you’re not creating art but are solving a particular business problem you need a clearly define challenge before you launch into solving it. As Albert Einstein put it “If I had an hour to solve a problem I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.”

Defining the problem can sometimes be the most difficult step in coming up with an idea. It is also the most critical. It’s often the most helpful to phrase your challenge in a form of a question. A ‘How might we‘ framework can be useful, or you can try the following formula for generating the question for your challenge: How or in what ways (action) (object) (outcome)?

5 Add external stimulation

After a while, when I’ve been working on the same types of projects and things day in and day out, my ideas tend to become stale. New stimuli and input can help with keeping things fresh. Feeding the creative brain with new content can help to make new connections and novel ideas.

A trip to the theatre, a museum, or a new art exhibition can do the trick. Basically, anything that is outside of your typical mode of inspiration or environment. I often also break out the Get Ideas Cards Deck – a type of random stimuli with prompt questions helping me see a challenge from different perspectives and get my creative mind unstuck. I’m also working on two other sets of cards via a Kickstarter Campaign, specifically focused on idea generation for Brand Strategists and Content Creators.

6 Adjust the boundaries of a challenge

When you are struggling to generate ideas you could be thinking too broadly or too narrowly about your problem. If you have an open-ended problem like “I want to do something awesome” or if you’re trying to solve world hunger, your problem definitions are too broad and it will be difficult to come up with concrete ideas.

On the other hand, if you narrow your problem down to delivering fresh water to the slums of Lagos, Nigeria every Tuesday, you have gone too narrow. A problem definition that sits somewhere in between those two extremes will give the right amount of specificity and creative freedom to generate innovative and actionable ideas. i.e. How can we empower the existing food supply network to be more efficient?

7 Get busy on a repetitive task

According to an advertising executive James Webb Young who was prominent in the 1940s, nearly all great ideas follow a similar process. Part of that process is what some creatives call the incubation phase. It typically follows the initial phases of gathering all materials about your challenge and spending a good chunk of time immersing yourself in that challenge and then stepping away to let your subconscious mind do the work.

One of the best approaches to ensure you ‘hand the keys’ over to the subconscious mind is to get busy on a repetitive, non-creative task. There is a reason why Archimedes allegedly got his Eureka moment in a bathtub, or why some people get their best ideas during a run, cleaning the dishes or vacuuming the floor. The key is making sure this incubation phase comes after you’ve put in some of the work.

8 WOOP your way to creative unblocking

I recently took The Science of Well-Being course on Coursera and learned about a really interesting problem-solving technique called ‘WOOP’ – wish, outcome, obstacle, and plan.

The creator of the technique, Gabriele Oettingen says that simply having a goal and imagining an outcome is not enough to achieve it. You also have to prepare for the obstacles and plan how you will avoid or overcome them. In the context of creative block, this mental contrasting technique can help you uncover what is causing your lack of creativity in this particular moment, and then ideate some ways to solve it.

9 Don’t wait to have it all figured out

Ideas form in the mind, but they have to take a physical form in the real world, otherwise, they remain a dream. If you keep dreaming up the solutions and features of your idea but wait to do anything about it until you have the ‘perfect solution’, then you are bound to get stuck. They say if you launch something when you are ready, you’ve launched too late.

Don’t wait until you have it all figured out. “If I had to understand everything about connecting people before I began, I never would have started Facebook,” Mark Zuckerberg says. We’ve talked about the concept of MVP. Here’s a way to make that actionable and help motivate you to a ‘completed’ idea (as opposed to ‘perfect’) – try adding a deadline by which you need to finish and launch something. You can always iterate on it, remix it and improve it later.

Bonus idea for beating creative block

That’s right, lucky you  – you get a tenth bonus idea for combating creative block. It’s no surprise that in steps number 2 and 3 I mentioned 100 minutes of work, 100 days of haiku poems, 100 ideas. Because a List of 100 Things happens to be a powerful idea generation technique in itself. Similar to the Automatic Writing Technique you may have heard about it works as a sort of team-play between your conscious and subconscious mind.

Originally created as a journaling technique by Psychotherapist Kathleen Adams, it can be applied to problem-solving, idea generation, and general blockage (creative or otherwise). The premise is simple, you list your question or challenge and then proceed to write a list of 100 plausible solutions or answers, making sure you do it in one sitting and without distractions. The improbability of such a task is what enables your subconscious to kick in, once your initial 20 or 30 odd ‘standard’ ideas are down.

Try to limit the exercise to about 20 minutes, keep it simple, abbreviate, use bullets, repeat responses if you have to, just keep the answers coming – like with our step number 2, there are no wrong answers.

Now over to you

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So how do you initiate the creativity loop if inspiration is lacking in the first place?

To induce inspiration and create something new we have to be able to:

• Connect with our inner self and our inner voice
• Relate to the world that surrounds us at large
• Channel those combined experiences to manifest something new

Most of the time, we are inspired by external experiences that come from different senses. Sight, hearing, smell, taste or touch. And sometimes these different senses combined can create a complex layer of mystical and complex experiences, triggering mixed emotions. Such examples can include interpreting and channeling our emotions through art or music.

Although becoming inspired and creative is not an exact science, and there is no magic formula to trigger creativity, there are many exercises that can help with inducing creativity.

Also, here are some mindset-driven guidelines that can help improve your ability to create.

Practice, practice, practice – inspiration and creativity will strike

Practice your craft, so that when the lightning of creativity strikes, you find the least barriers to physically express it. As the great Pablo Picasso once said: “Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.”

That is to say, that even if you are not feeling particularly creative, the process itself can induce inspiration. Instead of setting the goal to create something brilliant, commit to just making ten brush strokes, or writing just 100 words, or sketching a logo for just 30 minutes.

Put yourself out there, live life and be sensible about it, let yourself feel

Your life experiences are the ones that will be interpreted or translated into your creations. Be that through art, design, music or painting.

As the Gestalt psychologist Kurt Koffka said, “The whole is other than the sum of its parts.”. According to him, his phrase was incorrectly adapted to become “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts”. Although we are a sum of our experiences, we are also each experience separately, which is connected to the other experience.

Consciously (or more often subconsciously), we mix and match those different individual experiences into a new interpretation. As a result, creating something different than the sum of all experiences, or each separate experience. That’s how each new idea is formed.

Collaborate with other creators

Creating can be extremely rewarding as a solo activity. However your creations are limited to your personal experiences and interpretation, and sometimes juxtaposing two or more points of view creates some of the most satisfying results.

Many eminent music bands owe their success to the magic of collaboration. Just look at the Beatles or the Rolling Stones.

For example, this article is an open collaboration between myself and Gabriel Agüero of Drop Music Branding. Gabriel has been crafting audio branding and music production for over a decade. And whilst we are both heavily involved in the branding world, my experiences lie more on the visual side of the spectrum, whilst Gabriel’s experiences lie on the audible side of the scales. Combining our collective inputs makes for a richer and more multifaceted viewpoint.

Now Over To You

I want to hear about your experiences with creativity and opening up to different senses and experiences  – reach out via email or on Instagram and let’s get a discussion going!

If you enjoyed reading this article, consider signing up to the Studeo Insider and receive more insights like this one. If you know someone who might enjoy this article, please share it. You can connect further with Gabriel Agüero via dropmusicbranding.com

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What I’ve learned is that passion can materialise after you get stuck into working on something and focus on becoming really good at it. Having a passion for something and being able to make a career out of it are two very different things. It’s not impossible but quite rare.

I’ve written about being lucky and finding my passion and my calling early. But the truth is that I’ve only stumbled upon these passions as a by-product of the effort I put into a particular area.

How I’d Found My Passion/s

When I was 16 I was a huge fan of a German band Scooter. I had all of their albums and singles, and I was so ‘passionate’ about their music that I wanted to share it with others.

I have hand-built a fan website using nothing but Notepad and a copy of PaintShop Pro. For the next 4 years, I continued to maintain a community of 100+ forum members, kept on redesigning, improving and rebuilding the website, and I have found a passion for website design in the process.

Making friends with the forum members I’ve also joined a relatively new platform at the time, DeviantArt (founded in 2000). As many of my new-found online friends, I started posting my snaps I had taken with my old film camera. And that’s how I discovered another passion and a skill I could learn to keep getting better at – photography.

I have another half a dozen examples like these about how I’ve discovered and/or developed a passion for other skills. Theoretically, they all could be monetised.

Following Your Passion Is Alluring

It is an alluring prospect – working in a career or business that you are passionate about. ‘It doesn’t even feel like work’ – they tell you.

I know that when I was a teenager, just like every other young person I imagined getting paid for playing sports, video games or doodling my heart out. A study completed by the University of Quebec found that 84 percent of college students had passions. Unsurprisingly, 90 percent of these passions were sports, music, and art.

However, there is only so much demand for professional athletes, musicians, and artists. Only about 3 percent of all available jobs are in these sectors, and the competition is fierce. Just because I was passionate about basketball at 18, doesn’t mean that I would become the next Michael Jordan.

The truth is, passions change over time. That’s another proven phenomenon. So chasing your passions might leave you in a constant loop of career changes.

The Problem with Following Your Passion

We can all have many passions. As I have just shared with you, I have a few of my own. But I won’t necessarily be focusing on making money through all of my passions.

And that’s the point.

You can pursue any passion you want, but you shouldn’t feel entitled to earn money from it. Sometimes a passion should just be left as a ‘hobby’ or your ‘special talent’ for you to enjoy, rather than trying to turn it into a money-making machine.

On the flip side, it’s very common for passion to develop after you’ve put in the hours of work into crafting and perfecting a certain skill. So you can still end up in a career or business of your dreams, it’s just that, counterintuitively, passion may come second.

Become a Conduit For Life’s Passion

When people jump into a career or open a business looking to appease their passion, they are coming from a ‘what can the world do for me’ perspective. There is a sense of entitlement that since they are passionate, money and admiration should follow.

Instead, we should be focusing on what we can do for the world. What skills and abilities do we have and are good at, or could get better at, that can help someone else solve a problem or make their life easier? When you are committing yourself to the benefit of others in this way, passion will arrive as a result of your dedication to this cause.

And, as you get better at your skill, your passion will be further reinforced. Why? Because it feels amazing to be really good at something and seeing your efforts improve someone else’s life.

How do you get the best of both worlds?

In late 2017 I was standing by Horseshoe Falls. That’s the largest of the three Niagara Falls.

The water roared like mad. I could barely hear myself think. As I was taking in the magnitude of the force behind the water current I couldn’t help but get caught up in its energy. I decided to surrender and just let its force run through me. Not literally, but figuratively participate in the moment and let the current give me whatever it had to offer.

Later that day I decided that I would implement this type of practice in all of my activities. Including my work. I pledged to show up fully whenever presented with a task or a challenge, no matter how seemingly tedious or unimportant to me. Let the energy and work flow through me.

And do you know what I’ve found?

Becoming a conduit for life’s energy is one of the quickest ways to gain a passion for something. You just can’t help but become passionate when you surrender yourself and join the momentum of life’s force and energy.

Focus On Finding Your Ikigai

Many years after building my first website, I realised that intuitively I was applying some of the Ikigai principles in building my dream life.

In Ikigai, having a passion for something is only one small part of ‘having a reason for being’. You must also combine that with what you are good at, what the world needs and what you can be paid for.

It’s the balance and the relationship of all of those components that I managed to capture in my own career discovery. Everything is connected. It is possible to be passionate, live a life of consequence and use a business or a career as a medium for life’s expression.

Discovering your Ikigai will lead you to a feeling of peace and lasting happiness that can sustain your entire life. You just need to commit, participate wholly in whatever endeavour you choose to pursue.

I’ve ended up discovering that helping people solve their problems and live to their highest potential is my passion. Website design, branding, photography, and creativity are simply the chosen mediums that let me express my passion and combine all four Ikigai principles.

Here Are Some Practical Steps to Developing a Satisfying Career

1. Early on, explore different skills and areas you might be good at
2. Try out skills that you feel will be engaging to you
3. Evaluate how different skills might benefit others and what you could be paid for
4. Enjoy becoming a master of the skills that resonate most with you
5. As you become a master of some skills continue evaluating if passion develops
6. Continue to learn new skills even as you’re mastering others

Now Over To You

How do you create passion in your life? I want to hear about your experiences with it – reach out via email or on Instagram and let’s get a discussion going!

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I remember my first couple of brainstorming sessions. Thrown into a room with other creatives and instructed to generate a brilliant idea on the spot. That was the expectation. After all, that’s what a brainstorm is for, right?

Through my own struggles and with the lack of direction in those generic brainstorms, I intuitively started adjusting my own approach.

Many, many sessions and later, I found that treating the brainstorming process as a generic idea generation tactic without the proper preparation wastes a lot of time and energy and yields pretty poor results.

My new brainstorming process changed everything for me.

What is Brainstorming, Really?

Brainstorming is a minor component of the creative thinking process. It’s a formal setting that encourages the use of creative thinking.

The primary benefit of a brainstorm is to provide cross stimulation of ideas. To be most effective, it should be framed as a formal setting with defined constraints, so that all participants are aware of the expected outcomes of the session.

With the more thought out brainstorming sessions there can be rules to streamline the process.

You might have heard of encouraging crazy ideas, and only saying ‘yes, and…’ instead of ‘no’. Generate as many ideas as possible. Defer judgement. Some of these techniques, a lot of which are still used in brainstorming today were initially proposed by an advertising executive in the 50s. All of these techniques supposedly encourage a breadth of ideas to come forward.

However, several studies indicate that teams that use these typical rules of brainstorming come up with less quantity and quality of ideas, as compared to teams implementing an individual idea generation process first.

What is Wrong With The Typical Brainstorming Process?

In my many years wasting time and energy in these generic brainstorm sessions, I’ve recognised several issues with this approach. Luckily, later I was given the opportunity to restructure and improve the process.

Here are the key disadvantages, that affect most brainstorming teams:

• Typically brainstorming and idea generation sessions are organised directly or shortly after a briefing and new project kick-off. And even with the breadth of the knowledge between the participating members, at best this knowledge is limited to each person’s current experience and understanding of the matter at hand. I found that in a lot of cases the ideas brought to the team in these instances are based on stereotypes and surface-level knowledge.
• Adopting a ‘yes, and…’ mentality is really useful in a brainstorm. In theory. In reality though, besides using words, people tend to communicate in a non-verbal form. So even when your teammates might be verbally supporting your idea, but their arms are crossed – this tends to discourage even the most confident idea generators.
• Not everyone generates ideas most effectively in a group. Some people are able to generate ideas on the fly, yelling out ideas in a brainstorm, sometimes without much research or background about a particular topic. While others need time and space with the topic, to let the ideas foster.
• When people work together, especially when they have been working together for a long time, their ideas tend to converge. Groups start to engage in ‘groupthink’ – starting to think in the same way and agree with each other to avoid conflict.

7 Tips to Make The Brainstorming Process Effective Again

Here are the key aspects I identified over the years for a more effective brainstorm session:

1. Define the problem clearly

Make sure that a clear problem definition is presented to the team participating, to ensure everyone is solving the same problem.

“If I had an hour to solve a problem I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.”

–Albert Einstein

Formulating the question of the problem clearly plays great significance in how you go about solving that problem.

2. Let everyone generate ideas individually first

Brainstorming should be done only after the individuals have done their research separately and have gone through their own idea generation process.

I personally like to research several sources and gather varying points of view on the topic before I feel I can generate ideas that are relevant.

To me, there’s nothing worse than ideas yelled out in a brainstorm, that lack any deep knowledge.

3. Size does actually matter

If there are too many people in a brainstorm, that usually means that some people don’t get a chance to share. Having too few participants and the meeting becomes an argument. In my experience no less than 3 and no more than 6 participants are ideal.

4. Idea generation in sixty seconds…or rather thirty minutes

Designate a clear time frame for the session. 20 to 30 minutes would usually be sufficient. Avoid running the session longer even if it seems that ideas are still flowing. It’s better to stop while people still have ideas rather than squeeze out every possible idea dry.

To help make sure that ideas remain fresh, you can also insert some external stimuli into the mix. Adding new perspectives into the group can (hopefully) disturb that groupthink.

5. Judge less, contribute more

Yes, this is part of the traditional brainstorming techniques. But this is one that I’ve kept in my brainstorming sessions, to combat everyone’s natural inclination for critical thinking.

In a brainstorm, the ideas should be flowing freely without comments such as ‘what would never work because..”  Those comments derail the effectiveness of idea generation and force us to revert to logical thinking rather than creative thinking.

And we want to keep it creative after all.

Just make sure that when you are contributing to the idea, you truly set out with the mindset to build on the idea of the other person. This might help limit your natural furrowed brows syndrome.

The primary aspect of the brainstorm is to share an idea with the group, and someone being able to further add to it, or use it as a springboard to another idea.

6. Take notes – before those ideas dissolve into thin air

Ideas are like a mirage – they can appear and disappear without a trace. To ensure that your brainstorming session is productive and that in the end you actually have some ideas to review, it’s essential to keep track of the ideas.

If possible, a separate person should be assigned to take notes, as to not disturb the natural creative flow of the session.

7. Most importantly, assign an experienced facilitator

Having a strong facilitator can make all the difference if you want to generate innovative ideas.

A facilitator of the brainstorm is perhaps the most important factor for a productive brainstorming session and should be assigned to run the meeting. Without someone steering the direction, brainstorms can spiral out of control.

A great facilitator will know when to allow the team to discuss and flesh out an idea. Will recognise when the team is getting off track. Additionally a leader like that will provide an opportunity for everyone to contribute in an equal way and limit ‘groupthink’.

Bonus: How Might we Exercise

As a bonus suggestion, you can use the ‘How might we’ questions that can help you to look at the problem from a different perspective and find additional ways to innovate. You can use this exercise as part of your individual idea generation step or as part of a team. Watch the YouTube video on that below:

Do You Even Brainstorm?

Do you implement a brainstorming practice in your own business? Or you use it to help solve your clients’ challenges? I want to hear about your experiences with it – reach out via email or on Instagram and let’s get a discussion going!

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Today I want to explore just how compatible deadlines and creativity are. In other words – are deadlines helpful or detrimental to your ability to be creative. Research from Harvard University suggests that creativity needs enough time to breathe – otherwise, you’re just doing busywork.

My own experience with deadlines

My curious personality and my tolerant upbringing have taught me to be quite diplomatic about most things. So even when it comes to deadlines I still tend to believe in a healthy balance.

When I started working as a graphic designer I used to loathe deadlines. It came down to me being excluded from the decision making process. Clients would set arbitrary deadlines because they didn’t understand the process. Managers would happily agree with set deadlines to win the project.

And as we know the buck stopped with the graphic designer, who had to adhere to often unrealistic and nonsensical deadlines. The quality of the final output suffered. Things were rushed.

I recall working with a seasoned Senior Designer who was forced to produce a label design within a couple of hours. The result was 200,000 labels printed for a product distributed across Coles and Woolworths stores in Queensland, with a typo.

Even creativity needs a process to follow

I am a big believer in process and systems. They exist to make production more efficient, output more predictable and quality more consistent.

Creativity is a process of coming up with original ideas. And while many believe creativity to be a dark art, just like any endeavour, it has a set of steps that enable us to come up with original ideas and create something new, more consistently.

Typically, with creativity, there are several often overlooked, but critical steps. Such as the initial research phase, as well as an idea incubation phase. These phases enable creatives to generate ideas that have merit in the real world, that are practical, effective and have been proofed internally. So that they are as strong as they can be.

Unfortunately, when arbitrary deadlines are set, it leaves little time for these phases. That can significantly reduce the effectiveness of generated ideas. But more importantly, it can hinder creativity altogether.

Science suggests high time pressure hinders creativity

Professor Teresa Amabile from Harvard University decided to examine the relationship between creativity and deadlines in the workplace. In her study, she asked subjects to keep workplace diaries over some time.

Interestingly, what the research showed is that people did tend to feel productive and generally quite creative on the days when there was significant time pressure. However based on the recorded diaries, they were a lot less likely to actually generate any creative ideas or solve problems on those days.

The research found that people were, in fact, most creative when they were under low to moderate time pressure.

Needlessly tight deadlines cut off time for research and incubation phases, which are necessary for creativity. Drastically diminishing a person’s ability to innovate and solve problems creatively.

Maybe we should all just chill out?

There is more to deadlines than simply cutting off time to necessary steps of a creative process. Severe time pressure can cause stress and anxiety.

Anxiety causes us to narrow our attention to help us focus our efforts towards avoiding a potential threat. This naturally hinders our creativity, as creativity is all about widening our focus and connecting unrelated concepts and ideas.

Relaxation is the opposite of anxiety – it increases our ability to digest large amounts of information and connect concepts to solve a problem.

Further into my career, when I started working for busy agencies, I recognised that the ongoing time pressures and expectations to deliver innovative projects was not sustainable.

I developed a simple habit. Every lunchtime I made a point to go for a brisk 30min walk. That has consistently helped me to relax and set myself up for creativity all over again.

What if deadlines are unavoidable?

As I’ve written at the top of the article, deadlines were not my friend when I was a young designer. But that was only true when it came to those deadlines set by my managers or clients, which are felt were not based on real-life considerations.

When I worked autonomously or as a freelancer, I found setting goals and accurate deadlines actually stopped me from procrastinating.

But the key was planning the deadlines with realistic and achievable timeframes. It also helped to understand why a deadline is important.

If a deadline is unavoidable, understanding the reason for the urgency helps to counteract the effects of time pressure. It won’t help you gain more time to be creative, but it will help you become less frustrated as you will feel like part of a solution.

As I gained more experience and confidence as a designer, I started showing up to more and more meetings with clients and managers and thus being more involved in the process.

If a deadline is unavoidable, find a way to find a mission and reason for the urgency.

So if you’re a designer educate your client or manager about the effect of time pressure on creativity. Find out if they can share the mission and reasons for the unavoidable deadlines so that you can feel more involved and engaged in your work.

Key takeaways

My biggest pet peeve is still arbitrary deadlines. That is, a client or manager placing a deadline on a project or task without any previous experience with such a project. Or any basis of how much time is typically required to produce an effective result.

So the best thing a client or a manager can do is avoid tight deadlines for creative projects. Alternatively, help designers understand the meaning of their work. Involving the affected team members in the decision-making process can help creativity flourish more freely than if there is no sense of a mission.

If you’re a designer I’d love to hear about your experience with deadlines. If you’re a manager or a small business owner I suggest you evaluate whether your set deadline is feasible and has a genuine reason to exist. Or speak to someone more experienced with these tasks, to understand realistic timeframes. So you can plan and schedule tasks like a boss!

Did you enjoy this article?

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But what if I told you that there is a link between our memory and being creative? In fact memory and creativity go hand in hand.

As we’ve already discussed, creativity isn’t a luxury reserved for those born with it. Creativity is a totally trainable skill with the right practice and exercises.

But if you are still on the fence about this, let’s explore how memory can contribute to your creative development.

What do we know about memory?

It has long been believed that our memory is a lot like a computer hard-drive. That it simply a binary process of recording and storing details of occurred events into neat little bytes into the storage compartments of our brain.

However this does not appear to be so.

Neuroscientists and researchers have reasons to believe that memory works in a much less linear way. It turns out that there is a somewhat creative process going on.

Your memories are imagined.

Memory is not linear, but actually creative

In a book titled ‘On the Witness Stand: Essays on Psychology and Crime’, author and memory research specialist Hugo Münsterberg discusses several peculiar findings on memory.

Typically people (that’s everyone – including you and I) have a good memory for the general gist of events occurred

• Simultaneously they have a generally bad memory for the finer details of the same events
• Secondly if pressed for the unremembered details, even well-intentioned people inadvertently fill in the gaps by making things up (does that sound like creativity to you?)
• And thirdly, the memory will store the made-up information as fact, and people will actually now treat these memories as genuine

What do we know about creativity and ideas?

• Every great idea is a combination of existing older ideas, juxtaposed in a unique way. In order to combine this existing information, it requires the retrieval of older ideas from your memory.
• Creative ideas occur when a traditional concept is examined through a unique lens of a person’s own experiences, beliefs and memories.
• Creativity researchers know that creative people’s brains are no different from the rest of us – they’ve just developed a set of habits that allow to generate creative results more consistently.

What are the takeaways?

Undoubtedly memory is something that can be trained. So can we take that concept and what we now know about how it is linked to creativity, and apply it in some way?

Creativity is driven by memory.  Meaning that for any given creative task or problem solving exercise, it is crucial to find memories that will help you to perform the task.

So by training your memory you are in fact also increasing your capacity for being creative and generating innovative ideas. And vice versa.

Both memory and creativity are all about connecting things you already know with new information that you don’t know yet.

Takeaway: You can become a powerful creative thinker if you focus on developing some strategies to improve your memory.

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