IN THE GREEN ROOM WITH
BRYAN FRANKLIN
Creativity Is Your Birthright. The Four Conditions For Brilliance
359 days ago

I was talking with a man who is responsible for envisioning the future of how we will light our world (He’s a VP in the marketing department of Philip’s LED division, Lumileds, who is reducing the power needed to generate light by up to 85%) and he was sharing with me his ideas. I can’t tell you what they are because I’ve signed an NDA, but suffice it to say they are REALLY cool.

Is Creativity A Trait Or A Condition?

He wanted to know from me how he could get the rest of his team to think as creatively as he does. Maybe they just aren’t as creative as he is? I think they are.

As a thoroughly mundane attribute of being human, each of us has a connection to what Carl Jung called the collective unconscious, and it is my experience that moments of heightened creativity have more to do with tapping into a universal creative archetype than any unique attribute of a specific person.

Performers, athletes, writers, computer programmers and professionals of all stripes attribute their most creative acts to being in a state of ‘the zone’. While in the zone, parts of themselves seem to disappear, and creativity moves through them, from a universal source, out into our world.

Where Is The Zone And How Do I Get There?

Creativity is an emergent property that arises from specific conditions, and if those conditions are present and are not at risk of degrading, every person will be able to tap into creative genius. People who are considered to be more creative are those that are more able to self-generate these specific conditions. The ‘zone’ is a byproduct of these four conditions.

1) Spaciousness

Give your self mental time and space. Allow time for the habitual thought patterns to dissipate. My friend at Lumileds does all his thinking on Airplanes, because there he has time and space that he literally can’t do anything else with. Drive time and shower time are great for this. Take a walk. Designate an area of your workspace for creativity and keep it absolutely clear of debris. Do what ever it takes to give your mind the experience of spaciousness.

2) Constraints

The reason most sequels are not as good as the originals isn’t that the filmmakers run out of ideas, its because they usually have significantly more time, money, and latitude from the studio for the 2nd movie. The first one was a huge success, so budgets and egos expand. Then, as the constraints decrease, the quality of creativity decreases as well. The beauty of human creativity is born of the constraints of being human. From arbitrary deadlines to iambic pentameter – find constraints that inspire your creative mind.

3) Model Of Inspiration

Inspiration basically comes in two forms. The first is: I want to be like you. Writers emulate writers. Musicians emulate musicians. Businesses emulate businesses. Choose someone that inspires you and study how they do everything they do. Neither compete nor idolize your inspiration. Just observe.

The second form of inspiration is: I want to express what its like to know you. Ravel’s “Une Barque Sur L’ocean” is a musical expression of what its like to be at sea. Write like Monet. Work like a gladiator. Love like Bobby Fisher. Take any idea in one context and express it in a non-compatible context. Be explicit about your inspiration and hold he/she/it in your mind as you create.

4) Love Your Ideas Into Existence

Each idea fragment that spills from your mind must be met by a resounding “YES”. The more you love the seedlings that sprout in your mind, the more fertile the mind itself becomes. Your objective is to open the channel between you and the universal archetype of creativity (creation), not to evaluate how the fruit will taste from the tree that might grow from the seed you see. Each “YES” loves the channel more open. Each “NO” closes it. Put your ideas in a context where they will be loved into existence by you and met with a “YES” both by you and by others. Once each idea begins to develop and mature, then step back and evaluate it. There will be a point when your channel is so open that trashing your ideas cannot close it – and that’s when you will experience brilliance.

Until that point, your job is not to come up with good ideas, but to love every idea that you come up with. 

***

Recommend this post and click Retweet if you found it useful. And send it to all the people you know that are creative or want to be more creative. They’ll thank you for it!

What are the conditions you use to encourage your own creativity? Tell me in the comments below!

14 Comments »

Reply

14 Comments
  1. 1. Naomi Colb said,
    May 25, 2011 at 6:25 pm

    I am re-posting this on my blog with proper attribution and sending it to my creativity coach client:) Thanks as usual for your brilliance and actionable coaching!

    Reply
  2. 1. Michael Costuros said,
    May 25, 2011 at 7:13 pm

    I appreciate the clarity you bring to a process that most experience as murky at best. I spent years working as a fine artist (www.mcvisualmedia.com) before founding a successful software company (www.liveBooks.com) and now thriving as an independent entrepreneurial business coach and educator. All of my endeavors I have approached as creative processes and explorations. I find all of your guidelines true. The one that I have found to be most important is constraint.
    In my 20′s I was focused on art making. I remember hating my job(s) because they took time from my ability to make art. If only I didn’t have to work! Guess what, when I took 2months off, I got way less done than when I only had 3 days a week.
    Likewise I bootstrapped my software company for the first 2 years before taking funding. Not the same situation, but very similar results.

    The learning I would like to share with everyone is that part of your mind will always complain about your restrictions, thinking “If only i had more….” That voice is alive and well inside my head, but today I just politely ignore it, knowing that if I followed it’s advice, things will not go as well.

    Last, I’ll share my current receipt for success. I bite off a bit more than I can chew, doing something I have not exactly done before, with a deadline much closer than I want. This creates the constraints that puts me into into the action zone that always yields amazing results.

    Reply
    • 2. bryanfranklin said,
      May 25, 2011 at 7:41 pm

      Thanks so much for this. When do we get to see you again? I heard there’s more traveling in your future?

  3. 1. Jeffrey Davis said,
    May 25, 2011 at 8:40 pm

    Bryan:
    Thanks for the thoughtful post.

    I appreciate each point, especially the one about emulation. The originality paradox is this: to be authentic, we can expand our sense of creative self by studying how others we admire have mastered their respective craft.

    It’s a point rarely lost on my clients as I encourage them – and then often study with them – “remote mentors,” these models of inspiration you describe so well.

    Your client also is in an interesting position – he’s a leader who feels more creative than his team. We typically read and hear about the reverse – a team member thwarted by an un-creative leader. That scenario could be another blog article…

    Cheers (and consider this one RT’d and FB’d)

    Reply
  4. 1. Jeff Munn said,
    May 25, 2011 at 9:02 pm

    Thanks for this, Brian. I’m so much better at the spaciousness part than the constraints part. But your advice rings true with my own life. It’s when my back is against the wall, when I’m forced to come up with something new, that some of the best stuff happens.

    Reply
  5. 1. charlie grosso said,
    May 25, 2011 at 9:16 pm

    I love number 4, love your idea into existence. I think that not only applies to creative tasks but to any ideas in general, including business. Somehow we get programmed into shutting things down way too quickly, before they time to gestate. I like to attribute the fear of the new and unknown this is premature murder of our ideas and creativity.

    Thanks Brian!

    Reply
  6. 1. Theresa Reed | The Tarot Lady said,
    May 25, 2011 at 10:10 pm

    Great post. The spaciousness part is something I am working on creating right now. I’m doing what I can to create space in my life and my head. And point #4 – love your idea into existence. LOVE that!

    Reply
  7. 1. jolina said,
    May 26, 2011 at 12:12 am

    Love, love, love your final directive: “your job is not to come up with new ideas but to love every idea you come up with.” I’m having a second ‘omg’ moment with you. The first was at RHH. Tickles my funny bone. Thank you!

    Reply
  8. 1. Lazarus said,
    May 26, 2011 at 3:40 pm

    ‘The more you love the seedlings that sprout in your mind, the more fertile the mind itself becomes.’ Love that! Great post. Thank you. :)

    Reply
  9. 1. Rob Scott said,
    May 26, 2011 at 4:11 pm

    Dude, I LOVE #3 and #4… non-compatible contexts are POWERFUL. Also, lovingly awesome “yeses” make my mind sing.

    Thanks for this sensei. :)

    Reply
  10. 1. Will said,
    May 26, 2011 at 5:57 pm

    Hi Brian, loved the post.

    Like some others, this resonated most with me:

    “There will be a point when your channel is so open that trashing your ideas cannot close it – and that’s when you will experience brilliance.

    Until that point, your job is not to come up with good ideas, but to love every idea that you come up with.”

    I also love the pic! Cool stuff…

    Reply
  11. 1. Leroy S. Mobley said,
    May 27, 2011 at 7:15 pm

    Bryan,

    This is your brilliance! I truly admire your ability to elicit inspiration out of everyone you come in contact with. It blesses me soo much to know you and see this post because I finally found all the necessary tools to begin writing The TV Bible and TV Script for my new show.

    How I – what I call – “get in” is through MUSIC. Listening, Singing, then Dancing with it. With this, my senses are wider open so I can hear when the Spirit is receiving a transmission. I’ve found it my Mind, Body and Soul really ignite, especially My Blood this way.

    What I most deeply receive from this post is:
    “Until that point, your job is not to come up with good ideas, but to love every idea that you come up with.”

    Fostering this level of internally referenced ecology will start to make all the difference as I develop in a new level in Writing My Own Ticket!

    You Are Blessed!

    Reply
  12. 1. David Sals said,
    June 11, 2011 at 3:11 am

    Bryan,

    I laughed to myself when I saw that Spaciousness was #1 on the “How To” list of creativity. Spaciousness feels so lacking in my life right now that it took me 2 weeks just to get to reading your article.

    I’ve often remarked that one of the dangers of “smart phones” is that they discourage spaciousness. Years ago, I had a business partner who, when we were stuck on a particularly tricky problem, would tell me jokingly to go to the bathroom. The punch line of the joke is that, when I did go, I always came back saying, “I’ve solved it!” As strange as it seemed at the time, the bathroom was my place of maximum internal spaciousness. But now so often I have my iPhone, and spend that time–and all of my other “down time”–checking email, going through ToDo lists, etc.

    I’m going to take this article, and that particular piece especially, to heart. I’m going to consciously create spaciousness in my life again, and see if I can get tapped back into that “zone.”

    Thanks, and keep being extraordinary!

    Reply
  13. 1. Nick said,
    January 27, 2012 at 4:32 pm

    “Love Your Ideas Into Existence”; I’ll make that one into a weekly banner. Good stuff.

    Reply
Post a Comment.