Good Habits for enabling IDEAS & CREATIVITY

I am posting after a long time, as honestly, I had nothing meaningful to write. I stumbled upon a very interesting essay that led me to a fantastic book called “Great Mind at Play” based on life of “Claude Shannon”. This was such an engrossing read, which prompted me to summarize the gist and my learnings for you.

1.Shut-up the Distractions

It’s not the ENVIRONMENT but INTENTION is needed to turn one’s work hours into distraction-free creative & productive zone. Most distractions are created by Social Media & Emails, leading us to lose ourselves to stay focussed. Shutting these distractions would require a conscious design to our life & work habits to minimize. I find that more than half the of my inbox can just - not be responded or to be ignored.

2. Getting Lost in the Maze

Every human being is intelligent, intuitive and creative. I believe that worrying about missing details or execution steps could be a sure way to shut down our intuitions and miss out on our best shots of creativity. Many Times, trying to conclude Ideas logically, neat and tidy may lose the idea itself. Once can really dream and visualize the big picture with open eyes. Once solidified – the details are a matter of time & perseverance

3.Internal Disturbance

We can always regret some unfished work, half cooked ideas, confusing strategies, indecisive matters whole our life. On the other hand, we can recognize that this internal disturbance or chaos was the enabling factor for some of our remarkable achievements. Being organized and prioritized is good but allowing internal disturbance can be a good appetizer

4.Time

Someone said to me “Your ability to DO things grows manifold if you are able to buy the time”. I have realized that time and deadlines, more often are self-imposed to prove things to colleagues & bosses. Instant gratification is the biggest enemy of idea-making. Remember the power of your spare time if we stuck with something for long enough…

5.Irritation & Frustration is Good

The question is - Great ideas are born by Inspiration or Irritation? Inspiration for sure will lead us to somewhere. However, being ‘Usefully Irritated’ OR ‘Constructively Dissatisfied’ are the moments of truth for Ideas. One may have all the education, training and intelligence, but unless we question, how to find answers.

6.Simple Power

Steve Jobs made ‘Radical Simplicity’ very obvious. Create solutions which should be very Simple Outside – It may be very Complex Inside. Is this true that one’s ability to handle more complex matters is proportional to one’s intelligence or Smartness? In my view, Radically Simplifying things would demand more intense intellectual effort. This could also be related to our zeal to specialize deep. I feel that to build a very high-rise building, it has to be equally broad at the bottom. Having diverse interests pushes mental agility. Lower saturation levels can be amazing for problem solving.

7.Motivation for Creating

Someone said - “Pursuit of money is a powerful distraction from the pursuit of what truly matters”. Wealth, Honors, Awards, Global Recognition can or may be the indirect result as output or side-effects but cannot be the motivation for one’s remarkable work. Shannon didn’t care about these which allowed him to devote and dedicate himself to do remarkable work - consistently. Do we shrink our freedom to DO when we are chasing Money or Awards?

 This is my perspective on How To enable Ideas – to let your creative juices flow… As always, would love to get your invaluable comments and feedback.