Has the Internet paralysed your creativity?
I just read some people's notes on Mental Detox Week, most notably, Iain's. Having been pretty much on beaches for 3 months and reading a lot of books about Zen, I have been thinking about this subject a little bit.
I honestly doubt that anyone who uses Facebook, Twitter and IM can do any real creative work at their desk, unless they have elaborate self control strategies.
Let me clarify what I mean by this.
The 2 types of creative process
Synthesis
We might say there are two types of creative work that go on. The first people call synthesis, and it happens whan the brain is in a conscious, thinking mode. For example you have these conversations:
Hey, did you hear about that artist/blogger/kid on YouTube who did XYZ? Why don't we do that, but in some different way using A instead of B, in this new context?
And it turns out to be a great fresh idea for brand PQR.
There is nothing wrong with this, and the reason it works well these days, is because the Internet has given us such a big pool of XYZ, that we can mix it around at quite a superficial level, and it never seems to get played out or tired. People who are good at remembering lots of different things they've seen, or searching for interesting things, will be very good creatives.
Sub-conscious
The other type of creativity, is what Iain called focus. It's definitely a deeper mode of thinking, and here's how it relates to Zen (when did I become such a twat!!!):
No new ideas come from the conscious mind... it can only synthesize images it has already seen. True creativity comes from a state of no-mind, where your thoughts cannot block the unlimited creative potential of your inner being.
Eckharte Toll - The Power of Now
This "state of no-mind" is a state of flow, or being in the zone. The place Ronnie O'Sullivan is when he's doing a 147 or when an artist is working creatively and doesn't have any conscious thoughts. Now, I don't agree about the "no new ideas" thing - it's too tough to argue that anything is a new "idea" rather than a synthesis, but we instinctively know that to create work that's a cut above, we need more of this type of creativity.
When seeking answers, one must quiet the soul in order to hear them.
Ace Ventura 2: When Nature Calls
Strategies for upping your creative potential
During when I worked at glue, it was just as Facebook status updates became widely used, as well as most people using MSN messenger. At this point I entirely gave up doing any planning thinking work at my desk - I used a pad and pen somewhere quiet, and used my computer to type them up/draw them into PowerPoint. This had the added advantage of making me appear more creative.
If I had an agency, and it had planners or creatives (or similar roles), I would probably insist that they spend at least a third of the time away from their desks. Or something. Anyway I don't have an agency, and if I did it would have animals in it, and not be profitable. But regardless, here is one more smart strategy from Paul Graham:
I now leave wifi turned off on my main computer except when I need to transfer a file or edit a web page, and I have a separate laptop on the other side of the room that I use to check mail or browse the web. My rule is that I can spend as much time online as I want, as long as I do it on that computer.
He sees this as a strategy of first recognising the problem of wasting loads of time on the Internet:
When I have to sit on the other side of the room to check email or browse the web, I become much more aware of it. Sufficiently aware, in my case at least, that it's hard to spend more than about an hour a day online.
My other thought is about research - doing it first, not as-you-go-along, and doing it properly, with paper, pens and printing things, and annotations. This is so that the stuff can sink into your head, and you can have a flash of inspiration in the shower, or so that you can work on it later away from your computer. I have seen so many junior people in agencies asked to do some research, and come back with just a list of hyperlinks! Bad intern - no job for you.
Jokes aside, I think this is a serious problem for any creative agency right now. What HR or personal strategies are people taking to deal with it? Any good software strategies?
I honestly doubt that anyone who uses Facebook, Twitter and IM can do any real creative work at their desk, unless they have elaborate self control strategies.
Let me clarify what I mean by this.
The 2 types of creative process
Synthesis
We might say there are two types of creative work that go on. The first people call synthesis, and it happens whan the brain is in a conscious, thinking mode. For example you have these conversations:
Hey, did you hear about that artist/blogger/kid on YouTube who did XYZ? Why don't we do that, but in some different way using A instead of B, in this new context?
And it turns out to be a great fresh idea for brand PQR.
There is nothing wrong with this, and the reason it works well these days, is because the Internet has given us such a big pool of XYZ, that we can mix it around at quite a superficial level, and it never seems to get played out or tired. People who are good at remembering lots of different things they've seen, or searching for interesting things, will be very good creatives.
Sub-conscious
The other type of creativity, is what Iain called focus. It's definitely a deeper mode of thinking, and here's how it relates to Zen (when did I become such a twat!!!):
No new ideas come from the conscious mind... it can only synthesize images it has already seen. True creativity comes from a state of no-mind, where your thoughts cannot block the unlimited creative potential of your inner being.
Eckharte Toll - The Power of Now
This "state of no-mind" is a state of flow, or being in the zone. The place Ronnie O'Sullivan is when he's doing a 147 or when an artist is working creatively and doesn't have any conscious thoughts. Now, I don't agree about the "no new ideas" thing - it's too tough to argue that anything is a new "idea" rather than a synthesis, but we instinctively know that to create work that's a cut above, we need more of this type of creativity.
When seeking answers, one must quiet the soul in order to hear them.
Ace Ventura 2: When Nature Calls
Strategies for upping your creative potential
During when I worked at glue, it was just as Facebook status updates became widely used, as well as most people using MSN messenger. At this point I entirely gave up doing any planning thinking work at my desk - I used a pad and pen somewhere quiet, and used my computer to type them up/draw them into PowerPoint. This had the added advantage of making me appear more creative.
If I had an agency, and it had planners or creatives (or similar roles), I would probably insist that they spend at least a third of the time away from their desks. Or something. Anyway I don't have an agency, and if I did it would have animals in it, and not be profitable. But regardless, here is one more smart strategy from Paul Graham:
I now leave wifi turned off on my main computer except when I need to transfer a file or edit a web page, and I have a separate laptop on the other side of the room that I use to check mail or browse the web. My rule is that I can spend as much time online as I want, as long as I do it on that computer.
He sees this as a strategy of first recognising the problem of wasting loads of time on the Internet:
When I have to sit on the other side of the room to check email or browse the web, I become much more aware of it. Sufficiently aware, in my case at least, that it's hard to spend more than about an hour a day online.
My other thought is about research - doing it first, not as-you-go-along, and doing it properly, with paper, pens and printing things, and annotations. This is so that the stuff can sink into your head, and you can have a flash of inspiration in the shower, or so that you can work on it later away from your computer. I have seen so many junior people in agencies asked to do some research, and come back with just a list of hyperlinks! Bad intern - no job for you.
Jokes aside, I think this is a serious problem for any creative agency right now. What HR or personal strategies are people taking to deal with it? Any good software strategies?
Labels: creativity, HR, zen
3 Comments:
Interesting points well put Ant, I've been thinking about this for some time occasionally as I am 'wilfing' or randomly IM'ing when meant to be doing work.
It also brings up a few points about how we use our time badly in general in the work place, it's so easy to get distracted when you're actually meant to be getting down to some work - whether it's email, IM, offers of games of Pro Evo etc. I think it's a lot easier to get in the zone when you're working away from other people in your own isolation tank of sorts.
I suppose it also throws up the notion that we waste so much time generally that could be put to better use, I'm not saying focus on work per se, but extending this time to use as a learning period (software, reading etc) in the down-time one occasionally gets.
Maybe an IM exodus, imposing a limit on social notworking™ sites like Facebook and checking email periodically is the way forth.
for myself, I am definitely going to try switching the wifi on for half an hour, off for half an hour, whilst working...
Good post Ant.
Don’t get me started with IM, I committed work IM suicide a while back as it was just becoming such a struggle to get my head down and actually do any work! What really p*ssed me off too was when work mates who sat less than 3 feet away were IM’ing!
Twitter/Facebook etc. is easier to dip in and out of I find so less distracting…
I like the idea of turning wifi off for a few hours a day but it is kinda scaring the sh*t out of me already but probably worth a try!
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home