136. From Junk to Genius: Nurturing Your Creative Flow and Brilliance

[00:00:07] Welcome to episode 136, which is a Girl Take the Lead Sound Bite. And a sound bite is a shorter episode that might be a bit more about a topic we've covered, like it is today, or quick inspiration. And I'm your host, Yolanda Canny.

[00:00:22] In our previous episode, we explored creative brilliance with Lane Gardner, and she encouraged us to use our creative energy as a way of healing. And I had some questions after talking to her, I thought we could explore

[00:00:35] together. In my research on the topic, I found that James Clear, in addition to being the expert on habits, and you may remember we did an episode about top cabinets on our podcast, I was thrilled to see he's done a lot of work on

[00:00:51] creativity. And so that article is I found on his website, and I'll have all the information in the show notes in case you want to dig in and learn a bit more about it. When I found this article, I didn't see the connection right away

[00:01:05] with what Clear says about habits, and what he says about creativity. But as I got into it, I started to see creativity can be a habit that we can form. I always like starting our episodes by grounding some of the assessments we're

[00:01:21] going to use. So let's start with, what is creativity? Clear says the creative process is the act of making new connections between old ideas, or recognizing relationships between concepts. It's not generating something new from a blank slate.

[00:01:39] It's combining what's already present, the bits and pieces, in a way that was not done previously. What came to mind as I read this was some work that I learned at Avon Products so many years ago, like in the 1990s. And it was the kind of

[00:01:57] process that Disney used in storyboarding. And we used it in generating new products, and we could really connect the dots between things. In the article, Clear talks about an advertising executive who published a short guide in 1940 that included five steps.

[00:02:17] And the first one was to gather new material. I could see this being really important because that gives you new ways to look and know what the trends are for better coming up. Two, thoroughly work over the materials in your mind. This allows us, I know when I'm

[00:02:34] thinking about even an episode, to see how things fit together differently. Number three, walk away. Just let it cook for a while. And four, return. And when it comes back to you, you'll have new insights and new energy. And five, get some feedback. That's the part I hate.

[00:02:56] But Steve Jobs once famously stated that creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn't really do it. They just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That's because they

[00:03:16] were able to connect experiences they've had and synthesize new things. Next, Clear brings up the question of what about those people who are naturally creative? While we often think of creativity as an event or as a natural skill, some people have and some

[00:03:34] people don't, research suggests that actually, creativity and non-creativity is learned and we're all born with it on some level. And the idea of creativity is something that's trainable. Here's what Renee Brown said. She learned about creativity from the world of wholehearted

[00:03:56] living and loving. One, when people say, I'm not very creative, it doesn't work. There's no such thing as creative people and non-creative people. There are only people who use their creativity and people who don't. Unused creativity isn't benign. It lives within us until it's expressed,

[00:04:20] neglected to death or suffocated by resentment and fear. Two, the only unique contribution that we will ever make in this world will be born out of our creativity. And three, if we want to make meaning, we need to make art. Cook, write, draw, doodle, paint, pictures, collage,

[00:04:43] sculpt, dance, decorate, sing, it doesn't matter. As long as we're creating, we're cultivating meaning. And she says there's no creativity without vulnerability and we need to rethink and redefine what we mean by vulnerability. So let's do that. Let's take a closer look at

[00:05:03] vulnerability and see what it has to do with creativity. She says that vulnerability is the birthplace of creativity and innovation. In a lot of instances, managers are asked to present their ideas to a group of people who don't understand it. And then we have to deal

[00:05:21] with rejection, perfectionism and discomfort and getting clear about whose opinion matters. And perhaps the key is right there, getting closer to whose opinion really matters. And that could be just our own. But there's these feelings we have, right? When we're in the flow and

[00:05:42] boy, do they feel good. I can be lost for hours. How about you? Like right now crafting this episode, putting pieces together, I found in the research for you to hear something new about creativity. And I feel almost an adrenaline state. I'm charged, I'm passionate,

[00:06:01] I can keep doing this for hours. We talked about flow a lot with Lane Gardner in our last episode and it touched me so deeply, I was weaving. Could really relate to what you were saying.

[00:06:14] The state of creative flow also known as flow state or creative flow state is defined by the mental state of being completely present and fully immersed in a task. It's immersive, it's psychosomatic experience. And most likely we found ourselves in it at some point.

[00:06:33] And in these moments, we really feel like there's no limit. You know, it gives us fulfillment, happiness and appreciation for life. And who wouldn't like that, right? Oh yeah.

[00:06:45] So I wondered if being in the flow was fun, because that's how I feel. And so I asked my listeners at the girl take the lead Facebook page. And here's what they said. Yes, always feels like fun when

[00:06:58] I'm in a creative mode. Yes, as an art director and designer, that's when I know I'm in a groove and doing my best work when I'm having fun creating. When I'm being creative, I feel

[00:07:10] like all my troubles and worries have faded away. I become very focused on what I'm crafting or creating. Yes, it's fun and very fulfilling. I have fun when I'm in the creative flow, but not when there is a deadline or constraint involved. Next, I wondered what's happening

[00:07:30] in our brains? And it seems like there's a coupling of different parts of our brain, specifically creativity often involves coordination between the cognitive control network, which is involved in the executive functions such as planning and problem solving, and the default mode network,

[00:07:51] which is most active during mind watering or daydreaming. The cooperation of these networks may be a unique feature of creativity. And these two systems are usually antagonistic. They rarely work together, but creativity seems to be one instance where they do. Research also

[00:08:13] indicates that creativity is not one system, but many mechanisms that under ideal conditions work together in a seamless way. Creativity looks different from person to person. And even within one brain, there are different routes to a creative spark and which pathway

[00:08:34] a person uses might depend in part on their expertise. For example, findings indicate that highly experienced musicians, the mechanisms used to generate creative ideas were largely automatic and unconscious, and they were from the left posterior part of the brain. Less

[00:08:54] experienced pianists drew on more analytical, deliberative brain processes in the right frontal region to devise creative melodies. There are at least two pathways to get from where you are to a creative idea. James Clear offers us steps we can take to be creative.

[00:09:19] One, give yourself permission to create junk. As a card maker, I can often make a lot of junk on the way to a final design. Clear says that in any creative endeavor you need to give yourself

[00:09:37] permission to create junk. There is no way around it. Sometimes you have to write four terrible pages just to discover that you wrote one good sentence in the second paragraph of the third page. Creating something useful and compelling is like being a gold miner.

[00:09:54] You have to sift through pounds of dirt and rock and slit just to find a speck of gold in the middle of it all. Bits and pieces of genius will find their way to you if you give yourself permission

[00:10:09] to let the muse plow. Number two, create a schedule. No single act will uncover more creative genius than forcing yourself to create consistently. Practicing your craft over and over is the only way to become decent at it. The person who sits around theorizing about the best

[00:10:34] selling book looks like will never write it. Meanwhile, the writer who shows up every day and puts their butt in the chair and their hands on the keyboard, they are learning how

[00:10:45] to do the work. If you want to do your best creative work then don't let up. Just keep at it. Genius arrives when you show up enough times to get the average ideas out of the way. Three, finish something. Finish something. Anything. Stop researching, planning and preparing it.

[00:11:09] It doesn't matter how good or how bad it is. You don't need to set the world on fire with your first try. You just need to prove to yourself that you have what it takes to produce something.

[00:11:21] There are no artists, athletes, entrepreneurs or scientists who became great by half finishing their work. We have to stop debating what you should make and just make something. When I read that from James Clare, I was reminded of leading a tiger team to reduce

[00:11:41] the development to production time for new contact lens, which was at eight years. One of our engineers said this. It doesn't need to be a work of art. It just needs to get done.

[00:11:56] That cry rallied us to keep thinking creatively and we were able to reduce it to three years. It's one I continue to think of when I get in my perfectionist mode and just need to get something

[00:12:10] drafted. Number four, stop judging your own work. Everyone struggles to create great art, even great artists. Anyone who creates something on a consistent basis will begin to judge their own work. It's natural and it's natural to feel disappointed that our creation isn't as wonderful

[00:12:33] as we'd hoped it would be and that we're not getting any better at our craft. I think sometimes we can think that. I can think that about the podcast like, oh my god. I didn't get to have

[00:12:44] many listeners about that particular episode, which I really loved. I wonder why? I must not be doing very blah blah blah blah blah. It all goes in my head. In one of our episodes,

[00:12:55] we talked about learning to be brave with Nicole Tricksteinbock and we can take things in baby steps like learning to walk. We fell on our butts all the time and just maybe we can get to a point where

[00:13:10] we laugh off our mistakes, don't take it too seriously, see it as something I'm learning and continue to produce the thing we love. And we silence that inner critic, right? Oh yeah.

[00:13:25] Step five, hold yourself accountable. Okay, so hold on. You're not going to like this one too much, but we need to share our work publicly. It will hold us accountable to creating our best work

[00:13:38] and provide feedback on doing better work. And when you see things connect and you connect those with people, there's no better feeling. It can inspire us and make us feel like we care. Sometimes sharing our work means that vulnerability. Bernay was talking about that.

[00:14:01] Maybe we have to deal with haters and critics. And more often than not, the only thing that happens is that we rally the people we believe the same way that we believe

[00:14:13] and we get excited about the same things or who can support our work that you believe in. When we all want that? As Lane Gardner said, the world needs people who put creative work out into the world. What seems simple to us is often brilliant to someone else.

[00:14:35] And this is a good place for us to end today's episode. James Clear offers us this to remember. We can all find our creative genius. It's easy. Do the work, finish something, get feedback, find ways to improve, show up again tomorrow. Repeat for 10 years or 20 or 30.

[00:15:04] He also says inspiration only reveals itself after perspiration. Excellent, right? Excellent! We hope you liked this episode and if you did, let us know by commenting wherever you listen to your podcast. Join our Facebook group, Girl Take the Lead, or visit our website,

[00:15:25] girltaketheleadpod.com. We recently added YouTube music to our platform, so check out our episodes there too. Next week, Latta Hamilton will join us. She is a change leadership and confidence expert who has worked with some of Australia's biggest companies. She had very

[00:15:45] interesting things to say about the future work world we'll need to navigate. I hope you'll join us again. Thanks for being here and talk to you soon. Bye!