Innovation Cafe with Gary Shuster, patent litigator and prolific inventor.
Transcript
Hey, there. Welcome back to Innovation Cafe. I’m Gary Schuster, your friendly neighborhood inventor. And today, creativity coach. Today we’re diving into a challenge that every creative mind faces, creativity blocks. Good news is, there are some quick and easy tips that get you around those. You know that feeling you get when the ideas just aren’t flowing? When it’s like you’re looking at a blank canvas or a blank sheet of paper and trying to figure out where to start and how. A blank canvas or a blank paper isn’t a creativity block. It’s a place where you can put fresh ideas, new ideas, things that you hadn’t come up with before.
Maybe what’s really going on with your creativity block Maybe your brain is on the verge of something amazing, and it just needs a little more time to get it starts lined up. Now, let me tell you how I got over writer’s block. And it was something I figured out about halfway through my undergraduate work, and it was simple. I didn’t start writing until I understood what I was going to write. Sounds simple, sounds easy. But it worked. And that’s the thing. If you try to turn a half idea into a patent application, or a half idea into a book or a painting, you’re not going to get a very good result.
So you need to let your brain do its job, and its job is coming up with some creative, amazing options for you to implement. A creative block is just, at worst, a speed bump. remember that creativity is not about perfection. It’s not about hitting a mark that someone else set for you. It’s about challenging yourself to do something new, maybe new to the world, but certainly new to you. Give yourself permission to let ideas just flow without judgment. If you have a great idea, you might not recognize it. It’s great at the beginning and it might take playing around with it.
And if you’re censoring yourself, only ideas that are amazing. Obviously at the outset are worth doing. You’re not going to have great ideas because nothing is amazing at the outset when it’s coming from your brain. It’s a hint, a clue, a thought that builds into an idea, and the idea builds into an implementation. It’s a process. Don’t try to shortcut the process. Let your brain do it before you try to put the results onto paper. Remember, creativity is not about getting it perfect. In fact, when it comes to creativity, perfect is definitely the enemy of the good.
You can do really well without perfection. And here’s the funny thing when you’re not striving for perfection, that’s when you get closest. Now another option if you’re facing a real block, change your environment. Do something different. If you normally come up with your creative ideas indoors in your studio, go take a walk. Get some ideas. Feed your brain. a third important point is collaboration. If you really have hit a block, it’s likely that bouncing ideas back and forth with someone else is going to get you past that block. How do I know it? Because I do it.
Look for inspiration. And a lot of the times, inspiration can come from the only creative machine currently on earth. The human brain. So just bring another one into the equation. And finally, give yourself some grace. Be patient with yourself. You’re not going to have an earth shattering idea. You’re not going to paint the Mona Lisa every day. It’s not going to happen that way. What’s important is that when it does happen, you be ready to take advantage of it. When that idea gets into your head and you just know there’s something amazing, you run with it.
But don’t punish yourself because you can’t come up with something amazing on demand. That’s not how creativity works. Remember, every great inventor has faced inventors, blocks. Albert Einstein. Steve Jobs both used to just take walks to try to reset their brains. People who are creative forces in our society aren’t always creative. They’re not constantly coming up with ideas. They need exposure to new challenges. Many times for their brain to idle so they can think about things. I mean, just generally in the abstract. Think. Let your brain do what your brain’s good at. A creative block is just part of the journey.
It’s like a road sign that says slow. Sure, you’ll slow down a little bit. You’ll pay more attention to what’s around you, and you’ll come out of the other end ready to go. Full speed. Thank you for joining me today on Innovation Cafe. Remember, it’s all in your head literally. And that’s a great thing. Now you just have to get it out of your head and onto paper. And I know you can do it because every human can do it. So stay creative. Stay engaged. Stay awesome. Until next time signing off from Innovation Cafe.