Be original. One of a kind. Not just the best, but the only.”
The Myth
In his book, The Third Door, Alex Banayan informs us that – in a world of ‘VIP Access Only’ – there’s always another way in. Regardless of the problem, there’s always another angle to approach it from. We have to be prepared to either find this entrance or make it.
There’s a lot that can be said for this. The world’s most creative – history’s best and brightest – have all earned their place in the proverbial hall of fame by taking an idea/concept and running with it till evolutionary makes revolutionary.
If I asked you to summarise the term ‘creativity’, what connotations would spring to mind? My initial thoughts: A blank canvas. Something barren to spew our expressive ideas upon and watch as it coalesces into a self-serving latticework of creation. The expectation is that you are all to just somehow possess the cleanest of slates from which to build an impressive repository of ‘original ideas’. Exclusively from the confines of personal insight and imagination.
It’s just not true.
The Dream House
Consider this: You want to build a house. Money has been taken out of the equation, leaving you free to initiate work on paradise. It’s a project that will take a lifetime to picture, plan, and produce.
Fortunately, the building site happens to come with some pre-existing foundations to build upon. These foundations have been chiselled at for the entire existence of the human race. The stonework has been conceptualised by the most accomplished of visionaries and established by the most effective of builders. A solid head start, right?
Almost, but you want this house to be your own. As such, every granule should be taken from your own sandbank of concepts. So, would it really be ‘honourable’ to poach a ready-made foundation? Would it not instead be righteous to start from square one and try your best to construct a base that matches, if not exceeds, the calibre of the one already available.
Here’s the problem: You only have a lifetime to build this house. Just 1. The foundations you see before you have been refined and iterated upon throughout the evolution of humanity. The purest accumulation of thoughts and ideas poured into a cement mixer and laid to set. Moreover, laying foundations is just the preliminary step. If you spend 30 years perfecting it, you’ve still got a whole house to build. And, let’s face it, could a 30-year lather of concrete and cement really compare to the rock-hard foundations that have been already been subjected to millennia of enhancement?
Probably not.
Liquid to Concrete
So, what has this all got to do with creativity?
The ‘house’ that will take you a lifetime to build is an analogy to describe the product of time spent learning and growing as a person. The hopes and dreams and musings of individuals go into the walls. The passion and will to enact these pursuits make up the floors. The rooms are then filled to the brim with novel ideas and sparks of promise, each with varying probabilities of success. In fact, the house is so laden with ‘worldview’ that it would require an infallible support system to preserve its structural integrity.
This ‘base’ of wisdom – like the building – can also be strengthened over time. However, wisdom is accrued from the far-reaching insights of many, not few. And certainly not one. We need a framework of extensive ideas from the widest possible variety of sources. Liquid thoughts equal concrete base.
Building this house alone and entirely from the bottom up is not only a highly impractical undertaking but an incredibly foolish one at that. To do so would be to disregard the collective experiences of our ancestors. Their insight has compounded over time and will continue to do so, ad infinitum.
Redefining Conventional Wisdom
Here’s what I’m really trying to say. Creativity isn’t about starting from 0 words on a sheet of A4. It’s about highlighting the most thought-provoking content, pasting it into your files, then editing as if the world depended on it. Because it does. The end product would shadow the initial structure – the gist of the parent idea, followed by 3 paragraphs of size 12 Times New Roman typesetting. But the content should be unrecognizable. Some might even say unique.
Take the foundation that’s already set in stone. Shift blueprints and half-conceived thought experiments onto your desk of originality. In doing so, you are setting yourself up for a future of eureka moments and avoiding the existential crisis that is a house falling apart. Cut, Copy, Cement, Create.
That’s real vision, from the bottom up.