During my last finals week in college, I was working out of an office in Georgia Tech’s Scheller College of Business. The office had a library full of books on leadership, entrepreneurship, business, etc. This is when Todd Henry’s The Accidental Creative: How to be Brilliant at a Moment’s Notice first caught my eye. I finally got around to ordering and reading the book, a year later (better late than never).
This book in particular had piqued my interest because I never thought of myself as a creative, but the more liberal arts classes I took in college and the more I started to understand what was ahead of me in the working world after school, the more I began to recognize the value of regular creation. Ideation, creating with one’s hands, putting a product out there – all of this was very appealing to me but I knew I wasn’t taking part in it at the time. Knowing I was also going into consulting, I wanted to be better at thinking on my feet, which is exactly what the subtitle was implying to me. All conversation, after all, requires creativity. With these expectations, I dove into the book.
The Accidental Creative is split into (1) The Dynamics and (2) Creative Rhythm. Henry states that the first section discusses workplace pressures in creating day after day, and the second section recommends what can be done in the face of these challenges to continue outputting brilliant work.
It turns out that my expectations were a little off in terms of what the book was about, but while I’m not a creative in the traditional sense (unless you count this blog or coming up with creative solutions to problems I face in my consulting day), this book was still helpful for me to realize what I can do to just do better work and be more productive. The following are my takeaways:
Overcome the “Ping.” The Ping is the urge to check your email/messages and to browse the Internet. We all have it. I have it too, but I’ve gotten better since keeping my phone on Do Not Disturb 24/7 and leaving all social media except Instagram. This advice goes hand in hand with staying in the moment, observing the world present around you, and being mindful. By focusing on the tasks at hand and ignoring the voice that says to check your email every five minutes, it will be easier to enter a state of flow and be more productive.
Create a board of directors whose opinions you value. This resonated with me because I’ve had trouble identifying a mentor-figure for myself, and a mentor is something everyone I know recommends. This board comprises of people who you respect and with whom you probably share similar values. These are the people you go to when you need advice or validation in making a decision. They don’t need to be told they’re on your board of directors, but mentally keeping a list of people whose opinions matter to you will come in handy the next time you’re unsure or stuck between two opportunities.
Take notes in all aspects of your life. How else can we wade through and identify the important stimuli and conversations in life? I do this by keeping my bullet journal with my whenever I can. If I don’t have my bullet journal, I always pull out my phone and write down whatever’s on my mind at the moment. Before I sleep is when most of my ideas strike, so while I’m in bed I quickly pull out my iPhone and write it down on the Notes app. If I hear a quote that inspires me while listening to a podcast? I write it down in the Notes app or in my bullet journal. Henry does mention that this advice is only helpful when you take the time to also review these notes. Writing something down and never looking at it again doesn’t add much value.
You only have a certain amount of energy; thus, it’s better to plan personal and work events and tasks together. Many people compartmentalize their days, weeks, and lives as a whole into at least personal and professional. However, energy doesn’t differentiate between the two. It doesn’t care about the neat categories you’ve created for your life. It’s important take a wholesome look at your life when considering taking on a project in any sphere. For me, this functionality is provided by my bullet journal: it not only contains personal appointments like birthdays, goals, and doctor’s appointments, but also all work events, tasks, and meeting notes. It’s my entire life in one place, and it works for me.
Practice Unnecessary Creativity through something like Morning Pages; essentially, create for yourself instead of for others. Throughout school, I was assigned so many books to read that I stopped reading for pleasure. Now I’ve been able to get back into it because I like doing it. While that’s a consumption example, it can be applied to anything creative. So many people who have to be creative at work oftentimes stop doing exactly that activity in their free time, practicing in an environment that isn’t going to be graded or judged. Paint for yourself, code a to-do list app for yourself even if no one’s going to see it or use it, design a web app with a wacky UI or function purely for pleasure. Do it for you.
Set aside an hour a week to generate ideas, because practice will allow the same activity to happen more easily in high pressure situations. I complained that I wasn’t creative and I never had ideas, but once I started thinking more about any sort of idea, I noticed how many more I was having. Don’t think of only ideas that can be monetized or that would succeed. Think of the small things, the big things, “stupid” ideas no one would buy into, and eventually the brilliant ones will come too.
Ever notice how quickly time flies by? Perform weekly, monthly, and quarterly reviews with yourself in five key areas (FRESH: Focus, Relationships, Energy, Stimuli, Hours). I plan to start with a Mid-Year Review (coming soon for 2017!) to honestly assess where I was at the end of 2016 and where I am at the end of June 2017.
Aim for a 7-word bio that aligns to your vocation and is greater than your occupation. I imagine this as something that you could say as your Twitter tagline or what you’d say at a bar. For example, what I quickly made up for myself is “Creating pretty and effective solutions to problems.” Granted, this is pretty vague, but take a few seconds to come up with a 7-word bio that describes you in this moment in time. This isn’t necessarily a huge takeaway, but it is an interesting way to see yourself. More than that, I think it helps to think of what you would want your 7-word bio to be and identify what you would need to do to be able to say that.
The Accidental Creative has quotes in abundance. My favorites include:
- “How we define greatness ultimately defines our life.”
- “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking.” Steve Jobs
- “One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time.” André Gide
Henry provided a solid framework for how to organize your life so that it is conducive to prolific creative thinking. I would say that it isn’t exactly relevant to what I do professionally, but I will be using the tools and perspectives the book provides to increase my productivity at work and velocity in my passion projects.