Receive latest posts

    “A Powerful Way to Unleash Your Natural Creativity” by Tim Harford

    Görkem Gümüştekin • public
    • 5 min read
    “A Powerful Way to Unleash Your Natural Creativity” by Tim Harford

    Table of contents

    Tim Harford explores the concept of embracing messiness and chaos as a catalyst for creativity. He suggests that constraints and limitations can actually fuel our creativity by forcing us to think in unconventional ways. Harford emphasizes the importance of embracing trial and error, being open to unexpected outcomes, and allowing ourselves the freedom to explore diverse paths in order to unlock our natural creative potential.

    For Key Ideas, Questions and Quotes from this talk, you can scroll below.

    Tim Harford gave this speech at the TED Conference. All rights to the speech and the video above belong to TED.

    About Tim Harford

    Timothy Douglas Harford OBE is an English economic journalist who lives in Oxford. Harford is the author of four economics books and writes his long-running Financial Times column, "The Undercover Economist", syndicated in Slate magazine, which explores the economic ideas behind everyday experiences. (Source: Wikipedia)

    Key Ideas From Talk

    Defining creativity is difficult and understanding how it happens is even more so. Many unanswered questions come with it: is it an innate talent or is it something everyone possesses? Does it decrease or increase over time?

    While I don't know the answers to these questions, I have experienced something about creativity. It involves the combination, fusion, and blending of many different subjects. Ken Robinson briefly touched on this in one of his speeches, and Tim has made it tangible with examples and data that he shared with us. I believe what he shared is not only a way of living, but also a beautiful and fun way. After all, we are not one-dimensional beings and being colorful is in our nature. Tim's speech opens the way for embracing this colorful aspect of ourselves. Here’s some key ideas from Tim’s speech;

    1. Embrace messiness and mistakes: Harford emphasizes the importance of embracing messiness and making mistakes as essential parts of the creative process. Embracing messiness allows us to explore different paths and ideas, while embracing mistakes helps us learn and grow.
    2. Seek out diverse influences: Harford highlights the significance of seeking out diverse influences and exposing ourselves to a wide range of ideas, perspectives, and experiences. This exposure to diversity expands our thinking and helps us discover new connections and insights.
    3. Embrace incremental progress: Harford encourages the value of incremental progress and taking small, manageable steps towards creative goals. By breaking down big challenges into smaller tasks, we can build momentum, maintain motivation, and make continuous progress over time.
    4. Embrace the role of constraints: Harford argues that constraints can actually enhance creativity by forcing us to think more creatively within limitations. Constraints can spark innovative solutions and push us to think outside the box.
    5. Embrace collaboration: Harford highlights the power of collaboration and the benefits of working with others to foster creativity. Collaborating with diverse individuals can bring fresh perspectives, challenge our thinking, and lead to more creative outcomes.
    6. Embrace feedback and iteration: Harford emphasizes the value of seeking feedback and iterating on our ideas. Feedback helps us refine and improve our work, while iteration allows us to continuously learn and adapt, leading to more innovative and successful outcomes.

    Questions to Ask Ourselves

    Embracing Messiness and Mistakes:

    1. Am I open to experimenting and trying new approaches, even if they might lead to mistakes?
    2. How do I handle setbacks or failures? Do I view them as learning opportunities?
    3. Am I willing to step out of my comfort zone and embrace the unknown?

    Seeking Diverse Influences:

    1. Am I actively seeking out different perspectives and exposing myself to diverse ideas?
    2. How do I challenge my own biases and preconceptions when encountering new ideas?
    3. Do I engage with people from different backgrounds and disciplines to broaden my thinking?

    Embracing Incremental Progress:

    1. Do I break down big goals or projects into smaller, manageable steps?
    2. How do I stay motivated and maintain momentum during the creative process?
    3. Am I patient and understanding that progress takes time and consistent effort?

    Embracing Constraints:

    1. How do I approach challenges or limitations? Do I see them as opportunities for creative problem-solving?
    2. Do I actively seek out constraints to push my creativity and think outside the box?
    3. How do I adapt my ideas or plans when faced with unexpected constraints?

    Embracing Collaboration:

    1. Am I open to collaborating with others and leveraging their perspectives and expertise?
    2. How do I foster a collaborative environment and encourage diverse voices and ideas?
    3. Do I actively listen and value the contributions of others during collaborative efforts?

    Embracing Feedback and Iteration:

    1. How do I handle feedback and constructive criticism? Am I open to learning from others' perspectives?
    2. Do I seek feedback early and often to refine and improve my ideas or work?
    3. Am I willing to iterate and make necessary adjustments based on feedback and new insights?

    Notes From Talk

    ✒️
    Slow-motion multitasking feels like a counterintuitive idea. What I'm describing here is having multiple projects on the go at the same time, and you move backwards and forwards between topics as the mood takes you, or as the situation demands. But the reason it seems counterintuitive is because we're used to lapsing into multitasking out of desperation. We're in a hurry, we want to do everything at once. If we were willing to slow multitasking down, we might find that it works quite brilliantly.
    ✒️
    Different researchers, using different methods to study different highly creative people have found that very often they have multiple projects in progress at the same time, and they're also far more likely than most of us to have serious hobbies. Slow-motion multitasking among creative people is ubiquitous.
    ✒️
    I think there are three reasons. And the first is the simplest. Creativity often comes when you take an idea from its original context and you move it somewhere else. It's easier to think outside the box if you spend your time clambering from one box into another.
    ✒️
    The second reason that multitasking can work is that learning to do one thing well can often help you do something else. Any athlete can tell you about the benefits of cross-training. It's possible to cross-train your mind, too.
    ✒️
    There's a third reason why slow-motion multitasking can help us solve problems. It can provide assistance when we're stuck. This can't happen in an instant. So, imagine that feeling of working on a crossword puzzle and you can't figure out the answer, and the reason you can't is because the wrong answer is stuck in your head. It's very easy -- just go and do something else. You know, switch topics, switch context, you'll forget the wrong answer and that gives the right answer space to pop into the front of your mind.
    ✒️
    The modern world seems to present us with a choice. If we're not going to fast-twitch from browser window to browser window, we have to live like a hermit, focus on one thing to the exclusion of everything else. I think that's a false dilemma. We can make multitasking work for us, unleashing our natural creativity. We just need to slow it down. So ... Make a list of your projects. Put down your phone. Pick up a couple of cardboard boxes. And get to work.

    This talk is a part of following list: "Talks That Changed My Perspective".