How can I be more creative?
Let me tell you a story.
I’ve always assumed that my idea generation skills are good (well, at least good enough to not feel less talented than other designers).
But, since I’ve started working at a new company back in February, I’ve been constantly impressed by my new colleagues, who seem to come up with ingenious solutions to difficult problems on a daily basis.
I’m inspired by and want to keep up with their creativity and I’ve found myself asking this question at least once a week (if not more):
“What can I do to improve my creativity and bring new things into the world that weren’t here before?”
A few years back I’ve read a book titled “A Technique for Producing Ideas” (by James Webb Young), and I’ve recognized its advice as being relevant to me right now.
The author sees the creative process as a recombination of existing ideas. Therefore, the more ideas and pieces to recombine you have, the more creative you can be.
To accumulate those pieces, you need to do the following:
Gather as much specific knowledge about your current problem
Expose yourself to a lot of unrelated general knowledge and enriching experiences, books, art, music, etc.
Work really hard on trying to solve your current problem
Relax. In the in-between moments, ideas will recombine in your mind and come to the surface. Take advantage of long walks, showers, commutes, coffees with friends…
Capture your newly arising ideas quickly and test them as soon as possible with others to see if they withstand contact with reality
Repeat
I can see how many of my past ideas have been generated exactly in this way without me having formally thought of this process, and I want to take advantage of this technique in a more explicit way.
I will be sticking to these habits for Q3 2026:
Commute at least once a day (especially, walk) without listening to music, audiobooks, or podcasts
Expose myself to new music via Apple Music Chill Radio (since I don’t have control over the music that gets played there)
Be tolerant when getting “distracted” by colleagues at work. I can’t know what synchronicities might arise when being more lax about my plans for the day
Draw as much as possible every day, especially during moments of relaxation. This allows me to reinforce my ability to visualize my thoughts and communicate them to the external world. I’ve added to this entry a couple of drawings of mine I particularly like
Write often in my blog, especially without A,I and even if the entries are more raw and unrefined (I’m writing this in a train, in a moment of inspiration, without editing myself too much)
Spend time every week with people I love and I’m inspired by, but in new ways. Visiting new places with them, trying new food, talking about unusual things for us
Keep up with my usual reading of different types of books and visiting eclectic exhibitions, since I think I’m already doing a great job at collecting influences there
I’ll experiment with these habits and maybe write a follow up essay on the results.
Excited to see how this experiment goes.
