The Secret to Creativity
Last week I finished the book Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara. If you’re not familiar with him, Will Guidara is the former owner of some of New York’s most expensive restaurants, including one which was recently named the best restaurant in the world.
The book’s packed full of interesting ideas, but his approach to creativity was something that particularly stood out to me.
Now, I’ve never really considered myself to be a creative person — I’ve got friends who can seemingly pull amazing ideas out of thin air, whereas I feel like I’ve got to rely heavily on external sources of inspiration. Like, when I sit down to come up with ideas for something, I usually turn to things I’ve read, watched, or listened to so I can gradually piece things together and connect the dots in my own way.
Creativity just isn’t a spontaneous process for me, which is how I’ve always thought it should be.
The Power of a Systematic Approach to Creativity
But, in the book, Will talks about creativity as something that’s far more systematic than spontaneous. Basically, he says that the people we think are most creative are the ones that have a systematic process behind that creativity.
This was a very liberating idea because I’ve had this limiting belief for some time that ‘I’m not a very creative person.’ But, if we think of creativity as being a systematic process, rather than a spontaneous process, then this isn’t true at all.
Taking Action: How to Unlock Creativity
So, the takeaway here is that creativity is an active process.
As William Faulkner once said, “I only write when inspiration strikes. Fortunately, it strikes at nine every morning.”
The point is, the only way to be properly creative is to show up and put in the work.
So, if you’re ever held back by the limiting belief that ‘you’re not creative enough to do X,’ realize that the way you become more creative is to stop waiting for inspiration to strike and start taking action.
Have a great Day!
