YouTube: John Cleese on Creativity

And now for something completely different... Do you wish you were more creative? If so, check this out. If not, why not?

Autodesk Design Review WS Architect, Jeff Klug, is my friend in life and on Facebook. He recently posted a link to a video where John Cleese talked about creativity. I have been a Monty Python fan for a long time, and in fact, Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Life of Brian are two of my favorite movies. While working as a Departmental Quality Consultant at GTE (who made software and hardware for telephone switches), we purchased Video Arts instructional videos Meetings, Bloody Meetings and More Bloody Meetings and found them to be worthwhile. So I watched the 36 minute video using the link that Jeff had posted on Facebook.

Though I enjoyed every minute of the video, to save you some time, I can summarize it as:

• Creativity is not a talent. It is a way of operating. It is independent of IQ.
• Creative people get themselves in a mood where they experience the ability to play - free from expected outcomes, time constraints, and other distractions.
• Anyone can set the conditions to get into a creative mood. The conditions include:
  1. Space - put yourself in a place where you will be undisturbed
  2. Time - allocate a specific period of time (about an hour and a half) dedicated to pondering a problem you wish to turn into an opportunity
  3. Time - be willing to tolerate an unresolved issue until a decision needs to be made to give yourself the most amount of time possible to be creative
  4. Confidence - nothing squashes creativity like the fear of making a mistake, so while being creative, nothing is wrong
  5. Humor - laughter brings relaxation which fosters playfulness and helps set a creative mood
• Brainstorming is a great way to foster creativity as long as the participants approach it without being negative about less-than-best suggestions.
• Q: How many psychologists does it take to change a light bulb?
  A: One, but the light bulb really has to want to change.

Light bulbs above our heads are alive in the lab.