Input - Process - Output
There is a big funnel.
A huge, great, hungry thing.
Being endlessly shovelled into one end of this funnel are lots of “things.” Books, films, music, TV shows, articles, websites, podcasts, activities, memories, jokes, conversations, meals, experiences, art.
At the other end of the funnel, there is a tiny, little trickle.
The trickle is orders of magnitude smaller than the great mounds of stuff being hosed into the big end of the funnel. That trickle is the work that we produce - the things we write, the lessons we teach, the art we make. Whatever it might be. That’s not to say that everything we do in our daily lives is the output of this funnel, it is the distilled creative product that we make.
In between the big end and the small end of this funnel, there is something mysterious. It is a black box in a lot of ways. Involved in the whole enterprise but opaque and concealed. These are the processes that take all of that raw material and transform it into the things we make, create, and produce. Those inner workings are often hidden from view.
When we try and understand it better, we’re a little like someone sitting outside of a factory watching raw material being delivered at one end and shiny new things being wheeled off the production line at the other. We can’t peer inside the factory to see its workings, but we know it’s up to something.
If, then, we’re people who are interested in what comes out the end of that funnel - creative people, in the brute sense of people engaged in creating and bringing into being new things - then we’re left with some questions:
What the hell is going on in the middle? What’s the process that sits between the input at one end and the output at the other?
How can I get more output or better output? How can I improve, boost, extend, or enhance that result?
Before we can answer that second question, we have to take a look at the first - what is going on in the middle? There’s a line in Frank Herbert’s Dune that says:
“A process cannot be understood by stopping it. Understanding must move with the flow of the process, must join it and flow with it.”
There’s no hope for us if we try and hit the stop button and take the machinery apart, we’ve got to catch the thing mid-flow. We can almost perform a kind of deduction here if we think carefully about what’s going in at one end - the raw material - and what’s coming out of the other - that final result - then we can probably figure out something of what is happening in between.
We’re taking in huge amounts of material, stimulation, inspiration, raw stuff and somehow we’re turning that into art, or writing, or teaching, or film, music, cooking, architecture. How does one become the other? We know a great deal of creativity emerges from an exploration of novelty and innovation, combining things in new and interesting ways. Creativity is also an expression of play and curiosity, the asking of what if type questions. There’s also a strong emphasis on process, experience, and activity in creativity, over and above productivity or results. All of this is helping to process, mould, and shape that raw material into something new. Something novel.
It’s clear we want to explore and understand all of this, as creative people, but we don’t have to have it totally figured out. It’s no problem at all if we don’t entirely understand how all of this works or what our process really amounts to, so long as we’re paying attention to it, honouring it, respecting it, and engaging with it. There are, after all, all kinds of things in our lives whose inner workings might not be known to us but which we can still make good use of - just ask anyone who drives a car or uses a laptop.
With all of this in mind, how do we go about catalysing our ability to create so that we create more and create better.
Widen the input
If the result of this great funnel is predicated on what goes in at the start, then widening the funnel, and capturing more and better raw material will be essential. This means opening ourselves, engaging with more, and experiencing more. But it also means being mindful, thoughtful, and selective of what we take in. A parallel can be drawn to health and fitness; we know that the food we take in has a huge impact on our overall health, and the same is true when we think of creativity. However, this doesn’t mean we need only consume the high-brow, high-art, carefully curated content. Inspiration and provocation can come from a whole range of materials, but we do what to think about being receptive and reflective in our omnivorous consumption.
Develop dispositions
A lot of that processing, in the middle of our funnel, is out of our control. Our unconscious or subconscious mind plays a huge role in all of that activity. That said, there are definite approaches and sensibilities we can develop that will let us have a more conscious and deliberate role in things.
Play, experimentation, iteration, and exploration, are the fundamental dispositions that make for the most transformative creative processes.
Focus on process over product
When we focus all of our attention on that end result, we shut down the input part of this whole system, and the processing grinds to a halt. No ideas come. No creativity is found. We become overly concerned with what others might think of what we do, and that trickle slows down to mere drops - if we’re lucky. If, instead, we focus ourselves on wide, receptive input - gathering and capturing all that we can - and on fluid, expressive, enjoyable processes then we won’t need to worry about the product at all. It’ll happen. It’ll take care of itself. As creators, we need to think only of the act of creating and not of what is created. That’s for other people.
Redefine the terms
We’re often hugely worried about the quality of what we create. Whether it will be good enough. Whether it will be liked, seen, heard, read. We set the quality control bar way too high and as a result, nothing passes muster. We either dump everything in the reject bin or don’t even make anything at all. If we’re interested only, exclusively, and obsessively in the process then none of that matters. Are we doing? Are we in motion? Are we focused on verbs rather than nouns? Then we are doing precisely as we should. Success becomes a matter of activity, not product.
Dwell in what is unique
You’re not the only person to have seen that film, read that book, or visited that exhibition. But the complete collection of inspirations and experiences you hold is unique. No one else has seen, read, and done the same set of things as you - and likely never will. Your niche is being you, and there is no more refined, and irreplaceable niche. What you do with all of that, where you take it, and how you get it there will also be one of a kind. Occupy that full and vibrant place that leverages your perspective as a site of creation.
Remember, perspective is not how you see things, but the place from which you see them.
I’ve read many, many people writing about creativity. It’s something I think a great deal about, as well. But I don’t want this to come across as a Sermon on the Mount or some great insight espoused from a place of surety and sagacity. This is as much me thinking this whole thing through and exploring it for myself, and choosing to share that thinking with others, as it is any sort of broader advice. In my own life and work I’m pretty good at the big end of the funnel - and in a thoughtful, reflective way too. I make notes, I record things, I collect things, and I’m pretty broad in what I’m receptive to. I’m not too bad at the middle bit, either. Fortunately, my education, my work history, and my own disposition incline me towards questioning, play, and exploration.
My challenge is always the last part, though. And I’m very much aware of this. If someone puts a big deadline down in front of me or gives me some specific, meaty, problem to get into then it’s no issue at all. But otherwise? The anxiety, the fear, and the uncertainty take hold. I certainly set my bar far too high, I worry enormously about what others will think or say about the things I create. Or worse, I might have to face their indifference or complete unawareness of what I’m doing. I love the process, and I’m hugely hungry for all of the input, inspiration, and raw material that I can get my hands on. But letting that become something? Putting it out into the world? This is still a tremendous obstacle. But we work on things. We remind ourselves that the process is the point and let the world be as it will.
Think to yourself:
I’m just here to create.