Creativity by John Cleese is a short, snappy, pleasant and cheerful little book. And yes those are already two of the words that he used to describe it on the cover. John Cleese is an extraordinary man and certainly no simple mind. Highly educated and brilliant, his tone of voice, cadence and command of language is striking and lovely to listen along to.
It’s a book so nice, you could read it twice.
Here are some of my favorite takeaways from the book.
Prime your brain for creative solutions. To unlock the answer to creative problems, sometimes you need to work and think and struggle. But it seems as if your subconscious continues working on it even after you’ve gone on walking or moving on to other tasks. After a day of rest, or in the days to come the answer to that once foggy and complex problem becomes incredibly clear. It’s true that you’ll wonder why you couldn’t think of it before. But the trick is putting in the work, priming your brain to solve it, and working through the struggle.
Setting time and boundaries. If you set aside a block or hour of time to work on a peculiar project (like writing a blog article about a book) you’re more likely to actually get things done. Interruptions will mess you up and it takes time to get back on track. Being constantly attached to a phone makes me wonder if I'll ever have the capability and capacity to accomplish anything worthwhile. I’ve tried experimenting and using apps like Freedom, which allow me to block distracting sites like LinkedIn, Social media, Dating Apps, etc.. setting up a system where I only allow myself to check them on certain days or blocking them out when I find myself helplessly checking in and pouring too much of my time. You might have more willpower than me, but it’s freed me and allowed me to make a conscious choice to break away from apps that are addictive and engineered to suck me in.
Your output follows your mood. Cheerful music and beautiful settings will influence what you make. After reading On Writing, I know Stephen King listens to a lot of AC/DC when he writes, which makes sense for his style of narratives. Wherever you’re trying to create, be purposeful about creating a sensory experience that will influence the type of work you want to produce
Have brevity. Don’t bore people. Keep it snappy.
Rewrites always make it better. Work and chisel away at your ideas and stories. It’s even good advice to completely start over from scratch with the same idea and rewrite it from memory.
Creative play every day. Indulge in creative play every day. Whether it’s editing videos or photography or drawing. Have time for plenty of creative play. Get lost in it. Have fun ‘fer pete sake.
Lastly, Procrastinate the problem. Why wouldn't you? If there’s never a deadline.. Why would you finish it now? Procrastination is both good and bad. In a rush, you might miss ideas, interesting angles and creative solutions. If you hurry and you risk your work being weak. We want to procrastinate because there might always be a new idea or a new insight. But there has something to push you, something to hold you accountable or else you’ll never publish and ship your work. A self-created deadline helps.
Overall, I’m a big fan of John Cleese.
If you want more John Cleese and haven’t seen them already. Check out Monty Python and The Holy Grail, The Life of Brian, and A Fish Called Wanda.
These films are trio of comedic classics worth watching and studying.