When you come across a Picasso or Kandinsky (or modern art in general), you likely have one of two reactions. The first: “Wow, that is marvelous!” Or the second, which I tend to sympathize with: “A six-year-old could do that.”
Could a six-year-old really paint the great works of Mondrian and Franz Kline? Maybe a talented one. But using the assertion that a six-year-old could paint their works is the result of a misguided assumption: that it’s an insult.
Picasso wasn’t hesitant to admit that emulating a child was his ultimate goal, famously stating: “It took me four years to paint like Raphael but a lifetime to paint like a child.” He recognized that the child is the pinnacle of what it means to be an artist — and it’s time that we realize he’s right.
It’s time that we embrace our inner child
Since 1955, children’s free time has been steadily declining. With commitments to sports, clubs, instruments, and more, we are filling children’s time with more and more structured lessons and less and less play. I’ve written before about why we have been placing increased structure on the time of adolescents, so I won’t dive into detail here.
I do want to emphasize, though, what we lose by pushing more structure into their lives. Kaufman and Gregoire, in their book Wired to Create, point out several detriments of eliminating play, writing that it “robs children of not only the enjoyment of pure fun but also the opportunity for the healthy development of many key skills necessary for creativity… impulse control, planning, organization, problem solving, literacy and language development, symbolism… divergent thinking.” Our anti-play culture, while well-intentioned, is socializing children at such a rapid pace that we are creating little adults before they have the time to explore the world. We are so fearful that kids will fall behind that we rush them past childhood.
Safety is no longer comfort
It’s the fear of falling behind, of not being prepared, to which Seth Godin points as the driving force for playing it safe. He goes on to say, however, that the new safety zone is not aligned with our comfort zone: “The safety zone has changed, but your comfort zone has not. Those places that felt safe — the corner office, the famous college, the secure job — aren’t. You’re holding back, betting on a return to normal [in which the comfort and safety zone are the same], but in the new normal, your resistance to change is no longer helpful.” While living a linear life of high school, college, job, family, etc. may have been safe 50 years ago, it is becoming increasingly less stable. Just having a degree doesn’t guarantee a good job: there’s a good chance you will be underemployed. The attention economy is shifting the safety zone from traditional careers to more creative professions (and with AI, I expect it will keep moving this way).
So, how can we reharness our creativity when society has stripped it away from us? Kaufman and Gregoire point to a few ways to kickstart your innovation:
Create time for play
As demonstrated by the increasing structure on the time of kids, our culture is increasingly divorcing work and play. It’s one or the other, not anything in between. We’ve all heard the encouragement to pursue your passion, contradicted with the instigations to play it safe and find something stable. Rarely do we hear anything in between, but the authors think it’s possible:
“Playing with work gives us a certain lightness and flexibility when generating new ideas and also helps motivate us to continue to work long hours without becoming stressed or depleted.”
Not only does play introduce new creativity as the pressure falls away, but it also helps us push farther in our work. When you find play in your “work,” it no longer feels like work.
Daydream
While you may have been scolded for doodling in middle school, daydreaming allows you to expand your horizons. Letting your mind wander (not ruminate) will support your “creativity, storytelling, and even the ability to delay gratification.”
Find what feels right
There are myriad benefits of living in a scientific world. Backing up every idea with logic and evidence most certainly has its place. But not when it comes to divergent thinking. Sometimes, logic is just not enough to get the answers we want, and our intution can fill in that gap. Spontaneous thinking “play[s] the largest role during the generative phase of creative thinking, when we’re coming up with new ideas.” Save the rationality to pick between your best ideas. When you want to be creative though, stop overthinking it.
Most people don’t believe in their ideas enough to write them down, but your thoughts are valuable. Don’t let them slip away before you can keep them in a safe space. Carry a notebook with you, play with your thoughts, daydream, and write down what resonates with you. After all, it only takes one idea to change the world. Why not yours?
