Do you think of yourself as acreator? The work that learning professionals do may not be “artistic” worklike a painter’s, composer’s, or choreographer’s, but it is – without a doubt –creative. We create support, worlds, interactions, solutions. And being successful requires us to know and harnessthat which makes us creative. The tricky part is that most of us are nottrained in this area, as a dancer, musician, or artist might be.
I became interested in choreographerTwyla Tharp’s The Creative Habitmainly because Merlin Mann (creator of the personal productivity website 43 Folders) recommends it. Based on whatMann said, I expected a resource that would address the tactical, everyday sideof getting your brain to do what you need it to do. I wasn’t disappointed. Tharpis a master choreographer, but what makes this book valuable is her awarenessof the mental component of her craft and how it has evolved over decades. Ittreats creativity not as a trait you either have or don’t have, but assomething you work on day after day. A habit… or more precisely, a set ofhabits.
Here are a few concepts from thebook that apply to what we do:
The Box
This idea is so simple that you canprobably start applying it before you even read the book. Tharp writes aboutputting everything related to the project she’s working on in a single box(which may eventually become a dozen boxes). The contents of the box serve asinspiration and the box itself serves as an organizational tool.
I’ve started applying the idea tomy learning design projects. Since the materials I use are virtual, so are mytools. Creating a virtual box can be as simple as using PowerPoint to functionas a free-form scrapbook for images and screenshots that represent ideas youwant to use.
Scratching
This is how Tharp refers to lookingfor ideas, whether in reading, conversation, enjoying the handiwork of otherdisciplines, or going into nature. She dismisses the tendency to try to call abig, inspirational idea down from a mountain, instead preferring to “scratch”for small ideas that can be developed and added to.
One of the reasons this processresonated with me is that though we may feel tempted to search for those bigideas, our reasons for creating usually come from an external source: There’s aperformance gap that a client wants filled, a business opportunity that astakeholder wants to take advantage of, or a compliance issue that anorganization has to address. Our work has an external spine (another idea developed in the book), but how we support thatspine is where our most important – and most visible – ideas come into play.]
Skill
Tharp spends quite a lot of time inthe book on the concept of skill and its importance in the creative process. Thismay seem like a no-brainer (especially in an industry built around developingskill in others), but in our industry we can also develop a real obsession withthe importance of tools in some areas and theory in others. Both of thosethings are important, but they’re second to having a well-balanced andcontinually improving skill set. As Tharp writes, “You’re only kidding yourselfif you put creativity before craft.”
She also quotes The Book of Five Rings in admonishingthe reader “Never [to] have a favorite weapon.” It’s tempting to interpret thatin the context of tools, but think about the larger picture, as well: howuseful are your solutions if you only come to the table with one way to design,or expertise in one learning modality?
Failure
Almost any work on creativity willquote platitudes about how instructive failure is supposed to be, but let’sface it… once you have failed, they’re usually of little comfort. Tharp delvesdeep into exploring failure: why failure is useful, the types of failure, howto fail well, how to learn from it. Here’s my favorite quote:
“The worst is failure of nerve. You have everything going foryou except the guts to support your idea and explore the concept fully. Thecorrosive thought that you will look foolish holds you back from telling thetruth. I wish I had a cure for this. All I have is the certainty of experiencethat looking foolish is good for you.”
The too-true description of failureof nerve should give you pause even if you don’t trust Tharp’s certainty ofexperience; I know I’ve seen plenty of ideas – my own and others’ – that didn’twork because they weren’t fully realized. This can happen because of a failureof skill, but lack of conviction can have the same effect.
Tharp also tells us that some ofthe most instructive failure is that which happens in private. I’ll readilyadmit that I’m much more willing to fail – and therefore more willing to trysomething new – when I know that no one else needs to see those failures. Buthow does that play into the environment in which you work? Are you allowed timeto fail in that tight project schedule you just agreed to? Have you consideredthe possibility of failure in your career path?
Conclusion
These are only a few of the lessons I took away, and Ihaven’t even mentioned that each chapter ends with a few exercises – mental andphysical – that you can do once or regularly to hone your own creative habits. Theexercises make the book is as useful as it is engaging, and even if yourcreative DNA calls for different habits entirely, this book can help you figureout what you need those habits to be.
Bibliographic information
Tharp, Twyla& Reiter, Mark. (2005) The CreativeHabit: Learn It and Use It for Life. New York: Simon & Schuster. 256pages. ISBN-13: 978-0743235273.
Publisher’s List price: $16.00
Amazon: Hardcover $11.44, paperback$10.88, Kindle $12.99
Barnes & Noble: Paperback$13.98, NOOK $12.99
Musashi, Miyamoto& Cleary, Thomas. (2010) The Book ofFive Rings. Boston: Shambhala. 208 pages. ISBN-13: 978-1590308912.
Publisher’s List price: $18.00
Amazon: Hardcover $12.24, Paperback$7.99, Kindle $0.95
Barnes & Noble: Paperback:$7.99, NOOK $0.99
