On creativity.
“Research on the biology of creativity suggest several ingredients that we all can bake into our personal recipes for success. Number one is the Nike factor: just do it”
These are the words of Robert Bilder, psychiatry professor and director of UCLA’s center for Biology of Creativity.
He mentions a “just do it” attitude is what’s necessary in order to spark creativity. I believe he’s absolutely right.
There’s something peculiar about us, humans, we are the only animal on earth able to tell complex and compelling stories. We tell stories for many, many reasons and it’s even more important the fact that we are able to make others believe our stories.
That’s how nations are built and how groups cooperate. We all believe in the same story, the same vague ideas rule our lives. If you don’t grasp what I’m saying, open your wallet, take that piece of paper with fancy colors and complex patterns and ask yourself, how is it possible that you can go to a store and give it to a complete stranger in exchange for food?
We all believe in the story of money. That’s how our society works.
Human’s evolved hearing stories and being driven by them. Good leaders are good because they can distill complex situations into a simple narrative to which others will respond positively.
When you want to do something ask yourself this powerful question: “What would I do if I had no fear?”.
There are two driven forces in the world from which everything else derives, fear and love. Once you know the answer to what you would do without fear, go on and do it. Ignore your doubts, ignore that malicious voices in your mind holding you back. Go on and do what needs to be done. Replace fear with love and magic will happen.
Lolita, one of the world’s classical books, was almost burnt by Vladimir Nabokov, it’s author, when it was a script. Nabokov had to fight his fear of writing and publishing such a controversial story. Little did he know it was going to become a classic and an epic story. He replaced his fear of writing it with his love for the story.
Life is about doing. Creativity is a numbers game and the more you do, the higher the chance you’ll run into something no one else, not now or not ever, will run into.