6. The Skill You Didn't Know You Had
Everybody—yes, everybody—is creative. Here's how to tap into it.
One of my favorite TikTok accounts is @tanaradoublechocolate. Like a lot of creators, she records herself commentating over other people’s videos. In her case, these videos are recipe demonstrations…but these are not your standard Bon Appétit fare, my friends. Far from it.
If you want to witness the creation of some of the gnarliest foods—“foods”—on the internet, you can watch @tanaradoublechocolate narrate a steady stream of lighthearted shade and astonishment over videos of one-pan dinner atrocities and nonsensically complicated dishes. I would say the prevailing vibe of everything she comments on is “food horror.”
Her patter involves a bevy of catchphrases that now grace her own merch, including what she exclaims at the start of every video: “Everybody’s so creative!”
While she’s saying this with a cheery, sarcastic wink, she’s also not wrong.
Everybody is so creative. Most of us have just forgotten how to be.
A creative birthright
There’s a great 1991 keynote address by British comedian, actor, and author John Cleese of Monty Python fame. In it, he speaks to an audience of corporate leaders on the topic of creativity in management. (Content note: He makes a lot of “How many [BLANKS] does it take to screw in a lightbulb?” jokes, and not all of them are tasteful.)
Cleese had been studying familial and professional dynamics with a co-author of one of his books, and he cites interesting research from Donald W. MacKinnon attempting—scientifically— to answer the question “What makes a person creative?”
MacKinnon’s research asserts that there was no actual difference in the IQs of the scientists, architects, leaders, and other professionals he surveyed who were identified by their peers as “most creative.” It wasn’t their artistic training. It wasn’t their education or class. And perhaps most notably, it wasn’t some talent they had.
Instead, MacKinnon concludes that the main difference between “creatives” and the rest of us plebes was their ability to tap into something that is—good news!—inherent and readily available to us all. As Cleese summarizes in his talk:
“MacKinnon claims the most creative had simply acquired a facility for getting themselves into a particular mood. A way of operating which allowed their natural creativity to function. In fact, MacKinnon described this particular facility as an ability to play.”
Play! Oh, right…that thing we all did, instinctively, as children. A behavior that many, many other species of animals also exhibit as a critical part of their growth and development. Something without which all of us animals become stressed and anxious, causing both physical and psychological strain and harm.
You know, play: that thing that at a certain point we were told was immature and unproductive, so we’d better stop doing it and grow up. Hmm.
MacKinnon identified his subjects’ ability to enter into and, importantly, stay in a playful mindset for extended periods of time as the key difference between those who were considered creative, and those who were not. That’s it.
As Cleese says:
“Creativity is not a talent. It’s a way of operating.”
So then what’s stopping us?
In this Substack, we’ve already started to explore the idea that creativity can be cultivated and how to begin the process of establishing a creative practice for yourself at work. Encouraging everyone to tap into their inherent creativity is why this newsletter exists.
And now we know that creativity isn’t a talent that you have or not, but a function of play. Great! …so why does it still feel impossible?
In our professional lives, we’re almost always being asked to trade the long-term benefits of having the time, space, safety, and flexibility to be creative for the short-term efficacy of “optimizing” every moment at work. Play is simply not the capitalist way, despite capitalism’s veritable fetish for innovation and genius—markers of creativity, mind you! It’s a rare work environment that prioritizes play, because play is the opposite of efficiency. To be playful is to do something for its own sake. To be purposeless. To experiment. To laugh. And, critically, it is simply not possible to play while stressed or afraid. (Biologists agree!)
At work, where the stakes usually feel (and sometimes actually are) very high, we’re afraid to fail. We’re afraid to look silly. We’re afraid to not know the answer. Work is often stressful, and we are expected to be productive and purposeful…or else.
As Cleese puts it in his talk:
“Nothing will stop you being creative so effectively as the fear of making a mistake. The very essence of playfulness is an openness to anything that may happen. The feeling that whatever happens, it’s ok. While you’re being creative, nothing is wrong.”
Notable too: Humor and levity are often considered “unprofessional,” because we are encouraged to pretend, as Cleese cleverly points out, that seriousness and solemnity are synonymous—which they are not. You can laugh about something that is serious without necessarily undercutting its gravity, and indeed the laughter often imparts on the collective the kind of freedom and closeness required to tackle serious things. But solemnity, Cleese contends, only serves the egos of those whose self-importance will be threatened by humor.
Another thing notoriously missing from our work lives? Time! Either your days are scheduled to the minute, or you feel like you need them to be or else you’ll make a bad impression. (I have to tell you, this is one way European work culture really shines, at least where I live in France. People take their lunch breaks, which are normally an hour or so, and it’s not uncommon to have a pause café or two during the day, where you just get a coffee and sit in the kitchen and chat with whoever is there. When I would eat lunch at my desk, my French coworkers treated me like I was deranged.)
So imagine a work environment that gives you the space, time, and psychological safety of knowing there are no wrong answers in certain time boxes…
“Me and who?” as the internet kids say.
Want to reflect on your current relationships with space, time, and psychological safety in your workpalce? Download our free reflection exercise here, or start a paid subscription for access to our entire library of brand, story, and creative resources past, present, and future. Just $5/mo.
Returning to the playground
Cleese offers a basic framework for getting into what he calls the “open” mindset: the place necessary for play to happen, which in turn sparks creativity. Importantly, this open mindset can be applied to solving a particular problem, generating a novel idea, or approaching a certain project. This process, while unstructured and not tied to a particular goal, is not purposeless; by keeping your play, brainstorming, and free association loosely organized around the thing you want to attack creatively without policing, you’ll find that ideas come unforced, even after play time is over—like in the shower the next morning. (Who doesn’t love a good #showerthought?)
His framework has five components, all of which are necessary:
Space: A literal secluded space where you (or your team) won’t be disturbed or distracted. In this day and age, this could be a Zoom call, but everyone would need to protect their IRL spaces simultaneously.
Time: A set period of time with a clear start and end period. Something key about play is that it is its own discrete universe. It needs to be separate and time-boxed from the rest of your day.
…time: A joke to list it twice, but he’s referring to having adequate time to quiet your mind, which will rebel against “doing nothing.” Cleese suggests 90 minute blocks, knowing the first 30 minutes you’ll just be thinking about all the other “more productive” things you could be doing instead.
Confidence: The courage to take the risk that while you’re being creative, nothing is silly, dumb, or wrong. Don’t hold back! Of course, psychological safety is required for this to be true—even psychological safety from yourself. (Side note: Stop talking to yourself worse than you would talk to your friends!)
Humor: It’s the “most efficient” way to catapult us from a closed mindset into an open mindset! It signals that we’re all safe here and relieves pressure.
I think a lot of what he says is easier said than done, but we have future newsletters planned to address these very things, so stay tuned!
Join the Creative Resistance
If you read my post on creativity as self-care, you might predict what I’m going to say next: The primary beneficiary of adding more creativity into your work life should be you. To the extent that it’s possible to give yourself or your team more Space, Time, Time, Confidence, and Humor when solving problems or generating new ideas, do it as a vector for experiencing more joy, delight, and connection.
Maybe it’s cheeky and dramatic to call developing a creative practice at work an act of “Creative Resistance,” but I kinda like it. There’s a reason—biologically, developmentally, sociologically, psychologically—why humans play, why we value creativity. Your creativity is an inherent part of you. Tap into it!
Don’t forget to grab our free reflection exercise!
For more…
Follow us on LinkedIn and on Instagram. Stay tuned to our Substack space for new community features and ways to meet your fellow subscribers.
And let us know if you’d like to go deeper with us to talk about you and creativity. We do:
1:1 coaching and mentorship 🤩 most popular 🤩
Team workshops and consulting for marketing and leadership
Speaking and appearances on podcasts and at events
This came to my inbox at exactly the right time. I've always know the power of those creative moments, but it's a good reminder that you can organize your situation so you can get into the operating mode. Thanks @shannon