Legend has it that creativity is an exclusive domain of artists, musicians, and inventors born with a special gift which sets them apart from ordinary people. That's ridiculous! You were born with just as many creative neurons as Picasso; it's time to work out the kinks and let them see some daylight. And we're going to show you how to get those juices flowing again.
So what does creativity mean to us? Creativity is a colorful blend of ideas, brainstorms, wireframes, sketches, and passion, which all roll up into a finished work of art. The cornerstone of creativity though, is process; it's what drives things forward. It provides a structure and helps you stay true to a goal, no matter how easy or how complex it may be. One key ingredient to the creative process that often gets overlooked is time. You need to set limits to get creative solutions done.
"[We] have no choice but to stop that [creative] cycle. I mean, if you don't work under time constraints you could never get anything done because it's a messy process, it could go on forever."
- David Kelley, Co-Founder of IDEO
Let's take basketball for example. Time plays a deciding factor here as well. In basketball, a player is given 8 seconds to get halfway across the court, and a total of 24 seconds to put the ball into the hoop. If he uses up that time to dribble around and look fancy, the clock will run out, and his team will lose possession of the ball. Ignoring time as part of the process means that player just spent a whole lot of time and never got anything done with it. Time limits keep us honest by forcing us to finish what we're doing for better or worse.
One of the techniques that we use to get our creative juices flowing is our Friday 15's. The key ingredient? You guessed it: time. Let's borrow some goals from one of our previous Friday 15's. We're going to leave the creativity part up to you though.
Friday 15: Piece Yourself Together
- Find the nearest stack of old magazines.
- Grab some scotch tape, several blank sheets of paper, and a few pairs of scissors — one for each team member.
- Now, set the timer at 15 minutes and let your team dive in and tear up each magazine to create an ad that best represents themselves.
- Keep it short and simple, and most importantly, have fun doing it.
- Oh, and don't run with scissors!!!