Thread by @ArmaniTalks

The secret to creativity is a lack of planning.

That's not to say discipline is lacking.

'But a lacking of planning means a lack of discipline, no?'

Not quite..

Maintain discipline

Be unpredictable with content

Structured chaos is the name of the game.

Creativity can be an excuse to live a life of a slob

But that's misguided thinking

Anything you see in the mainstream is probably not true art.

Someone wearing a dress to be different. Coloring their hair a different color to make a statement. And saying outlandish things to polarize on purpose

Most of that stuff is manufactured

A true artist practices their craft like an athlete

'An athlete? That seems so counterintuitive.'

Most things about creativity is counterintuitive

Why train like an athlete you may be wondering?

Because it makes the body & mind align

A top tier athlete has discipline

A top tier artist has discipline

A few ways to exercise that discipline is:

-Pomodoro technique
-creating at the same time every day
-creating something every day, no questions asked
-a morning routine
-a night routine

etc

that's the discipline portion

But you don't want to get too carried away with discipline that you get lost in discipline

Then art feels like work

And when something feels like work, creativity plummets

During the blocks of creation, that's when UNPLANNING is key

Give yourself less time to create

This allows you to create with the subconscious mind rather than the conscious mind

A scientist learns how to think

An artist learns how not to think

Ask any artist how their greatest creations came to be, they will say, 'when I wasn't thinking too much.'

That's where the:
"best ideas come in the shower" quote came from

To get to this state, reps need to put in beforehand.

Repetition is the name of the game to learn how to create without planning

View creativity with the same lens you view driving from

Driving required conscious effort to learn the fundamentals.

Day in and day out

One day, the fundamentals were learned.

Now thinking can be suspended & being can be activated

Imagine if a little kid is driving with you.

He is sitting in the back seat

And is like:
'What is the exact pressure you are hitting the accelerator with?'

You'll be like, idk.

The kid asks, 'how could you possibly not know?'

Because it is just happening

The reps were put in before

It's the same game with creation

But you can activate this mode of creation without any planning right now

It's a game of reducing time

Pressure + Time = Anxiety

Pressure - Time = Creativity

To activate this mode of creation with a lack of planning, learn to know the difference between creation and editing

A novice thinks they are the same

A master knows the 2 are different

Creation requires divergent thinking

Editing requires convergent thinking

Creation should be quick

Editing should take however long it takes

Creation should be done with the subconscious mind

Editing should be done with the conscious mind

Divide however long it takes you to create something by 2 or 3

A blog post that normally takes 30 minutes should now take 15 minutes when divided by 2

Or 10 minutes when divided by 3

'No way can I do it in such a short time!'

You can.

Try it out for yourself

Don't confuse creation with editing

If you don't want to risk this method on a blog, then try this

Write a 1-page essay on why an elephant wants to become a dog

then tell a story about how the elephant will do that

Give yourself 7 minutes to create it on Word Document

Don't worry about grammar, spelling, punctuation, or all of that

Act like your laptop will explode if the story isn't written in 7 minutes

The more you BELIEVE that the laptop will explode, counterintuitively, the higher creativity will SPIKE

Formal education does not teach you this method

Because formal education does not encourage creativity

Much love to formal education

But they mainly peddle logic

Logic is best done when editing

Creativity requires a fearless attitude

The attitude of someone who doesn't act like a pessimist too much

Optimism with creation

Pessimism with editing

Level up your inner artist

And become an idea machine

If you learned a thing or 2, retweet this thread or quote retweet it.

For more creative insights, follow @ArmaniTalks🌎🚀

https://twitter.com/ArmaniTalks/status/1388529537118519296?s=20