The Accidental Creative

by Todd Henry

  Many great and creative minds of history have made a practice of voracious note taking as a way of sorting their thoughts and processing their experiences. In his acclaimed biography of John Adams, David McCullough writes of Adams’s habit of making notes in the margins of his books. “At times the marginal observations nearly equaled what was printed on the page,” he explains, “as in Mary Wollstonecraft’s French Revolution, which Adams read at least twice and with delight, since he disagreed with nearly everything she said. To her claim that government must be simple, for example, he answered, ‘The clock would be simple if you destroyed all the wheels . . . but it would not tell the time of day.’”

  Adams was not taking notes the way that many of us have been taught, by making lists or mindlessly underlining key passages. Rather, he was recording his own thoughts and reactions to the claims of the author. He treated books as a conversation rather than a monologue. Unlike Adams, many of us stop listening to our own thoughts and reactions when we’re engaging with something external. We fail to realize that our instinctual reactions, if we learn to pay attention to them, can be indicators of something brilliant lurking just beneath the surface.

  Staying alert and paying attention to how you’re reacting to an experience, a book, or a conversation also forces you to stay out of ruts that could prevent creative insights. Rather than mindlessly moving through your day, you can actively engage by learning to reflectively ask questions and record your responses. Here are some questions that can serve as a starting point for making your notes more effective:Are there any patterns in what you’re experiencing (or reading) that are similar to something else you’re working on? Often the solutions to your problems will come in the form of analogy or metaphor. If you look for similarities between your day-to-day experiences and the problems you’re working on, you may find unexpected connections. Even works of fiction, movies you watch, or conversations you have may contain patterns that can be helpful in solving your creative problems. You just need to be mindful to watch for them and take good notes when you notice them.

  What do you find surprising about what you’re experiencing? Surprise can be an indicator of an entrenched belief that needs to be challenged. You should pay attention to surprises throughout your day because they may mark pathways to insight that are as of yet unexplored. Surprise reactions can also illuminate areas of curiosity for potential further study.

  What do you like about what you’re experiencing and why? Exploring your personal preferences can be a great way to understand your habits or creative tendencies. You should aspire to stay actively aware of your preferences.

  What do you dislike about what you’re experiencing? Sometimes your reaction against something will yield helpful insights, especially if it reveals assumptions you’re holding on to about the way things “have to be.”

  “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function,” F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote. “One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless yet be determined to make them otherwise.” Your willingness to process your opposition to something—rather than simply ignoring it when it disagrees with your current view of the world—increases your capacity to synthesize ideas out of seemingly unrelated stimuli. You should note these thoughts in the moment rather than overlooking them.

  In addition to making good observations and regularly recording them, you should also make a practice of regularly reviewing your notes to see if there are any potentially applicable insights. Many creatives I’ve worked with take copious notes, but they’re practically useless because they’re always moving on to the next urgent matter, and thus they never bother to review them. One manager I encountered had pages and pages of detailed notes on every meeting she’d attended in the past month, one-on-one meetings with her direct reports, and potential upcoming projects. She never reviewed them, however, because they weren’t really useful. They consisted of only facts and memorandums but nothing truly useful in her work, such as patterns she was noticing or creative ideas that emerged in the conversation. I explained that her notes would be significantly more helpful if she would record what’s truly useful, then make the time in her life to reflect on them and look for applications to her work, which she vowed to try.

  Author Keith Ferrazzi told me in an interview that he spends an average of an hour each day thinking about and processing information that he’s taken in the previous day. He believes that the processing of information is as critical as the information he takes in. While not all of us can spend that much time purely in processing mode, the principle certainly holds true that we are overlooking the real benefit of our experiences if we never stop to reflect on them. Take the time each day to review your notes and observations from the previous day.

  Tools of the Trade

  I once oversaw an event featuring John Pepper, chairman of the Walt Disney Company and former CEO of Procter & Gamble. After the event, as we were standing in a reception area for a meet-and-greet, I noticed that Mr. Pepper would occasionally reach into his jacket pocket, pull out an index card, and jot a note on it. This happened several times over the course of a few minutes. When someone in the reception line said something in conversation that sparked a thought, or would require later follow-up, he would covertly pull out his index card and write a few words.

  This experience prompted me to adopt a practice that I’ve since used to great effect, which is to keep a small stack of index cards with me at all times for use in taking notes and recording observations. I place a fresh index card in every book I’m reading, or start a new one for every meeting I have. I keep the used index cards in my bag or in my notebook for review the next morning. When I review them I look for action steps, potentially useful thoughts, or just ideas I want to act on. This kind of nonlinear, nonchronological note taking allows me to be liberal in capturing insights and tidbits in the moment, and then to review them at my leisure.

  When I pick up a book, I will quickly review the index card with my notes from the previous session so that I know what I was thinking when I left off. If I am going into a meeting, I will review my notes from the previous meeting to ensure that I understand what the important issues are. I try to record any thought that comes to mind, even if it seems like a non sequitur at the moment. I often discover later that the thought was more relevant than I realized because my mind was at work on something interesting behind the scenes. If I hadn’t developed the practice of notation, it would have been lost forever.

  Using a Notebook for Effective Note Taking

  If you prefer to use a notebook for your note taking, I’d recommend that you begin by numbering each of the pages of your notebook. This will serve as a reference for indexing and referencing ideas.

  Next, create two index pages in the front of your notebook. At the top of the first index write “Ideas,” and at the top of the second write “Stimuli.” Whenever you have an insight or idea that you think may be useful at some point in the future, record the headline of the idea in the index in the front of your notebook along with its corresponding page number. These ideas could be small insights that you think could later turn into big ones, or even just observations you make that you think could be useful later. For example, if you had an idea to create a web-based community for rugby players to help them find matches in their area, and you explored the idea on pages 77 – 78 of your notebook, you would proceed to the index and record “pp. 77 – 78 / Create a Web community for rugby players.” Later, as you are looking for ideas for projects or simply wanting to refresh your memory of past ideas, you can quickly review the index for something potentially useful. This is also a great way to be able to search past notebooks without having to thumb through every page looking for a single idea.

  Additionally, whenever you come across stimuli that you think would make good candidates for your Stimulus Queue, record them in the index in the front of your note
book. Write the names of books and their authors, movie trailers that appeal to you, or magazine articles that you notice in the doctor’s office and want to revisit later. If you take notes from a conversation and someone mentions a useful resource, you can also record the page number of the notes from your conversation in the index so that you have context for why you thought a particular piece of stimulus would be interesting.

  Finally, make a habit of regularly reviewing your idea and stimuli indexes. When you’re stuck on a project, glance back over them to see if there are any useful ideas. I recommend that you develop the habit at the beginning of each day of reviewing the ideas in your index. One of your ideas may suddenly be relevant to the work you’re doing that day or help you identify new ways of thinking about your creative problems.

  Digital Versus Electronic Note Taking

  As an early adopter and tech junkie, I completely empathize if you prefer to take your notes digitally. I’ve used a number of methods for digital note taking, and I still use a combination of my phone and my computer to capture and sync notes in many circumstances. But there are significant disadvantages to going completely digital.

  First, unless you remember to review your notes on a regular basis, they can easily disappear, tucked into some virtual folder where you will never think to look for them again. (With paper notes, there is always a physical reminder sitting on your desk.) Also, while digital notes are infinitely more searchable and sortable, they are also more limiting when it comes to sketching out an idea or a quick chart. Even with some of the new tablet devices, to quickly and effectively capture thoughts when you’re pushing pixels instead of ink can be difficult and awkward.

  Regardless of the method you choose, though, it’s critical not to neglect the practice of note taking. As a starting place, simply carry an index card, a small notebook, or your digital note-taking device everywhere, and whenever you have an interesting thought, even if it seems completely random and unrelated to anything you’re working on, record it. Over time you will begin to see patterns in your thoughts and preferences, and will likely gain at least a few ideas each week that otherwise would have been overlooked.

  Regularly reviewing your notes is critical to staying alert to potential ideas.

  Additionally, it’s critical that you take time regularly to process your notes so that you are able to identify patterns and insights. Remember: the goal of taking notes is to extract potentially useful connections and ideas. Make time each day to review your notes from the previous day and regularly review them for insights that could be useful in your present work. Here’s a morning note-review routine that you may want to implement:

  • Clear ten minutes at the very beginning of your workday. If necessary, plan to arrive ten minutes earlier, or if taking a train or bus, use your commute time. (Please do not do this while driving to work!)

  • If you keep notes in multiple places, collect any index cards or meeting notes from the previous day, and your notebook. If you are taking notes electronically, do a filter so that you can view only notes created the previous day.

  • Review the index cards and meeting notes for insights or ideas that are especially useful. You may want to transfer these to your notebook and record them in your index. Similarly, if there are potentially useful stimuli in your notes, you will want to record these in your stimulus index.

  • Review your notes from any stimuli you experienced/ read/watched yesterday.

  • Scan through your list of ideas for anything that may be useful in the work you will be doing today.

  • If you have any new ideas while reviewing your notes, go ahead and record them in your notebook and in the index.

  Again, without regular review, the practice of note taking is fairly useless. It’s not about recording what’s happened; it’s about how what’s happened has affected or inspired you. By reviewing them regularly you increase the likelihood that they will be useful to you and that you won’t forget critical insights when things get hectic.

  EXPERIENCE: EXPLORING YOUR WORLD

  With all this emphasis on study and reflection, you don’t want to neglect actual experiences. You absorb much of your understanding of the world through sensory interaction and experiment, and to ignore this would be to cut yourself off from the most significant source of inspiration. You need to regularly seek experiences that will enlighten you, help you see the world in new ways, and open you to new ways of thinking.

  Much has been written regarding the importance of play to our growth and development. Play is the primary way children learn, and recent research has shown that play can contribute significantly to the learning of adults as well. Play helps us maintain emotional stability, too, which can be important to our overall energy level and capacity for good work.

  In his recent book Play, author Stuart Brown argues that “play is the stick that stirs the drink. It is the basis of all art, games, books, sports, movies, fashion, fun, and wonder—in short, the basis of what we think of as civilization. Play is the vital essence of life. It is what makes life lively.” As we grow older, Brown believes, we tend to weed out any activity that isn’t immediately productive or profitable. We eliminate play because it’s not expedient to our immediate needs. In doing so, we turn our back on a primary tool for creative inspiration and growth.

  Many of us are caught in the same routines and patterns day after day and week after week. We rarely venture outside these routines because they have proven effective for us. While it’s admirable to be disciplined and focused, we don’t want to leave great creative insights on the table simply because we’d rather stay in our comfort zone. We must deliberately build new, different, and challenging experiences into our lives. This means setting aside time to put ourselves in stimulating and even purposefully uncomfortable situations so that our minds are forced to see the world in new ways. Here are just a few suggestions for how to do this:Take a walk around a local park or make a trip to a local museum. What catches your attention? Is there anything that seems strange to you or piques your curiosity? What have you not noticed before? Be purposeful and mindful. Turn off your phone. Naturally, you will take your notebook with you. Record any thoughts or insights that pop into mind. Don’t be afraid to record thoughts that don’t relate to your work. It’s possible that insights formed here may develop into something very valuable down the road. If you can’t get to a park or museum, just take thirty minutes over lunch, leave your phone on your desk, and go for a quick walk around the block.

  More than once I’ve told certain members of my team to get out of the office. Leave, and don’t come back—until you’re refreshed. While this seems unproductive on the surface, we’ve often seen breakthroughs for key projects come as a direct result. Team members will come back with excited looks in their eyes and say, “I was walking around a bookstore and saw . . .” or “I was in the park and I thought . . .” The value that results from these small breaks is immeasurable, whereas having a team sitting around pushing pixels in the attempt to look productive is actually significantly less productive.

  Serve others. When we are forced to think less about ourselves and are instead required to think about the needs of others, something is unlocked inside us. Because creative work can be very consuming, we can get lost in an endless pursuit of our personal needs. Making a break from thinking about ourselves and our problems for a while often frees up insight that is lurking just beneath the surface. Our act of service doesn’t have to be anything significant or earth changing. You can get involved in youth mentorship, coach a kids sports team, or serve at a local soup kitchen. The main thing is that you stop worrying about yourself for a while and instead focus on serving others. Not only do you benefit creatively from this, but you also get to change the world in small but significant ways.

  Attend an uncomfortable event. Make plans to attend a lecture by someone who holds a differing point of view. Visit a religious service that is outside of your own tradition or comfort zone
. If you are an introvert, go to a dance club or a party. If you are an extrovert, spend some extended time on your own. A good gauge for this is to ask yourself, “What makes me uncomfortable just thinking about doing it?” The goal is to stretch yourself, to resist the temptation to gravitate toward comfort. In so many ways, comfort is the enemy of creativity. When we default to comfort out of fear of the unknown, we often ignore the paths that may change our life. Taking small steps to put ourselves in uncomfortable situations is one way of interrupting the comfort-seeking pattern.

  Making a break from thinking about ourselves and our problems for a while often frees up insight that is lurking just beneath the surface.

  The purpose of structuring purposeful experiences into our life is to grow the reservoir from which we draw insights. Much has been written on this subject over time, but common sense is not common practice. Some of the very things that are most helpful to our creative process seem like common sense, but we must not make the tragic mistake of dismissing them because of that.