Finally, you reach unconscious competence, where with practice and effort, your skill is now second nature and can be performed or accessed easily, even to the degree of executing it while doing another task. Performing the skill or drawing on the knowledge is now natural, comfortable, and habitual.
Here is a method that you can employ to learn information more quickly.
Creative Dose: Quick Learnin’
Purpose: To learn new information fast
When trying to learn something for work or a project on a tight deadline, none of us have time to wade through huge amounts of content or the luxury to read our sources a second time. We need a way to thoroughly assimilate information in a short timeframe.
If you feel anxious about your ability to take in and apply new information and then turn around and apply it immediately, this process for accelerated learning will help.
These five steps for learning a subject in a number of days13 are adapted from a recent article on the blog of Nir Eyal, best known as the author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products.
Step 1: Research
Do your research, but put a limit on it. Find all of your sources of information in one sitting. Strive to keep the number of sources (both online and offline) to around 20, and then stop. You want to get an overview of information.
When researching, think beyond articles: expand your search to images to leverage the pictorial superiority effect – the brain’s ability to understand pictures faster than text – to get the gist right away. Be sure to include multiple types of media (written articles, audio, video, infographics, pictures) to create multiple memory points in your brain and also to have a better chance of catering to your personal learning and retention style.
Step 2: Sketch
Draw a diagram or mindmap so that you can start to see the overview of information that you have and chart the relationships between concepts. Take as many sheets of paper as you need to create your sketches until you feel that they encompass the information you’ve processed.
Step 3: Connect
Mentally link the new information to knowledge that you already have. In other words, try to think of how the new information is similar to something you already know well. For example, if you are learning Portuguese, and are already familiar with French and Spanish, you can think that the some of the sounds of Portuguese are similar to French but with the rhythm of Spanish. Your established points of mental reference will help you contextualize the new content better.
Step 4: Ask
If you can, talk to several experts on the subject. Let them tell you what they feel is relevant. After the experts tell you what they feel is relevant, ask them if there’s anything else you really need to know about the topic.
Step 5: Explain
Finally, write out all of the information you’ve gathered about the new subject as though you were explaining it to a child. Resist the urge to use your new vocabulary of topic-specific terminology, which typically obscures rather than clarifies. This process will help you zero in on the parts of information that are still unclear to you and need to be rounded out, or further simplified. To stay on track, keep the words of Albert Einstein in mind: “If you can’t explain it to a six-year-old, you don’t understand it yourself.”
When you’ve taken these steps, you’ll be well on your way to getting a good handle on the new subject.
Build Skills With Intention
From the Creative Dose exercises earlier in the chapter, you should be well on your way to feeling more confident about the skills that you have. However, if you truly would like to expand your skill set, I wholeheartedly encourage you to go for it.
Let’s break down a few myths surrounding building skill before starting, though. Talent is irrelevant; it means nothing. An alleged lack of “natural ability” is no excuse. Your supposed “limitations” are meaningless. Forget the “it takes 10,000 hours to achieve mastery” truism: unless you are specifically looking to become the next Tiger Woods or a chess grandmaster, the 10,000-hour rule is inapplicable for most people looking to improve their skills. In short, building skill doesn’t have to do with ability or talent, nor does it require years of practice. You can build enough skill to become really good at something in far less time; in roughly 20 hours, if structured correctly. 15 Developing proficiency at a skill really boils down to practice, a very particular version called deliberate practice.
When our performance is automatic, we are unable to improve it. To shift our skills to the next level, we need to place ourselves back into the stage where we regain conscious control over the skill we’re honing. With deliberate practice you practice to the point of failure, and then learn from that failure to adjust and try the skill again until you’ve mastered it.
The amount of practice is not as important as how you practice: in fact, it’s the deliberateness that drives progress. Your practice must be intentional, aimed at improving performance, designed for your current skill level, combined with immediate feedback, and repetitious. It’s best if you are intrinsically motivated: driven by interest, enjoyment, and satisfaction in the skill itself.16
Creative Dose: Practice Deliberately
Purpose: To increase skill through deliberate practice
Here are some key pointers for setting up your deliberate practice.
Know your starting skill level, and build each step in the skill acquisition sequence accordingly.
Perform each task repeatedly, but remember that each subskill should be masterable in one to three practice sessions. If it takes longer than that, then the skill is too complex and needs to be broken down into smaller segments.
Focus on failing so that you can learn from it; make sure you receive immediate feedback that is directly applicable – without it, you won’t know how to make adjustments to improve.
Commit to at least 20 hours of focused, deliberate practice. Your practice must be carefully scheduled but also limited to avoid burnout and long-term fatigue.
To maintain momentum, make sure you revisit the fundamentals if you feel your skill slipping, stay aware of working on the next step once you’ve mastered the previous one, and always be thinking of what you might be missing and how you can continue to learn and grow in your skill.17
A fantastic side effect to deliberate practice is that it actually is a setup for achieving flow! By hitting the sweet spot of not being so far beyond your skill level that you are overwhelmed (and thus demotivated), and not so easy that you go into autopilot because you’ve already mastered it, you have the proper conditions for being in the flow channel,18 continuously balanced within the magical space between skill and challenge.
Amp Up Your Ability to Listen
“When people listen, creative waters flow.”
— Brenda Ueland, On The Fine Art of Listening
One of the most underrated ways of feeling confident about ourselves and abilities actually has nothing to do with us, but instead is about being present for others by listening to them. Effective listening is the foundation of positive human relationships, and being an adept listener is one of the keys to being both a valued team member and leader. But not only that, being a good listener goes hand in hand with being creative. Why? Because listening to other people’s ideas sparks ideas for you! And by reflecting back to the listener their own idea and creating connection, you also lay the foundation for creative collaboration. It is a win-win situation: in giving the person your full attention, you create connection with the other person, social value for yourself, and they can spark ideas for you!
Improved listening skills have also been shown to have a positive effect on self-esteem, personal confidence, and increased well-being in general. In her lovely essay, “On The Fine Art of Listening,” writer Brenda Ueland speaks of the power of this practice: “We should all know this: that listening, not talking, is the gifted an
d great role, and the imaginative role. And the true listener is much more beloved, magnetic than the talker, and he is more effective and learns more and does more good.” 19 It is the listener who has the power, creating a safe space and foundation upon which the talker can begin to share themselves.
If you are experiencing Profiency Anxiety, then developing your listening skills will be another highly effective method for establishing your value to both yourself and others.
Creative Dose: Take In, Reflect Back
Purpose: To increase your value by developing strong listening skills
Here are tips for becoming a power listener:
Relax yourself and relax your agenda and be present to your talker.
Make sure they feel they have the space to speak.
Stay focused on what is being said verbally, but also be attentive to what is being communicated in other ways.
Flex your empathy muscle and make an effort to understand where they are coming from.
Remember to be patient and let the speaker say his or her piece.
When giving feedback, rephrase what you’ve heard the talker say in your own words.
What you will find is that by focusing on the talker, you stop focusing on yourself and your anxieties. This alone will often help creativity flow. Additionally, by listening, you will be able to learn who has strengths that complement your own, helping you to further increase your effectiveness, value, and creativity.
Raise A Barn
“None of us is as smart as all of us.”
— Kenneth H. Blanchard, author and management expert
Feelings of deficiency can foster competitiveness and jealousy, which tend to shut down your creativity. When we are overcome with feeling like we don’t know enough and that we’ll never be able to keep up with our peers, here’s a thought to consider: maybe we aren’t supposed to know it all. Maybe the reason we feel that we have gaps in our knowledge is because there is someone else whose knowledge complements ours with whom we can join forces. Maybe, just maybe, we’re not supposed to try to do it all by ourselves: instead of feeling like we need to compete with others, we are really destined to work together and collaborate to create something amazing.
Wouldn’t you rather have collaboration and connection, which are key ingredients in creative synergy and teamwork with others? We need to let go of our DIY (Do it Yourself ) mindset and start to embrace a DIWO (Do it With Others) perspective instead.
Bruce Nussbaum, the author of the book Creative Intelligence, says, “...creativity is social...and comes out of small teams of twos and threes and fours and fives and sixes. Instead (of brainstorming) you need ‘magic circles,’ small teams of people who trust each other, are familiar with each other, and play together.”20 Set yourself to the task of tapping into the “superlinear scaling” of creativity21 by assembling a group of people who will create better together.
Creative Dose: Join Forces and Plus It
Purpose: To leverage collective creativity
What a relief: you don’t have to do all of the creative heavy lifting yourself! Create a circle of creativity compatriots and then use the technique Plussing, which is often attributed to Walt Disney and is actively used by Pixar Studios. With Plussing, you give feedback in a way that is not only helpful but that also provides a new additional suggestion that helps the first idea, ensuring that creativity is nurtured and not stymied.22
Ready to start creating magic?
Step 1: Create Your Circle
Remember that having a lot of people is not the goal, but trust is.
Gather people who not only inspire your creative thinking, but who you also trust.
The group members need to feel comfortable enough with each other to feel safe risking looking stupid and making mistakes.
The focus as a group should not necessarily be on generating a lot of ideas together. Rather, the group’s focus should be on building upon each person’s experience and individual expertise to create and play with new ideas.
Got your group together? Great! Now you’re ready to amplify ideas.
Step 2: Plus It
When you are together, build upon and iterate ideas through the use of the supportive language of Plussing.
To start using Plussing with your magic creative circle, follow these simple guidelines:
Accept every offer.
Start with whatever you’ve got and don’t shut anyone’s idea out. You want to employ a “do onto others” mentality.
Yes, and!
When giving feedback, add a constructive suggestion using language like “yes, and...”, “what if...”, or “how might we do (x)?”. Using phrases like “yes, but...” or “that will never work” will only shut down the flow of ideas and will break trust.
Make your partners look good.
By accepting their suggestions and adding to them, you validate their ideas. And when the next person “plusses” what you’ve said, that person makes you look good, and so on.
By employing this structure for increased creative synergy, you’ll be amazed at what your group members contribute and what you’ll be able to produce collectively. You’ll find that not only will collaborations get better, but the circle of your group (or team) will indeed start to play together and create magic.
Steal Like An Artist to Remix
“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination... Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent.”
— Jim Jarmusch, film director, screenwriter, actor, producer, editor, and composer
From the data on creativity that I have collected from my keynotes and workshops, one of the most universal fears that people have is the fear of not being original enough, of having ideas that have been done before and better, and the fear that they are just rehashing someone else’s ideas. I was amazed at how many people suffer from this fear, so I’ve given it a name: Originality Anxiety.
Not only is this belief founded in a quixotic ideal, but more importantly, like the other Deficiency Anxieties, it hinders what originality and creativity you do have. Listen: searching for an idea that no one has ever had is like looking for a unicorn. I’m not saying that you’ll never have an original idea. But committing ideacide by blocking your ideas just because you feel they aren’t original enough or because your initial concept plays off of another’s work doesn’t serve anyone, especially not you and your creative spark.
There’s nothing new under the sun. But there is only one you. So anything that has been done before that comes through the filter of you will be a changed version of what existed before: different and uniquely yours.
Creative Dose: Be a Mixmaster
Purpose: To create originality from remixing
For those who appreciate dance music of any sort, you know that there is nothing like a great DJ. A great DJ can take an assembly of songs, beats, and sounds, and through layering and interweaving, turn them into a completely new experience from the original.
Don’t beat yourself up about doing something that is derivative. Remember and realize that everything is a remix.23 When you let go of the idea that being creative means doing something completely new, you can let yourself play with what’s already available, much like a DJ.
The process of creativity relies on elements of copying, transformation, and combining. Use these elements to change the starting idea into something that is authentically yours.
Instead of trying to come up with a completely original idea, I encourage you to shamelessly use other people’s ideas as a springboard for your own. Use others’ work as inspiration and as a jumping-off point upon which to build your ideas and get your remix on.
Beyond Enough
With our new knowledge, we’re making the effort to shift our attention away from what we fear we lack in order to red
iscover what we are rich in: our accomplishments and our wealth of experience, our natural talents and skills, and our intrinsic qualities, in a combination that no single other human in the world has. And with further tools to let our ideas out into the world and develop our knowledge and skills, we’re making great headway.
Let’s move on to learn how to break away from comparisons.
Chapter 6 | “I’m Not As
Creative As Everyone Else”
- Comparison Syndrome
This chapter examines:
Envy v. Jealousy
Media Detox
FOMO and JOMO
Tools for Eliminating Distractions
Becoming Self-Referential
Determining Distinctiveness
Learning from Envy
Activating Admiration
Celebrating Success
Taking Action
“Comparison is the thief of joy.”
—Theodore Roosevelt
I grew up in an environment of perpetual creativity and inventiveness. My father Dennis built and flew experimental aircraft as a hobby. During my entire childhood, there was an airplane fusilage in the garage instead of a car. My mother Deloria was a self-taught master artisan who could quickly acquire any skills that it took to work with fabric and weaving. She could sew any garment she desired, and was able to weave intricate wall hangings just by looking at a black and white photos in magazines. My older sister Diane blossomed into a consummate fine artist who drew portraits with uncanny likeness, painted murals, and studied art and architecture. In addition, she loved good food and had a genius for cooking and baking, which converged in her creating remarkable art pieces out of cake that were incredibly delicious to boot. Yes. This was the household in which I grew up.
Banish Your Inner Critic Page 20