It’s now more important than ever to explore the creative process. A great place to start learning is TED talks, which brings industry leaders together to discuss ideas worth spreading. Here are some of the most important TED talks from leading creatives and scientists studying creativity.
How do creative people come up with great ideas? Adam Grant, an American psychologist and author known for several books including, Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World. In this TED talk with over 7 million views, he explores how great thinkers discover great ideas in this
Highlights
- “Originals are nonconformists, people who not only have new ideas but take action to champion them. They are people who stand out and speak up. Originals drive creativity and change in the world. They’re the people you want to bet on.”
- “Procrastination may be the enemy of productivity, but it can be a resource for creativity.”
- Moderate procrastination can increase creativity because it gives the mind time to reflect on the idea.
- “Being original doesn’t require being first. It just means being different and better.”
- Procrastinators are full of doubts and regularly revise their ideas.
- Fear and doubt are natural – embrace them.
- “The greatest originals are the ones who fail the most because they’re the ones you try the most.”
- The more output of ideas a person generates, the better chances they will have to create something original.
Balder Onarheim is an Associate Professor in creativity at the Technical University of Denmark and the founder of the Copenhagen Institute of NeuroCreativity. In this TED talk, he discusses how “growing up makes us less creative. Therefore we have to re-learn creativity.
Highlights
- “Creativity is not just about art – it is one of the most crucial human traits. It lies at the heart of innovation thus, it is not a superficial skill, but a necessity for human survival.”
- To regain creativity as an adult, we can challenge ourselves to get it back by training associated network:
- Continuous practice of random thoughts. Try to think of random words when you brush your teeth.
- Use sleep for creative problem solving by thinking of a problem before bed.
- When stuck on a problem, introduce randomness by hitting the random article button on Wikipedia and challenge yourself to solve the problem with the provided information.
Taika Waititi is a visual artist, actor, writer, and director hailing from the Raukokore region of New Zealand. In his TED talk, he gives a hilarious and insightful look into how creativity has helped him express ideas, have fun, and find success.
Highlights
- Creativity is about having fun and looking at life through the lens of a child.
- Creativity is about perspective and seeing things through an innocent viewpoint.
- Follow interests and curiosity.
- Failure is a brilliant thing that teaches often leads to better ideas.
- Embrace bad experiences.
- Success is about communicating and sharing ideas.
What makes a life worth living? Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a world-renowned Hungarian-American psychologist, and expert on the science of creativity, explains the psychology of flow and what determines a good quality of life.
Highlights
- “Control of consciousness determines the quality of life.”
- “Flow is being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz.”
- “Happiness does not simply happen to us. It’s something that we make happen.”
- “Purpose provides activation energy for living.”
Tim Leunig, an economist and academic, gives a TED talk response to Sir Ken Robinson‘s famous claim that schools are killing creativity.
Highlights
- World-changing creativity is based on knowledge.
- Knowledge is the foundation of creative thinking.
- Literacy is the foundation of knowledge.
- “Real creativity is based on knowledge. It’s putting different ideas together and making something better, making something new, that is based on knowledge, and in turn, based on literacy.”
Julie Burstein is a Peabody Award-winning radio producer, TED speaker, and author of Spark: How Creativity Works. In this TED talk, she shares four lessons about how to create in the face of challenge, self-doubt, and loss.
Highlights
- Pay attention to the world around you.
- Creativity grows out of everyday experiences.
- Learn from parts of life that are most difficult.
- Experience, challenge, and limitations are all things that need to be embraced for creativity to flourish.
- Embrace Loss.
- In order to create, a person must stand between what they see in the world and what they hope for.
Duncan Wardle, the former Head of Innovation and Creativity at Disney, talks about the importance of creativity and why it’s the core element needed to compete in a world that is becoming automated.
Highlights
- “Be Curious – insights for innovation come from looking in places where your competition isn’t.”
- Bring in naive experts for brainstorming sessions to bring up questions and ideas you never would have considered. Naive experts help get you out of the normal way of thinking.
- Outlier – Find innovations by establishing the rules, then ask, what if, and then imagine it.
- You have to be brave to be creative. The opposite of bravery is conformity.
Elizabeth Gilbert, American journalist and author of “Eat, Pray, Love“, gives a TED talk on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses. She shares the idea that, instead of the rare person “being” a genius, all of us “have” a genius.
Highlights
- The creative process can be tough on a person. What can we learn from ancient beliefs about creativity to help creatives survive the process and anxiety that comes with it? Let go of control.
- Maybe the creative life doesn’t have to full of anguish if we appreciate the creative insights as external insights from godly like muses, like ancient societies once believed.
- When anxiety enters the creative life, remind yourself, don’t be afraid. Don’t be daunted. Just do your job. Continue to show up for your piece of the creative puzzle.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, American actor, filmmaker, singer, and entrepreneur, explores how the attention-driven model of big tech companies impacts creativity and shares a more powerful feeling than getting attention: paying attention.
Highlights
- “The more I go after that powerful feeling of paying attention, the happier I am. But the more I go after that powerful feeling of getting attention, the unhappier I am.”
- Try not to see other creative people as competitors but as collaborators.
- When you collaborate together and pay attention together, it’s easier to get into the flow and focus on something larger than yourself.
- If your creativity is driven by a desire to get attention, you are never going to be creatively fulfilled.
Marily Oppezzo, a behavioral and learning scientist, gives a TED talk on how the simple act of walking can get improve creativity and help with brainstorming.
Highlights
- Creative exercise: Practice thinking up with alternate uses for everyday objects. (E.g. A key)
- Test whether something is creative with appropriate novelty. Is it realistic?
- In one study, people that walked while doing the alternate uses exercise came up with more ideas compared to people who did the test sitting down.
- One key to creativity and idea brainstorming is to come up with as many ideas as possible.
Zach is an international writer, photographer, filmmaker, martial artist, and creator of Creative Enso, the Zen art of creative living. His goal is to empower and inspire creatives to live healthier, happier, and more creative lifestyles.
