Creativity is not defined by the accessories or tools
Madness is only one of the attributes we assign to artists or creative scientists. Especially artists and subgroups like painters, designers or writer are associated with specific attributes or ‘equipment’. It might be tempting to embrace this. Don’t. Just because some designers have a tendency for black clothes and stylish glasses and writers are either drinking or smoking (or both), does not mean that this has anything to do with their creativity. If this is your default style, fine, but do not clad yourself like a creative in the hope to increase your creativity. It will not work. It will only draw energy, make you feel uncomfortable, will be easily seen through by anybody who knows your work and you will be marked as a poser.
Pitfall: Becoming a poser
Sadly, marketing tries to convince us that certain things will make us more creative. I have a colleague who tries to look like an artist by cladding himself with a Moleskine notebook, an Powerbook, an iPod Touch and a pseudonym, but who has never made a piece of art in his whole life (save taking the role of an intelligent playlist in a local disco or the play button in a cinema). Don’t buy into it. It’s a waste of time and money. Artists have always made what they felt the inner need to do, not what others were trying to sell them, and real scientists, well, frankly, they are to busy trying to grasp the complexity of their domain to even care about that. Use the tools that are useful for your work and wear the things you feel comfortable in. Your creativity is in what you do not in what you have (unless it’s creativity, of course).
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Creativity is not Madness | Creativity is not Destruction
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