A Case for Hard Work

Look at the following formula:

Is it a creative work? Who knows? Could you use it as a starting point to develop a creative theory (creative in the sense that it is good for something, not just some mad ramblings)? Probably not. Unless you have a solid background in physics you will probably not recognized the formula or any of the symbols (except the “≥” and the “2”), nor be able to do something with it.

The first step to be creative is to have something to be creative with. You cannot (brain)storm an empty attic (well, you can, but what’s the point), so unless you have a solid knowledge about the subject matter it is unlikely that you will be creative. One might think that some fuzzy knowledge is better than a solid knowledge, after all, you want to have new ideas and sometimes you get them when you thoroughly misunderstand a subject and do something that turns out to work. Don’t. Not only can it be dangerous (depending on the domain), it reduces creativity to random process and later selection. This works for evolution, but it has time on its side (millions of years). It is the knowledge of the domain, that enables people to be creative. To not only change things, but do so in a purposeful manner, that leads to works that are actually good for something. This does not mean that you always have to know what you are doing, but blind manipulation of colors or symbols is not creativity.

This is only the first part where hard work is needed

There is another aspect of creativity where hard work is needed: during the realization of an idea. Having an idea is actually fairly easy. Realizing it is not. Even if you have an idea for a great picture and someone else makes it, he did something you did not: realize it. He actually had the skills, the energy and the knowledge to do it. Same with science. It is easy to have an idea, a hypothesis or even a theory, but to prove it or support it, that is a different story. Ideas are only the beginning, not the end of creativity. We will focus on this in “realizing ideas“, but first we look at the hard work you need to do to get familiar with a domain and get the skills needed to be creative.

Learn, Experience, practice, persist

We like to attribute the knowledge a person has on his genius level intelligence and the perfection with which he uses his tools on his innate giftedness. While intelligence helps understanding information and talents do make things easier, it is mostly an excuse for not investing the same hard work the creative person has invested in his. Even a genius needs knowledge to work with (raw intelligence alone is useless, see page 57) and even the best talent needs to know his tools. Hard work is necessary for creativity. This sounds like betrayal or undermine the whole point of being creative and find easy solutions, but it is — unfortunately — the truth.

Learn

First you have to learn about the domain, starting with the very basics. This does not mean that you cannot be creative while you learn, but make sure that you focus on getting to know the groundwork of the domain. Much will be rote learning. Much will be getting to know the relationship between the variables right or the structure of different processes. If you have ideas while learning, write it down, but continue learning. These ideas might be interesting starting points later, when you are informed enough to deal with these ideas and when you have the knowledge to discard ideas that were already tested or will not work.

How to learn

Choose a domain you love

It is trivial but sometimes students choose domains which do not fit. Be it parents with high expectation who favor a certain job choice, the lure of “easy money”, or the wrong impression of the daily work, there are a lot of reasons why someone would choose a domain not out of the love and interest for it but out of other, inferior motives. Since learning the domain is hard work and you have to love it to spend your time thinking about it and getting ideas, this is often self-defeating. You end up doing your job (even fairly well), but you wont be creative if you do not love it. So choose a domain you love. See page 18 about different domains.

Learn/Practice Regularly

Follow Silvia’s advice (“How to Write a Lot”) and schedule a certain amount of time every day for learning, at least two hours. Study during this time. If for whatever reason this time is booked by something else, make sure that you get your two hours learning a day. It is not the excitement of beginning a new topic that will give you expertise, even if you spend the whole day learning during the first few days. It is the regularly practice that will — over time — help you to reach expertise.

Learn from the best

Find out who the best teachers in your field are and try to learn from them. They might have high standards you have to reach first (under less favorable circumstances) and the opportunities might be rare, but nevertheless make a conscious decision where and from whom you learn. Learning a technique wrong is very hard to correct. In science there is unfortunately the tendency to rate scientists by the teachers they had (e.g. the is one of Prof. X’s students), often because the professor has a specific perspective or uses specific methods that students learn (even if they do not like it themselves and want to conduct experiments differently). Studying at a specific institute under a specific professor will taint your reputation, either positive or negative, so make sure you choose a good teacher. High class institutes have other advantages: they draw the best people, have more resources, better materials, etc. You are surrounded by smart people and have a lot of learning opportunities (see page 123). However, depending on the domain and the institute, competition might be high.

Mentors

It can help to find a mentor, someone who keeps an eye on your progress, shows you the ropes, makes connections to other people who can advance you and who can give you counsel if you need it. Some people have mentors in their families, other family members who are in the same profession. Some universities have mentorship programs, find out if they have it and if it works for you. You might even try to find a retired professor or artist and ask him to help you become better in your work. However, make sure that you choose carefully what you take from this mentor. Find your own perspective, your own style and your own methods that work for you. A good mentor will not try to clone himself in you, but to help you advance to the best of your abilities and help you develop your own style.

Focus on methods and techniques

You need to know the tools of the trade to be creative. It would be ridiculous to try to draw a blueprint without a ruler or CAD-tools or to try to write a book by longhand. There are some incredible tools out there, and techniques which make your work much, much better but are easy or manageable to learn. Get to know them in detail. In science the most important aspect is the methodology and methods. They are the basis of all research. A solid knowledge about the domain is necessary, but only the methodology and methods can be transfered from topic to topic and will be necessary every time you do research.

Strategize and Prioritize

If you start with a domain there are probably countless things you want to learn — likely at the same time. Like learning for an exam it is necessary to prioritize. Not everything has the same importance and some things are the groundwork for later knowledge. Make a list of topics you want to learn about in the domain (a hierarchical list with an outliner works best, see pages 60 and 260) and enlarge it whenever you find a new topic. Then select a subtopic and learn about it until you understand it. Work from one entry of the list to the next one. Nothing is more wasteful then to try to learn everything at the same time, skimming books, hopping from topic to topic, retaining nothing, just the vague feeling of having done a lot.

Every Object carries a lesson

Do not only learn about the domain when you are in your study or atelier. You find exercises, stimulation and problems in the everyday life, when you look for it (in some domains, you have to look very hard). Take photography for example: Even if do not carry your camera you will find pictures everywhere that you can analyze. You find motives that get you thinking how you would capture them to produce specific effects. Look at the world around you with interest and try to find everyday connections and examples to the things you are learning.

Interdisciplinary

If you learn a domain, try to achieve a broad knowledge, not a specialist who is so focussed on his own small domain that he is an idiot an any other area. Be open to connections from other areas. If you see something that might work in yours, try it out. Some of the best ideas in science came from transferring one idea from one domain to the other.

Start a project

You learn much by doing. No matter whether science or art, if you start to realize a small project, e.g. a study, you will be forced to apply what you have learnt and trained. If the project is small enough and realizable and if you invest serious effort and get help, it will be a highly motivating goal. This is especially recommended if you are trying to learn a programming language or how to use a computer program. Do not learn the functions from a book — find a program or something you want to create and implement it by learning the functions you need for it. If you want to find out how to mix colors, try to paint a specific image where you need carefully mixed colors.

Learn to be critical

It is easy to take a book or course as holy work where everything is right. It is not. It cannot be. Science changes, develops itself, results are often simplified in text books, theories are later revealed to be wrong or insufficient. While this is no excuse for not learning (see page 31), be careful that you read critically. Ask questions. Wonder why and how the results came into being. What other possible explanations are and how they could be examined. Why the current theory is widely accepted. Do not blindly follow others but have a look for yourself where you are going.

Learn to take criticism

Creativity invites a lot of criticism and negative feedback (see pages 331ff). Learn to ask questions and state your opinion to train yourself to get your ideas across. And while you do, learn to deal with criticism. Have a close look at it if they have a point (yes, often they have). Find out the reasons for their criticism. Good Criticism helps you to improve yourself. Learn to use it. Pages 331ff have some tips regarding criticism.

Test your understanding of the domain

Since learning is not understanding (see page 96), make sure that you test what you have learned. In formal education you are automatically “forced” to do this (e.g. exams, graded projects). If you are learning on your own you have to set your own exams.

There are a few things you can do to test your knowledge or skills:

Application

Make a small project, an experiment or an artwork and try to use the knowledge you have learned. In statistics, do the sample calculations. In learning a programming language, write a small program. In learning languages, talk to native speakers (the internet helps here). If you are learning to write well, then write a text and get feedback from experts.

Transfer to a different context

Knowledge is often entrenched in the context you have learned it. If you try to learn about critical thinking regarding alternative medicine, try to transfer it to another context, e.g. politics. Make sure that your knowledge is flexible enough to use it in different contexts.

Formal Exams

Few people like exams, but they are your best friend. Not only do they provide you with a deadline and a strong motivation, they give you the chance to show what you have learned. There is no better way to test you knowledge then letting it be scrutinized by a teacher or tutor. If you missed something or messed up your facts, they will (hopefully) correct you.

Talk to other experts

Talking with other experts will not only test if you can understand them and hold your ground on a difficult subject, but also provide you with more information and ideas what you can also learn. No knowledge of experts is alike and they will know things you do not and vice versa.

Explain it to others

The best way to thoroughly understand something is to explain it to someone else. If the person is interested in the subject, he will ask you questions that tax your knowledge. They will point you to things you took for granted and did not think about and they will find questions you cannot answer. Unfortunately some “experts” try to hide their ignorance behind arrogance. Don’t. There is nothing wrong with saying that you do not know something (except in exams, where it is GPA suicide).

Experience

You can know a lot about a subject, but you still can fail to produce anything. Learning, especially from books, is not enough. It might give you interactional competence, meaning you can talk about the subject and appear like an expert in the topic, but once you try to apply it, you will inevitably fail. During learning you need real world experience, something that often comes short in scientific courses. Make sure not only to read a lot about the subject, but also to lay the books aside and work in the domain. Sometimes this is hard because reading is so much tidier and easier than actually working with colors or taking the camera and make photos. You will be faced with failures, disappointments. Even if you have understood something in theory, without sufficient practice you will not be able to realize your own ideas or even reproduce existing ones. Reality is often more messy than the black and white world of books.

There is no substitute for experience, for getting your hands dirty, from seeing it work out in the real world. Make sure you do not neglect his part of learning.

Practice

When Giotto di Bondone was asked to prove his worth as an artist, he drew a perfect circle free hand. Some people will probably say: “Oh, but he was an master artist.” Yes, but he did not start this way!

Especially in art there is no better teacher than practice. You have to learn how to draw a straight line (or a circle), how to take good pictures, how much pressure you can apply to which kind of stone. You need the experience and the skills that come through long practice. In the best cases this is a lot of fun, but there are also exercises that look boring (like drawing that tricky perfect circle over and over until you get it right every time). But unless you get the basics right, unless you have practiced long and hard enough so that the technique comes on demand without thinking, you will not have the resources necessary to concentrate on the important aspect: What do you want to say? How do you want to say it? It is fun to simply start doing, but without the basics, your work is build on sand, if you can erect it at all. You cannot make it far unless your work is also extremely good from a technical point of view.

This also applies to science and engineering: Unless you master the tools you will have a hard time doing any kind of creative work. And the knowledge about the powers and limitations of tools can be a powerful source of ideas.

Persists

Learning a domain is hard work, which is the reason that motivation is so important for creativity: in learning the domain and in realizing the ideas, you need a solid determination. Everyone can dabble around with something and even produce a nice picture, but to be creative you need to work hard and the dogged persistence to get you through this.

Common Pitfalls

While dealing with learning, knowledge and practice there are some common pitfalls that should be avoided at all costs:

Pitfall: Imagination is more important than knowledge

As written on page 43, Einstein said: “I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” Some people use this as an argument that creativity is possible without learning. Is is not. Yes, you need to have imagination, but without a solid foundation imagination is useless because it has no connection to reality. You need to draw on imagination but this imagination must work with a vast knowledge base.

Pitfall: Knowing Everything

One of the dangers of learning and becoming an expert is to loose the imagination. You think you know and you do not imagine it differently or want to check your knowledge or imagination by actual experiments. Sometime out of fear of making mistakes or doing something “that everyone knows the answer to”. Keep in mind that your knowledge is limited (and also the knowledge of everyone in the field). Trust your abilities to deal with difficult problems, but keep your doubts that the world is how you imagine it. Do not imagine it but try it out.

Pitfall: Loosing Focus

While flexibility, openness and diverse interest are all very good, you must be able to focus on the particular part of the domain you want to be creative in, long enough to become proficient in it. A lot of people have too many interests at the same time. They do not only want to learn about optics in physics, but also about biology, chemistry, history, maybe some Shakespeare and one or two languages. While it is regarded as very favorable to be open and wide in ones interests, it is absolutely suicidal to try to learn about to many things at once. The more topics you want to learn about, the slower you will learn them, if you can coordinate them at all. Sure, you do something like that during school, but (be honest) the knowledge is basic, the steps minimal and the learning is highly structured and supervised by others (your school boards and your teachers).

If you have a lot of interests (and how has not?), set priorities. This might sound hard and some people fight against it with teeth and claws, but it is the only way to become proficient in something. Find one to three things you want to learn about, spend a few hours every days for each of these topics (you will not be able to do this for three if you work, so reduce the number accordingly), and do this until you become really proficient in it. When you are very good already and continue to learn automatically by doing it (and doing it regularly), when you do it only to improve (or keep) your performance (and not to learn it), you may pick up another subject. This way you add up skills one after another and might end up (at the end of your life) with fifty things you do very good, instead of running around in circles trying to learn fifty skills at the same time, which you never will.

Get the new skills of the ground first before adding another one.

Pitfall: Learning the Wrong Thing

If you start out in a domain it is easy to bet on the wrong horse. Science is a vast domain and constantly under attack by interest groups that want the “scientific” attribute but do not share the scientific method. Even courses at universities or formal institutions can be sources of quackery and misinformation. Outside of the scientific field, psychology is often solely displayed as therapy with methods that appear very plausible, but have no therapeutic merit. Some methods that are taught by some institutes are downright criminal and dangerous for the mental health of the patients. Pseudo-archeologists that bash on established research can be very persuasive (even demagogic), but if you follow them and learn about aliens bringing civilization to mankind you waste your time because there is no proof in it, only speculation. Some people will tell you proudly that they “have studied the stars” and begin to talk about astrology. If you want to know about stars — and there is incredible beauty in the universe — learn about astronomy. Sounds similar, but while astrology is humbug astronomy is an actual science. And a science that is open to amateurs. Our sky is so large (especially if you look at a large distance) that many discoveries were made by amateurs (with comets being named after them). The large organizations simply cannot cover all the sky.

There are a lot of subjects out there that are well founded, that have a well-researched body of knowledge that is freely available. And there is a lot of rubbish floating around. The problem is not only that some people are unethical bastards who want to make money from the gullible public. Some people actually and fervently believe that what they do and teach is right, even when there is no merit in it at all. They are so convincing because they actually believe in it. They also have the advantage that pseudo-knowledge is often easier to learn. It is (seemingly) more exciting. The stories sound better, there is more mystery. But in the end, it is a waste of time (unless you want to write fiction). It might be an easier road, but it leads to no where.

Be careful from whom you learn. Be careful what you learn. Be sure to get the real deal. Have a look at the courses that are taught at a university. Get their book, visit their courses. Books about popular science are nice, but they will never give you the same amount of knowledge in the same fine grained detail that university books will give you. Popular science books simplify. They have too. Even university level books do this. In the end, you have to have a look at the cited studies for yourself to see science as it really is: complex, sometimes confusing and never simple. But also extremely exciting and incredible rewarding.

Pitfall: Learning but not knowing

Make sure that you do not only spend your time learning, but actually testing your knowledge. Many people spend ages behind books but fail the exam, because they have read a lot, but never retained his knowledge or made sure that they could reproduce it on demand. They also do not make sure that they understand it, which is the next pitfall.

Pitfall: Learning but not understanding

You can spend hours a day learning about a domain but do not understand it. And what is worse, you might even not know that you do not understand it. In the ideal formal education, this is what good exams are for. If they do not only test factual knowledge, they find out if you did really understand the subject, if you can answer questions in your own words, if you can explain to others what you have learned. Unfortunately, because it is easier to do so, many exams test only factual knowledge but not understanding. A simply multiple choice test will show you (and your teachers) that you have retained the information, but it will not show if you really understand the subject. While learning, do not confuse knowing with understanding. While knowing a lot of facts might be satisfying, pure knowledge without understanding will rarely lead to new ideas. While passing an exam well is probably the most important thing for your career, it is important that you retain something more than just a grade. Make sure you do not only know the facts but the underlying structures, the processes, not only the what’s but also the why’s and how’s.

This is more difficult for the autodidact. In some areas, e.g. drawing or photography, you can try to use your knowledge and see if it works. In other areas, the application is so far away that it is hard to test at all. Some books offer quizzes, examples, even case studies. Make sure that you do not only spend your time learning, but also making sure that you really understand what you are learning (see page 92).

Pitfall: Knowledge prevents criticism

Some people think that with a scientific degree or a certain amount of fame, they receive less criticism because they have proven themselves. Nothing could be further from the truth. As a beginner, criticism is often softened up because you are expected to make mistakes. As an accomplished scientist or artist your fame might have a positive influence on the treatment of your works (especially that it will be more likely that they get attention), but you will be criticized no matter who you are. Why? Because you make mistakes, no matter how good you are. Because there is always something that could be improved. Because creativity is not stable. And because your work is much more visible. And with attention comes criticism because more eyeballs spot more mistakes.

If you want fame as a protection against criticism it will not work.

Pitfall: Reinventing Ideas

There are probably countless inventions that were invented countless times. Studies that did test the same effect over and over again. Sometimes the fault lies within the publication of ideas. In science this is a problem with treatments that have no effect. Journals often do not publish these results and thus, other researchers thinking along the same lines also waste their time trying it out. In art it is often difficult to get an overview of all styles and artists. The internet could have made this easier, but with the rise of its cheap publishing technology more and more artists publish their works, which makes it extremely difficult to find out if ones own work is really original.

Sometimes the information that someone else had a similar (or the same) idea comes when trying to patent it. Sometimes when one of the thousands of eyeballs on the internet mentions that he has seen something like this before. And then you find out that your work might have been extremely difficult, and effortful, and with a lot of brilliant ideas, but unfortunately it is not creative, because it is not original. You could be proud of yourself if you had developed it a little bit earlier (sometimes ages earlier). You probably would not have done it if you had known about it, if you had invested more time and effort in your research. Sometimes there is no one to blame, sometimes you can blame your sloppy research.

But whatever the case, take your lesson and try to do it better next time.

You find some information about parallel creativity and how to deal with it on page 368.

Pitfall: GIGO

In computer science, there is the abbreviation GIGO: garbage in, garbage out. If you give a computer the wrong information, you will receive the wrong result (unless the errors cancel each other out). In creativity, there are a lot of sources for garbage. Sometimes you get the wrong information, sometimes people who are utterly convinced tell you something that is utterly wrong. Books can be wrong (and few people read the errata). Measurements can be tainted.

Sometimes these mistakes can lead to new ideas. Sometimes things work out brilliantly even with the wrong information. But in most cases, they do not. Whatever the case, make sure to check the information you put into your creative project, even when things turn out the way you want to.