A few days ago I reacted to a post on Zen Habits claiming, among other things that “Getting Things Done” (GTD) by David Allen is a system that often isn’t suitable for creative people.  My posted response gave 8 reasons that GTD was for creative people also and has been well received.

Picture by creativedc 

What makes us more creative?  And what makes us less?

The whole thing has got me thinking about creativity.  After all, creativity is one of the most important attributes of a good leader and preacher (both of which I strive to be on a daily basis).  What promotes creativity?  What hinders it?  Yes, some people are more creative than others but can all people become more creative given the right environment?  And what about those people who claim not to be creative?

There’s No Such Thing As a Non-Creative Person

Michael Hyatt recently made the amazing observation that worry and creativity are extremely similar.

I realized how very similar worry and imagination really are. Both of them involve visualizing the future. In a sense, worry is simply an unproductive use of imagination.

Or put another way, if you can worry, you are already creative.  Lets face it, most of what we worry about doesn’t happen so we are being creative about these things.

 Picture by spaceodissey 

John Maxwell has written a short series about his need to be more creative and how he goes about achieving this end.  His two posts are “Developing your creativity – even if you’re not sure it’s within you” and “Seeking creativity in its natural habitat,” both of which make interesting reading.

Planned Spontaneity is Essential

The most interesting aspect of his post comes when he provides the quote from a Fast Company interview where Teresa Amabile said,

“Time pressure stifles creativity because people can’t deeply engage with the problem. Creativity requires an incubation period; people need time to soak in a problem and let the ideas bubble up.”

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To me this shows just how important productivity methodologies such as GTD can be in being productive.  John Maxwell schedules creative time into his calendar.  It sounds awfully like planned spontaneity doesn’t it?  But it works!

For me, I don’t put the time in my diary but I do make sure that my “next action” for many projects is actually worded to mean that success for that action involves me spending creative time, sometimes just thinking, often mind-mapping on paper and sometimes researching to prompt creative thoughts within me.

If you don’t think you’re a creative person, ask yourself, “Do I worry about things?”  If you do, then rest assured, you have all the creativity you need, you simply need to channel it in the right direction.

And if you know you’re creative but you just don’t ever seem to find the time to let it out, maybe you need to start “Getting Things Done.”  If you’re interested, pick up your own copyof GTD.

But remember it’s only a methodology and you need to find an implementation that works for you. eProductivity for Lotus Notes is just the ticket for me but just make sure you find the right one for you.

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