Reflective Blog Post 4 - Response to Creativity Requires TIME

Today for one of our day book entries, we as a class watched a video some people created to show their customers why they need more time to be creative:

 Creativity Requires TIME

                The way the world works now is that everything must be organized and placed onto a day-to-day schedule. However, all the best ideas come when they want – not when we force them. Did you know that the idea of Harry Potter was in the mind of J.K. Rowling for years before she wrote the first draft?

                Writing on a schedule pressures the writer to get the basic idea across immediately in the blandest way possible. All of those interesting, small details can’t be added in if the writer doesn’t have the time. Hence the reason why people who start immediately on their writing assignments for a class end up with a better paper then a person who postpones it until the night before. However, this doesn’t just have to be in context with writing.

                Ironically enough, I’ve heard my dad come home a few times from his job complaining about the new way they have to plan out their work. Instead of what he’s used to and what he’s best at, he and his co-workers must plan with a certain “outline” in mind. They also have less time to do this. My father used the old way of things to plan for problems that may occur later on, as in a few years from now. That idea he used saved the company’s computers from crashing many times (yes, he’s amazing at what he does). So therefore, creativity can be seen in something that others may see as computer code.

                Just so you know, he’s so fed up with this new organization technique that he’s basically said, “Fine – if it blows up in your face then it’s your problem, not mine.” Also, he’s this close (imagine almost no space between two fingers) to quitting. He won’t take this invasion in to the way he’s been doing his job for years. Don’t fix something that’s not broken, right?

                I see that as a prediction of what will happen if we as a society keep on suppressing creativity because of a simple schedule. Schedules can be changed easily but creativity isn’t even in the same orbit as that thought process. Creativity can’t be changed and it can’t be controlled. Creativity is like a wild horse – untameable.

                That’s the reason why I absolutely refuse to write stories that I have in my head until the creative ideas for that specific plot nearly explode outwards. I wait until my imagination is filled to the brink before I serve myself that delicious soup of creative thoughts I’ve been stewing for, literally, years. Let me ask you something, don’t you do the same thing? It may be with what you want to do with your life. It may have to do with exploring or it may even have to do with how you plan to live on a personal level. We all do this “stewing” and for good reason. Our best decisions in life aren’t as new as we thought they were.

                Our greatest moments… well, they actually take years to start and end. Creativity is definitely not a short burst of inspiration. It’s always there.

Thanks for listening to my small rant about the importance of giving creativity enough time to expand! Do you want to see something that is really creative (Both for the camera style and the actor who works it so well)? See this link and hold on until around 3 minutes and 30 seconds because that's when things get interesting:

 Epic Tea Time

P.S. Watch his head! It doesn't move AT ALL. That is some incredible control :)