There are broadly two types of task, the first are repetitive tasks where the steps are known in advance and the only input required is time and effort. The second is the creative task. For creative tasks the steps and in some cases the outcome is unknown. An example of a creative task is writing a PRFAQ which requires you to come up with some original positioning that jumps off the page to engage the reader. These tasks take substantial amount of deep thinking and some degree of imagination.
To be successful at repetitive tasks you can apply the approach of brute force. Basically, the bigger the task the harder you work to achieve the goal. Obviously, there is opportunity to fine tune the steps or even automate the tasks but even without these smart optimisations, you know that in the worst case you can throw effort in and deliver the result.
Creative tasks are different. For creative tasks, hard work is not necessarily correlated to success. In some cases, working harder actually takes you further from a good outcome on a creative task. Ideas cannot be forced but tend to come when you let your mind wander to other things. That's why if you sit down determined to be creative you often fail.
If you accept the premise that hard work is not correlated with creativity then how do you excel when doing creative work?
Here are a few tips that work for me:
1. Don't start the day with work
Walk the dog, go to the gym etc. Just don't wake up and go straight into the task in hand. Don't measure your effort on a creative task as the number of hours spent at the desk. Give yourself the time and space to have ideas and connect the dots on seemingly unrelated concepts. This often happens to me if I think about a problem when I'm running or walking.
2. Schedule short bursts of writing
Again, don't sit at the desk all day trying to force the creativity out. Focused time is critical for writing but I would never spend more than two hours writing in a single session. Give yourself the time and freedom to do other things. Allow your mind wander and become unfocused. Changing your environment by going outside for example is a great way to achieve this. Often it is during these unfocused pauses that creativity happens.
3. Get alternative perspectives
Talking to others about the problem often generates new ways of thinking and new ideas. Find people who have different perspective to you. Get people to read your documents and discuss their feedback. Be open minded. Approach discussions with a beginners mind. Encourage and challenge different perspectives to drive your own understanding. The best ideas typically come from meetings where there is an energetic discussion. If the meeting lacks different perspectives or strongly held beliefs then perhaps you need to throw in a grenade. Take a controversial position and defend it. See if the ensuing debate leads to a new place. Sometimes you need a few rebels to overthrow the status quo.
4. Play with words
The words we use are really important. Try a few words on for size. Think about words that describe the thing you are describing. Read them out loud to yourself. Find words that fit and test them out on other people, either in writing or when discussing the product. Are the words resonating? Watch carefully for non verbal queues like facial expressions. Keep the words that work and discard the words that are not resonating.
5. Try to make it bigger
You have written a document that describes a new product, service or feature. Now, do a mind experiment. Take the product direction to the extreme. Often this requires you to drop some constraint that is preventing you from delivering a bolder vision. In many cases, the constraint is time itself. By pushing yourself to think bigger than the immediate product being described you start to think about a longer roadmap where perhaps those constraints can be overcome. With the right thinking perhaps you can come up with shortcuts to bypass those constraints.
Creativity doesn't come through working harder. It requires you to work differently. Find out what works for you.
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