Creativity, A Short and Cheerful Guide

Creativity by John Cleese

John Cleese is one creative fellow. A member of the hilarious (and creative) Monty Python gang, along with other movies, books, etc, Cleese is an expert at being creative, and he shares his secrets with us in this tiny book.

Little known fact is that Cleese was not a natural born 'creative'. If fact, he was on the path to become a lawyer (as we all know they are not creative at all, they just follow fact and rules). But, a chance meeting with an improv type group at his college saved us from another lawyer.

Through this experience putting together some low grade sketch comedy in his dormitory, Cleese learned how to be creative, it was a skill he perfected over time. There is not a lot to it actually, which is why his book is so short. It really could have been a magazine article, or an essay, but Cleese needed the money so he marketed it as a stocking stuffer.

There are not any new/brilliant ideas in his creative process. Pretty much he just says, let your brain do the work. The unconscious brain of course. For eg, start your creative project, be it a joke, a play, a book, a song, a new process at your work...then leave it. Sleep on it. Go for a walk. Do something else and let your brain work on it in the background. Usually if you give it enough time your mind will come up with a solution, a funny punch line, a great metaphor...whatever it is you need. YOU NEED TO BE PATIENT.

Next, you need to do the work. You need to put pen on paper and actually start writing down your joke, book, song, etc. It's all fine and dandy to think about it, but you will not get anywhere unless you do the work and practice.

You also need to let yourself be creative. Give yourself permission to let strange, maybe even uncomfortable ideas mingle in your mind. This is how your mind makes those brilliant connections. This usually means setting up a time where you literally do nothing but think. Remove distractions, and giver your brain time to work. Again YOU NEED TO BE PATIENT.

Even though the book was short, not humorous (which I thought it might be because of Cleese), and did not have any new groundbreaking techniques, I still enjoyed it very much. It was a great motivator to keep being creative. A reminder that anyone can be creative. And a confirmation that if you have been putting in the work and letting your mind wander and being patient with the old grey cells, that things will turn out alright.

Thanks John for the mini-book...sorry I didn't get it as a stocking stuffer. I actually borrowed it from my local library.