One Sentence Summary:
Creativity is learned, nourished and maintained; for inspiration to flow through us and spring forth from the mind, you must prepare, have rituals that invoke it, to know our creative DNA – what we are made for, use our memory and connect disparate things with each other, organize work documents so that we always know where to find them, know how to scratch the surface of things to extract the essential, use the accidents and incidents that that appear in our life, have an idea-base which serves as a backbone for our creation, use our talents wisely, recognize roadblocks and the moments that overtake us, know how to fail, and pace ourselves over the long term – to the very end.
By Twyla Tharp, 243 pages, published in 2003.
Summary and Book Report:
First of all, this book is nice. Not only from the point of view of pure aesthetic, like 45 Effective Ways to Recruit Wisely, but because of all the books I have read for my Personal MBA Challenge this is the one that best that combines form and substance, using one to reinforce the other. Being an amateur writer (of science fiction), I am especially aware of this: why are today’s books content to put sad black letters on a white background, while modern technology allows creativity? It is time that writers understand that their expression space is not confined to words alone, but also to the way in which they are represented.
The Creative Habit brilliantly manages to break out of this centuries old canvas by using a sober and original framework to highlight key elements of its content. This is done by putting some words in color, or using a larger character that stands out from the rest of the sentence, free placement on the page, or at the bottom of the page, shaded gray, or strategically placed drawings to illustrate the work. This book is therefore a joy to read and it is much easier to glean the important parts from it – it is almost enough to read the big red words. A book which makes excellent use of highlighting – almost reaching utter perfection – is The October Man Sequence, but only the initiated know about it.
Great examples of highlighting in the book
But the beauty of The October Man Sequence remains unsurpassed. It is a work of art unto itself.
Twyla Tharp is an American dancer and choreographer, born in 1941. She has created numerous ballets and musical comedies, most of which have been successful, and some of which have been seen on Broadway. She directed the opera sequences in the film Amadeus and she has been the recipient of many prizes in her career, which began in 1965. On Youtube there are numerous extracts of her work, and I invite you especially to watch this clip of Movin’ Out – a musical comedy based on the songs of rock star Billy Joel – to give you an idea of her work.
For many people, the beginning, symbolized by finding oneself in an empty room, is something deep, mysterious and terrifying. It’s opening up your word processing software and finding yourself faced with a blank page. It’s picking up your brush and contemplating the immaculate virgin canvas. It’s taking your chisel and moving towards your block of stone in the rough. It’s being in front of the piano, fingers poised over the keys – to create rather than to play.
White space is perhaps humbling. Some people cannot handle it, and choose to avoid it. For Twyla Tharp, facing it is her job. She finds in a white, empty room a mix of challenge and trepidation, as well as peace and promise. Filling this empty room comprises her identity. She has become its roof.
However creativity is not limited to artists. It is important for business men who are looking for new ways to sell, for engineers who are trying to solve a problem, for parents who want their children to see the world in a new light.
We can have a gift and be especially talented to create in a particular area, but whether we are gifted or not, there is no creativity without apprenticeship, without preparation and daily routines which become second nature.
To be creative, you must know how to prepare yourself to be creative.
That’s the object of this book.
Twyla Tharp therefore shares with us the fruits of her 35 years of experience to help us develop, maintain and nourish our creativity, whatever it is. Every chapter, except the first one – is augmented with exercises, to help us practice the concepts that she has just outlined.
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. The GTD method is supposed to save me time, therefore I am not giving up the idea of reading 52 books in 52 weeks. But just as important as the project or the books themselves, is what I will get out of them in my personal and professional life. Now, one of the major pitfalls of my project, which I have been conscious of from the outset, is that the pace I have imposed on myself is preventing me from fully putting into practice what I am learning. I chose to impose one book a week on myself because that seemed to have more benefits than drawbacks. 