Creativity Needs Organization
Being a productivity-junkie, I enjoy reading about what other people are doing to be more effective and efficient in their tasks. One of my often-recommended books is David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” — in my opinion, a must-read for anyone serious about productivity. However, I found myself unable to totally implement David Allen’s system. Probably because it’s David Allen’s system. Not mine.
Which leads me to my latest find: the book “Making Ideas Happen” by Scott Belsky of Behance. It’s been a very good read so far. What I find particularly interesting is that the book was written for creatives, people who are often not associated to the idea of organization and productivity. And right off the bat, Belsky makes a strong case for creatives to develop structure and organization around their creative world if they have any desire to make any significant impact with their innovative ideas.
I’m only in Section 1: Organization and Execution, but am already getting so much out of it.
Here are two of my favorite excerpts from the parts I’ve read so far that I’ve discussed with my team:
On organization:
“Organization is all about applying order to the many elements of a creative project… These elements exist in any creative project, but we don’t always acknowledge them… Of course, doing so decreases the odds that our ideas will ever happen… Only through organization can we seize the benefits from bursts of creativity… Like it or not–Organization is a major force for making ideas happen.”
Creativity X Organization = Impact
“If the impact of our ideas is largely determined by our ability to stay organized, then we would observe that those with tons of creativity but little to no organization yield, on the average, nothing… Someone with average creativity but stellar organizational skills will make greater impact than the disorganized geniuses among us… The ‘organization’ side of the equation deserves as much focus as the ‘creativity’ side. Why? Because ultimately you want to make an impact with your ideas.”
Pretty interesting, isn’t it? I love the equation. Though it isn’t scientific, it gives me a visual reference and helps me evaluate myself in the area of creativity, organization, and, ultimately, my impact.
More excerpts to follow in the coming days.
