Rediscovering Creativity — Emerging From Chaos
Sometimes, being the most productive means doing absolutely nothing.
I believe many would concur that the prevalence of information overload in today’s society is increasingly apparent, while the likelihood of its reduction seems nearly non-existent.
How can one address the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO)?
From a socio-psychological standpoint, one might justify its existence. However, the undeniable reality is that this phenomenon not only fails to enhance our well-being (which ought to be the primary aim) but actively detracts from it.
Do you recall a time when being active on social media was a choice, when it wasn’t assumed that information would flood in from every direction, and when millions of books weren’t readily accessible with just a click? Suddenly, distinguishing between what is essential and what is merely distracting has become significantly more challenging.
The notion of attention — its quality and quantity — seems omnipresent. Don’t you think?
So, information overload. It demolishes creativity. How so?
Picture this: you have a dream of writing a book, and you start by gathering words. Each day, you add new words to your collection, which grows larger but remains disorganized. You plan to piece them together into something meaningful eventually. Every day becomes a quest for more words — you search, you add, and then repeat the process, each time more desperately. You snatch up every word you find, driven by a fear of missing out on something important.
But amidst this frenzy, you forget to pause and organize your thoughts.
The book never reaches completion because you never took the time to step back and arrange your words into coherent ideas. Potentially world-changing concepts remain buried beneath an avalanche of unsorted information.
We often find ourselves juggling multiple tasks simultaneously: listening to music during our commute, cleaning the house with the TV on, or scrolling through Instagram during lectures (ahem, multitasking). But this habit merely creates the illusion of productivity. Multitasking doesn’t mean we’re truly doing more things at once; rather, we’re rapidly shifting our focus from one activity to another. While this may suffice for tasks requiring minimal attention, such as doing the dishes, anything moderately complex demands our undivided focus.
One particular observation that prompted me to explore this topic is the phenomenon I’ve experienced: whenever I encounter a problem I can’t seem to solve, stepping away, going for a walk, inevitably leads to a breakthrough. Admittedly, these walks might take longer, especially for more abstract problems or intricate algorithms that aren’t immediately clear. Yet, without fail, prolonged walks always lead me to a solution. This consistent outcome never fails to fascinate me.
What do night owls, meditation, sudden bursts of inspiration before bedtime, shower thoughts and revolutionary ideas born from dreams have in common? They offer moments of uninterrupted contemplation. In these instances, our minds are free to roam, devoid of external distractions and the constant influx of new information.
Creativity flourishes in the absence of excessive stimulation.
Let’s take a pause. Let’s step back and gain a clearer perspective on the words we’ve amassed. By analyzing them, establishing their sequence, identifying dependencies, and assigning meanings, perhaps something remarkable will emerge.
Perhaps, through this process, we’ll conceive an idea that will change everything.
