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Ask HN: How can I get better at original thinking and being creative?

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Re: Ask HN: How can I get better at original thinking and being creative?

#11

Post by longnguyen »

I do not have a complete answer for you. But I've developed this simple hack that worked quite well for me. That is, before working on anything, play a little game or solve a puzzle. I learned this after reading "Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World"[1] by Adam Grant. You can watch his TED talk here [2] to get some ideas.

How do I know it work? This might be survivorship bias but whatever, I believe it worked for me. After practicing this for around a year, I developed a custom 3D visualization for our 3D scanner[3] which greatly improved the UX. Our customers loved it. We even filed a patent for it (pending though)[4]

For me, that little puzzle is usually a leetcode[5] problem, or to solve a non-trivial rubik (my humble collection here[6]).

[1]: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00XIYGCDO

[2]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxbCHn6gE3U

[3]: https://bodidata.com/kora-1

[4]: https://patents.google.com/patent/US20210018608A1

[5]: https://leetcode.com

[6]: https://www.reddit.com/r/Cubers/comments/nrzc62/just_my_humb...

Re: Ask HN: How can I get better at original thinking and being creative?

#12

Post by robbedpeter »

kleer001 wrote: post #9

Creativity is based on personality trait Openness to experience and is mostly hardwired. You've got what you've got within a 1/2 a standard deviation, or so. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Openness_to_experience https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/openness https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/psychology/openness-to-... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjtBDa4aSGM It's not the be all end all of being productive. I…

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/single_d...

Psilocybin is one of the safest drugs, and there are retreats and clinics and lots of video content on the web to familiarize yourself with the relative risks and benefits. If you're not at risk for schizophrenia or have other mental health concerns, mushrooms are highly recommended. They create the opportunity for profound and lasting change, and increases in the openness trait are one of the benefits.

Good luck in your journeys!

Re: Ask HN: How can I get better at original thinking and being creative?

#13

Post by templarchamp »

There is a structure to being creative - not that I could make any claim to being one. You can be creative in original thoughts and ideas, structural creativity in designs - buildings, paintings, policy making etc. In all cases I see that you have to dispassionately dissociate yourself from the doer (which is again you). Please tell us/me your progress

Re: Ask HN: How can I get better at original thinking and being creative?

#15

Post by codingclaws »

Whenever an interesting idea pops into your mind, write it down immediately. Do not wait to write it down because it will very likely slip your mind.

Another tip is, do not look up your idea to see if it already exists - build it assuming it is completely novel. It is an exercise where you're almost pretending you're very creative and not influenced or helped by anyone else.

Re: Ask HN: How can I get better at original thinking and being creative?

#16

Post by DrNuke »

The easiest path is to start reading good poetry, maybe? A bunch of ambiguous lines, if taken on their declarative face value, becomes a nest of hidden associations and different meanings, if taken as a whole with structure, sound and rhymes. Get an anthology with commented poems, then, and start seeing more than the face value of the lines you read.

Re: Ask HN: How can I get better at original thinking and being creative?

#17

Post by nicbou »

When I sketch, I learned to take more risks, and break more rules. I exaggerate shapes, use new perspectives, and keep going after I make mistakes.

I try to create things in isolation, for my own pleasure. I don't compete with others, and I don't try to show off. I accept that I'm not good at it, but still enjoy the activity. This takes a lot of the pressure off. It's how I started sketching again as an adult.

Another important thing is to get bored. I won't take my sketchbook out until I put my phone down. I won't notice the world around me if I'm looking at a screen. I won't come up with ideas and refine them unless my brain is idle for a while. Creativity requires downtime.

Re: Ask HN: How can I get better at original thinking and being creative?

#18

Post by WallyFunk »

Watch Everything is a Remix: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJPERZDfyWc

I've been prolific over the years in programming and art & code, and about 99% of it was remixes of others work. I'm not ashamed of that - many artists draw inspiration from multiple sources. The trick is to put your own spin on it, not directly rip off someone else's work. Many artists will never tell you they borrowed from various sources, because they think that would come across as unoriginal and merely copying others work, but have a few beers with an artist and suddenly they start sharing their secrets...

Re: Ask HN: How can I get better at original thinking and being creative?

#19

Post by p0d »

We are not all awesome or there would be no awesome. Those who are awesome may create something at just the right time or they may not.

I think you may be seeking success over creativity. Comparing yourself to others never ends well. We tend to look in only one direction. Enjoy what you make and have made.

Re: Ask HN: How can I get better at original thinking and being creative?

#20

Post by keiferski »

“Creative” really just means “ideas unlike everyone else’s ideas.”

Ergo, if you have the same inputs as everyone else, you’ll most likely have the same outputs too.

The solution? Change your inputs. The three people you mentioned are all very much in the same milieu of thought, which one might call “technology-adjacent rationalist.” They all basically have the same worldview, when it comes down to brass tacks.

My suggestion is to start reading things by people without this worldview. Fashion designers, Islamic philosophers, voodoo priests, Deleuzian cyberneticists. Anyone that is outside of your normal range of input. Especially people from the distant past, as most pop science/etc. books today all have the same basic worldview, which historical writers don’t have.

You will make connections between the things you know and the new things. This ability to make connections is fundamentally what creativity is all about.

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