The Pursuit of Genius- Iterative style

When it comes to people and skills to which I hold in high regard, “creatives” are at the very top of that list. People who can create music, literature, paintings, photographs.. and do so with a high level of skill… Those are the sorts of folks that I aspire to be like. People who can creatively solve problems, or think about things in innovative ways, all part of that circle of genius that I’ve always wished I could be a part of.

How the Magic Happens in my World.

Last Friday, I took a day off from my usual avocation to go do some work for one of my not work avocations. Specifically, the Masonic Lodge. I was asked to present on the topic of lodge finances to a group of men who had just been elected to the position in their lodges, that in the business world, would be the second Vice President, or something like that. These guys, if all goes according to that grand masonic plan, next year would ascend to first veep, and in two years, to the title of Master of their lodge.

I was asked to prepare and deliver a presentation about what they needed to know and understand, when it comes to something called lodge finances.

I’ve never been the treasurer of a lodge, and I tried to use that fact to make an argument that logically, I’m not the best guy to do this. Basically, to kindly bow out. I have been Master, and I’ve been a secretary for a couple of lodges, for many years. I still hold that job as a matter of fact. Apparently I can, however, fog a mirror and that makes me a candidate given that the other credible folks who were asked, were unable to do it.

Fine. I have enormous affection for the guy who asked me, so I did it.

And, spoiler alert, it went very well.

But not without angst and sweat. But also not without the chance to grain some insight and self realization. I’d say growth, but at 58 years old… my growth is limited to new hair in my ears and the rotundness of my belly.

I digress

As happens sometimes, ok many times, when I sit down to work on a creative project, nothing happens. I stall. Maybe a better way to say that is “I fail to start”.

I look at a screen for a bit.

Type a word or two.

Add the project to a todo list.

Check email.

Look at the screen some more.

Respond to a text.

Write another word or two.

Get some coffee.

Fill the bird feeder.

Check the mail.

Feed the fish.

Fiddle with this. Adjust that..

Put in a load of laundry.

And go back, sit down, and stare at my screen even more.

If It’s morning, I like to blame the lack of coffee. When the afternoon rolls around, I’ll tell myself “I’m better in the morning, I’ll do it then.” and I shut down. And the cycle continues.

This tendency to fidget and postpone creative projects really only happens when I am trying to write about stuff I don’t feel like I have a solid grasp off. For a work project that I’m keen on, or a subject I’m passionate about like West African postal history or the how to avoid advertising in your daily life, I’m really fast and focused. If the topic however, is how to manage lodge finances.. well apparently not so much.

The other motivator for me, is a hard deadline. Classic newsroom mentality. I work much better under stress. I’ve tried to do it other ways, no luck. I like stress and a deadline.

Which puts me in conflict with my creative process- Experimental Creativity.

Conceptual vs. Experimental Creativity- Malcom Gladwell’s Great Idea

Malcom Gladwell, who is probably my favorite Jamaican-Canadian writer and observer of the creative process in people, has written about two types of creative genius in the world. The first is the “Conceptual Innovator”. When you open the dictionary and look up “Genius” this is most likely what you’ll see. This is the sort of person that immediately comes to mind when most people think of “genius”.

These are people who use some innate talent to create masterful works in bursts of confidence and creative explosion. Think Mozart, 600 individual compositions in 20 odd years of composing. Two hundred hours of music. Thirty compositions a year. Or Picasso, 20,000 works in his lifetime. Almost everything a masterpiece. Even his pen scribblings on napkins, renowned for their creative expression..

If I were blessed with that kind of genius, I’d have had that prezo done in about 4 minutes, dropped the mic and went to have a coffee, instead of skipping the creative and mic drop part and going to straight to the coffee.

The other type of genius Gladwell talks about is the “Experimental Innovator”. I prefer to think of these folks as “Iterative Creators”. I should know, I am one.

According to Gladwell, the painter Cezanne was one of these types of geniuses. Many of his works went unsigned because he was still futzing with it. Cezanne, it seems, had a hard time saying “done”. I can totally relate. For me, “done” is more of a function of “ran out of time” rather than “happy with the result”, just say’n.

Another Experimental Innovator/Iterative Creator, according to Gladwell, Lenard Cohen. We all know the song Hallelujah. Gladwell tells a story about a meeting between Cohen and a Minnesota Local who is on the Fast Genius spectrum, Bob Dylan. Dylan asked Cohen how long it took him to write Hallelujah. The answer: “two years”. Cohen asked Bob how long it took to write one his most famous songs. Answer: “15 minutes”.

Dude, the Point, Iterate Yourself Back to It-

The dude in charge of this event was getting nervous about the presentation. We were about 10 days out, and he hadn’t heard from me. Sent me a note. Now this gentleman is a planner sort. He likes to have things nailed down before the event. Weird right? He wanted my “deck” so he could get it printed up and ready to pass out. The event though at that point, the date was in a month that started with a different number. Eons away. In my mind, I had another weekend to work on it. Not that I’d work on it, but it’s nice to know that if wanted too, I could.

I fessed up that I was behind. In reality, my work work was a bit heavy at the time and when that happens, these side projects can take a long time to do because the distractions are real and 100% justified.

I also told him that, knowing myself, I will have a bang up copy by the weekend. I also told him that me being me, I’d be making changes up to the last minute.

“How last minute?”

My beloved work team, who are going to heaven because they have to put up with my fat old ADD infected brain, would have laughed out loud about that. I could hear them. They have seen me changing a presentation, in an Uber, on the way to a customer’s site. Worse, on a presentation that was “done” two days earlier.

My answer, “they won’t be any big changes” I assured him. That’s vague enough to mislead him into interpreting the statement to mean “nothing is going to change” and loose enough for me to make adjustments up to the last minute. Of course, my friend is smart, and outwitted me on that. “No problem, but FYI, you will be doing the presentation from MY LAPTOP.”

sigh

Quick fast-forward; the event was about a 90 minute drive from home. I did scoot up there 2 hours early, caught my friend setting up the equipment, and hijacked his laptop to make a “few small changes.” “Dude, the presentation won’t match the handout”.

Like that matters to an iterative creator. Truth is, it is more important to me that the version I was going to be standing in front of for an hour, would be comfortable for me. I don’t think many people look at handouts anyway. Or will notice a few typos or the fact that the graphics changed here and there.

Later in the day, a presenter who is much smarter and more authoritative than I am opened his presentation with; “Gentlemen, the presentation in your book is an older version than what I’m going to show you, so won’t match what you have perfectly.”

Note to Malcom Gladwell, apparently there’s a third kind of genius out there: “Situational Genius”. This is a person who can read a room, juke and jive, pivot and deliver a work that meets the audience’s needs, at the time they are going to receive it.

You know what, I have that trait too. I’m great at reading a room and pivoting on the fly. It is the main contributor to any measure of success I’ve ever earned.

But I also need some structure and form. I’m an outliner. Even when I’m writing BS funny stuff, aka 90% of the entries on this humble blog, the more it sounds like stream of conscious to you, the more detailed the mind map or outline I created behind the scenes is likely to be.

It’s important to have a beginning, middle and end to every piece I write. The outline is how I get there. When I do presentations or PowerPoints, I always start with a mind map, that looks like an outline.

Example, from this piece-

Next up is the writing. Good outline, easy writing.

And then the editing.

FACT: I am a shitty editor. I can read my own stuff over and over and still miss typos all day long. “Hte” much?

What I am good at, is editing for voice and syntax. And, this is where the iterative part comes in, every time I read something, I find things to do to it to make it a wee bit better. Emphasis, “wee”.

That “wee”, is a big word. Wee changes can happen with every read. EVERY DAMED READ. Stupid things are never done. Never! they’re always just “done enough”.

The key for me, it seems, is to build enough time into my process to be able to read stuff a couple of times, and this is important, over a couple of days. I need to set stuff down and come back to it later.

That’s when my creative magic happens, in the iteration.

Creative Collaboration

I would suggest that my best work, especially when it comes to casual writing like this POS, comes through collaboration. There are a couple of people in my intimate circle of friends, who serve as foils for my wit and humor. I don’t think that’s uncommon. I find that 20 minutes on the phone with one of them, or chatting over beer, gives me a lot of ideas to riff on.

For work related writing, there are a couple of people in my network who do the same thing for me. Brilliant types who are out of the box thinkers. I like riffing with them, and then riffing in print, later.

But what about those times when I don’t have that foil to fence with?

That’s where the day off between reads comes in. I love the line from the Greek philosopher Heraclitus, “You cannot step into the same river twice”. It’s not the same river, and you’re not the same person. I think that’s how this whole iterative things works. When I create something, set it down and walk away, and then, I come back and read it later, I’m not the same person. That guy who was typing away in a fit of productive brain spew is now a bit disassociated from the writing process. I can argue with myself about style and substance because I’m out of the moment. And that’s when I find my best ideas. Arguing with myself, that’s never got anyone in trouble.

They say it’s not hearing voices that make you crazy, it’s answering them. Boy howdy, I’m in a fix if that’s true.

The Point- At Last!

Funny thing, I was first exposed to Gladwell’s thoughts on creativity and genius last summer. Until that time, I hadn’t really given a ton of thought to the idea of different kinds of creative energy. I just knew I wanted to be more creative, and do more things I would find interesting, and people who ready my stuff would find interesting. (“interesting” here, a euphemism for “good”.) When I did read his piece about creative types, it was one of those clouds parted moments. This is precisely how my own creative process works, at least for writing and telling stories. Someone gets me. A complete stranger “gets me”.

Shit, I don’t even get me.

Mind blown.

To wrap without a point, how do you folks create? I’d be very interested to know. Comments solicited.