Creativity. It's like another world.

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Music and links from this episode

Inner Mental Cage (Bitmap Remix) by Controlled Insanity

Freejazz by The Unknown Trio

Hola Hola Bossa Nova by Juanitos

Line-by-line notes

INTRO

When you’re making things

Designing things

Drawing things

Or just creating things

Is a really special thing

It’s not like anything else on this planet

When you get into the zone...

It’s like stepping into another world

This is AADA, and I’m Craig Burgess

PLAY MID SONG

Jazz music is the ultimate place of stepping into another world for me

Jazz musicians are some of the most creative people on the planet

And once they’ve found their flow

Their improvisations are otherworldly

When their improvising, they’re in a flow and in another world

The idea of flow is not an idea that’s unique to creativity

It’s talked about in sports and lots of other places

The idea is sometimes referred to as being in the zone

It’s a special place where nothing else matters around you

You’re completely and utterly immersed in your activity

I get like this when I’m designing things

And also when I’m coding

Once I’m 100% focused on the activity

Everything else around me fades away

Being in a creative flow is a lot like meditating

You’re completely and utterly focused on nothing else

In my day to day life

Of phone calls, emails and office conversation

I don’t get much of a chance to get into this zone

It’s hard in a busy lifestyle with lots to do

To get focused

And to find room inside your busy brain

But to produce our best work

And to be at our best creatively

We need to find ways to achieve it

Everybody’s different

And part of the challenge of harnessing your other world

Is to find when it’s easiest to access for you

For some people it’s a morning

And there’s been lots of studies to say that mornings are the most productive for a lot of people

For me, I love my sleep

So mornings aren’t good for me

But I really kick into overdrive on an evening

Unfortunately the later the better for me

I love the feeling of night time peace

And that really feels like another world to me

I record my podcasts pretty late at night

The night time has a different mood for me

Everything is at peace

And everything is quiet

There’s no fast moving people needing to get somewhere

And there’s no cars flying around desperate to get to their final destination

Everybody is just…relaxed

And enjoying themselves

And whilst this time is going on

I feel at my most creative and productive

To succeed as a designer or any creative

You’ve got to learn about your other world

And how to get into it

Savour it

And create stuff in it

Not only will you become a better creative

You’ll enjoy yourself too

A win win creative situation

OUTRO

This was AADA. I’m Craig Burgess.

Music featured in this episode was

Inner Mental Cage (Bitmap Remix) by Controlled Insanity

Freejazz by The Unknown Trio

Hola Hola Bossa Nova by Juanitos

For a line-by-line run down of this episode, go to askadesignernaything.com/ep116

I’m back tomorrow for another episode of AADA

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