John Cleese on Creativity

09/23/2013

Differences are not intended to separate, to alienate. We are different precisely in order to realize our need of one another.
Desmond Tutu

“Creativity is not a talent. It is a way of operating,” observed John Cleese (of Monty Python fame) in a classic lecture on creativity. In this humor-filled lecture, Cleese goes on to outline “the 5 factors that you can arrange to make your lives more creative”:

Space (“You can’t become playful, and therefore creative, if you’re under your usual pressures.”)
Time (“It’s not enough to create space; you have to create your space for a specific period of time.”)
Time (“Giving your mind as long as possible to come up with something original,” and learning to tolerate the discomfort of pondering time and indecision.)
Confidence (“Nothing will stop you being creative so effectively as the fear of making a mistake.”)
Humor (“The main evolutionary significance of humor is that it gets us from the closed mode to the open mode quicker than anything else.”)

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