The Art of Having No Ideas
by Laurence Shorter
The only way I’ve found that works consistently to generate an idea is to have no idea. This is harder than it sounds because we are so used to having a picture of what we are doing. In any given situation, most people think they know what is happening and what they should and shouldn’t be doing (even if they don’t like it).
The result is stuckness, as they haven’t allowed enough space for a new idea. Remember — new ideas don’t come from you. The way around this is to stop, sit back and let your mind run idle. The brain is like a muscle — sometimes it needs to be relaxed.
If you can relax your brain from thinking, even if it’s for a few seconds, then you will immediately be opening it up for new possibilities.
Undistract yourself
To bring something new into the world, you have to strip away the things you use to distract yourself. We all have treats and stimulants we use to fire us up when we’re bored or tired (caffeine, adrenaline, chocolate) — or to fill space when we feel agitated or down (social media, shopping, TV). Over time, I’ve softened my puritan attitude to coffee, partly because I like it too much, partly because the main culprit is not the substance, but the way it distracts us from having no ideas.
Instead of going to a war with my indulgences, I do my best to experiment with ways of creating space for deeper thought – lying down to change my brain state, taking a walk to think something over, or fasting until lunchtime – and then assessing how it goes.
If you’re not enjoying it, stop !
The guiding star of all dedicated creatives — don’t persist in doing stuff you are ‘not feeling’. How often have you convinced yourself to push through or finish a task you started, even when you’re feeling tense and stressed in your body?
What outcome might have been possible if I had stopped for a moment and opened up to another approach or solution?
Stopping is where it starts. It doesn’t mean you can’t return to the task, only that something in your attitude could open to let in more perspective. This has to be handled with discrimination – persistence is itself essential – but it’s a practice that is key to anyone whose bread and butter relies on them responding effectively in the moment, or collaborating closely with others. Which is basically everyone.
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When I read these suggestions again I realise they amount to the same thing, and it’s the simplest trick there is: making a bit of space to disrupt habitual thinking.
Why then is it so hard to implement? Why do people have to pay other people (coaches, gurus, apps, me…) to help them make space? I think because there is massive inertia in the other direction – culturally, psychologically and economically. We’ve been trained for so long to keep moving and producing, that the idea of stopping and having no idea feels like something genuinely risky or transgressive: “What if I produce nothing of value?”
I am constantly fighting this battle with myself in my little world, in my little office.
Hence my job: Helping people to move from thinking they have all the answers to realising they have no idea and then to having an actual idea is more or less now my life’s work.
We all need to be creative so that we can make a world that’s fit to live in. So it feels a worthwhile thing to do.
© 2023 Laurence Shorter
