to think creatively you have to think slowly
I was having dinner with a friend who is also a creative director. He said, “He doesn’t allow his writers to speak their ideas.” I was like, “why would you do that? Isn’t the whole point of brainstorming is to speak your ideas out loud and see what dots connect with everyone around?”
He said, “Don’t talk about your ideas because you have an urge to talk about it.
Write it down and think why it’s bad.
The whole reason you should talk about your ideas is so that your brain can connect dots with others ideas and think more. But if your ideas are bad, what’s the point of connecting it to more bad ideas?”
I was battle ready to banish this idea of his... how can he say something like this.
I was going to say more, but he got a call and this gave me some time to think more. There are two kinds of people. People who work best when they talk. They get their ideas from discussions. These are the fast thinkers. The one who are always on their feet. Excited about ever new idea. They don’t necessarily give a fuck about whether the idea is even good. They just want to keep hitting the wall with ideas until something sticks.
The other segment is of slow thinkers. They criticize their idea before anyone else. They are deliberate with their speech. Whatever they say, they have thought about it multiple times. They will back up their thinking with reasoning and analogies. You can have a full blown discussion with them on every idea they have. Because they have thought on things at a much deeper level.
The more I thought about this I realized,
Thinking is an individual process, sure a few dots can connect here and there. But thinking is best done in solitude. People in conversation aren’t able to be imaginative. They say things that they have already experienced.
The director was still on call. And I was mind blown by the fact that just by taking this moment to think. I was able to think in such a diverse way. “In this moment I am not in a rush to speak out my mind instantly. Is that why he doesn’t allow his writers to speak out their ideas?”
After his call ended, he said, “Let’s play a game.” I got excited, I was way too curious at this point. He said,
“Rename everything on this dinner table. But don’t think too hard about it. For example, this is water, you can call it sun. This is glass, you can call it a dragon or anything that comes to your mind.”
I was up for the challenge. I looked at the items before us. I said fire for water, soda for salt, knife for fork, corn and spinach for some side dishes. The thing about my mind choosing these words to replace the existing ones is that I already associated them in some way. When I was fast in my thinking process, there was no creativity.
Fire is opposite to water. Soda and salt go together. Knife and fork come as a combined set. Even though the knife wasn’t there on the table. In my memory it was together because I have seen it together so often. I was able to think through this when I thought slowly.
To think differently, I had to observe and be patient.
It’s an interesting paradox that we need to slow down to speed up our ability to innovate, to create and connect.
Zomato is known for its marketing. Their marketing isn’t something completely out of the box. They keep it in the box as much as possible. They keep seeing the same box again and again, slow down their thinking and observe the mundane and obvious. They observe things that are so simple that they are ignored by everyone.
And when Zomato brings the same things at the forefront of their copy. It’s surprising and delightful for people because they knew it but just didn’t think of it like that.
Before you go, tell me —
What are your thoughts on slow thinking?
Do you trust you first idea or second one?
Do you have people around you who make you think fast or slow?
Feel free to reply. I’d love to know.
Much love,
Akanksha
Such an insightful read.