Don't obsess over keeping things simple, because chaos is important for creativity

In order to be creative, it is important to organize your mind and clarify the path to your goal. However, if you emphasize simplicity and get into the habit of organizing things immediately, you will not be able to be creative. Jeff DeGraff, an expert on innovation and creativity, explains the method that 'creativity does not start from simplicity, but ends with simplicity.'

Creativity Starts in the Mess | Psychology Today

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/innovation-you/202504/creativity-starts-in-the-mess

Simplicity reduces cognitive load, which makes us feel good. In 1988, psychologist John Sweller proposed the ' cognitive load theory ,' which states that 'human working memory can only hold a small amount of information at a time, so in order to maximize learning, we should avoid overloading our working memory.'

In addition, there are many research results that show that creative ideas do not come when you are busy, but rather when you are thinking absent-mindedly or relaxed. For example, Jonathan Schooler of the Psychology Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has shown research results that 'creativity tends to be exerted when you are not concentrating and your mind is wandering, rather than when you are concentrating on a task .'

'Great ideas come from the gap between concentration and absent-mindedness' - 3 ways to boost creative thinking? - GIGAZINE

By Faith Goble

By simplifying your mind and not putting too much strain on your thinking and memory, you can unleash your creative potential. However, DeGraff says that oversimplifying too early in your thinking can actually undermine your creativity.

One of the reasons for this is the process by which creativity unfolds. Keith Sawyer, a psychologist and creativity expert, emphasizes that 'creative insights usually emerge not from clarity, but from structured confusion, known as 'zigzag thinking.'' The idea is that a nonlinear process full of false starts, detours, and unexpected turns in thought is more likely to lead to creativity than a neat, efficient path.

While reduction and simplification are often recommended as an idea for creativity, DeGraff says that while this can be helpful late in the creative process, it's not desirable early on. Seeking a quick solution, rather than fully exploring possibilities and understanding the complex world around us, can limit the very creativity we're trying to unleash.

Beyond simplifying and organizing, DeGraff offers three ideas for navigating creative complexity:

1: Allow for ambiguity
Switching between different perspectives and concepts in a disjointed way is necessary when drawing conclusions, but in the creative process, it is important that the answer is not clear. By not rushing to solve a problem, but instead taking the time to think carefully and asking better questions, you can discover new ideas that you would not notice if you were to think simply.

2. Mass production
According to DeGraff, quantity trumps quality when it comes to creative work: instead of focusing on creating a finished product, he works through multiple drafts and finds breakthroughs in the process.

3. Leave editing for later
The ideal process is not to seek simplicity from the start, but to allow simplicity to emerge through subtraction from the pile of ideas and thoughts.

'The modern world is noisy and we are overwhelmed by complexity. But creativity is not about running away from complexity, but about learning to live with it. Only by working through it can we create something useful, elegant, and new. We should not try to run away from complexity, but rather learn to trust it. Because on the other side of it, there may be something simple, elegant, and completely unique to you,' DeGraff said.