We normally see people who are lucky as unique, special, just like those who are exceptional talented and creative in their fields. However, there is an important relationship between exceptional creative performance or creative living and luck.
Luck is not an abstract feature that some individuals possess and others lack; luck is a factor of attitude, observation, insight and action.
Creativity is not something you are born with or not, rather, creativity is a factor of skill, knowledge, ethic and preparation.
Creativity and luck are found when you set yourself up to be in the right place, at the right time, in the right mindset as much as possible.
To mirror the axiom – set yourself up for success.
Setup the Creative Game
Prepare your space.
Find your creative rituals and tools. For some it may be a cup of tea while they work with pen and paper; for another it will be an empty studio with headphones blasting music; and so on. For myself, I need a cup of tea or coffee to write and engage. I don’t know why, but I’ve noticed my work flows better when I can pause, take a sip, then continue. So, I make sure I have it.
Set the rules of your space. No interruptions. No e-mail, no phone. Maybe you work to music, maybe you work in silence. Maybe you function with the T.V. on in the background, or alone outside. Discover the environment that lets your mind open up and be free to the creative process.
Prepare your mind
Know your domain. Spend time researching the nooks and crannies of your field. Learn the best techniques and strategies for pursuing action. Examine where your domain intersects with other areas of knowledge and explore edges; don’t restrict yourself to the commonly tested ground. Study the critiques and contradictions to established knowledge.
It is with a deep understanding of your domain that you will recognize the possibility of a phrase, a stroke of the brush, or the opportunity of new business as the opening to a successful creation.
Prepare your body
Practice makes perfect. And practice gives you the skills to create the possibilities you imagine. Establish routines of practice so that when it comes to create, you can let the vision take over without worrying if your technique is good. As a dancer I know the technique and the theory behind exceptional movement, yet when I perform I don’t want thoughts of technique and theory interrupting my performance.
With practice, your body knows many things that are obscured with conscious thought. Trust in the practice your body has absorbed and let it do its work.
Prepare your senses
One can only be lucky if one can see the moment of possibility. With knowledge, trust in your body and the space for creation, the moments will emerge. Look for these moments, believe they exist, and grasp them when they surface.
Create methods for capturing these moments if your work is fleeting. As a dancer I record my practice or training because upon review I may discover the seed of a creation that I would have missed otherwise.
Play The Creative Game
Playing within your life, your work, your art with a prepared space, mind and body creates the opportunity for you to see opportunities (lucky moments) emerge. Each piece of the puzzle of creative luck comes together so that you see more than the sum of their parts.
Play is one of the most powerful creative expressions that we engage in from the youngest of ages. Creative play employs skill, knowledge, practice and sense in a directed way, unattached to the exact destination or outcome.
Play is the space for accidental creation – the lucky break.
Those who are most creative are, in a sense, the luckiest. They have a habit of cultivating the aspects of their life which increase the opportunities for creation.
The victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory.
– Sun Tzu
Possessing luck is an act of living creatively.
Be prepared, take the best of what is presented, strive for the best of possibilities, and remember there is yet another game ahead.
It used to be for me, that as soon as I had an idea, I went and did it. Whatever it was, tanning hides, quilting making, or making a strip built kayak. As soon as I mastered it, I never did it again. I dumped every bit of creative energy I had into these things as fast as I could. Like my talent would be taken from me. If you’re out there wondering, just do it. Don’t be afraid. You are going to make mistakes. So what? Just keep on. It’ll be frustrating, and crazy making, and then you’ll get it, and it will be smooth sailing. I didn’t think I’d ever get the hang of welding, then one day, I just did. I didn’t grow up in a place where any of the things I did were even around. I grew up in suburbia, and I started a farm. Anything is possible. Really.
Beth
This is great: You are going to make mistakes. So what? Just keep on. It’ll be frustrating, and crazy making, and then you’ll get it, and it will be smooth sailing.
And who cares if you make mistakes, we make mistakes all the time, we might as well be trying to do something good and creative when we make them.
Always fun to read what it is that you found in your cup this time Carl. 🙂
A huge problem seems that people continuously prepare for something but never actually get around to doing it. Fearing that they didn’t prepare enough yet. It’s reading the rulebook but never playing the game.
Creativity is just another game that you’ll never learn to play properly just from the rulebook. Prepare and never forget to play as well. You might make a few mistakes but that’s where learning comes in.
“….pieces and hard work…” I totally agree with that one.
Game on!
Thanks Christiaan; always appreciate your thoughts.
Those who know the real power of preparing don’t separate it from the process of doing. They flow together.
I don’t consider myself the most “naturally creative” person out there, but I know when I immerse myself in something and read about it voraciously, I am overwhelmed with ideas. Now, acting on those ideas is a whole different story, but nevertheless I create ideas! I never really put it in this perspective, but you’re right – luck favors the prepared mind.
I think the creative “have-nots” look at “lucky” people and think that those people are just plain lucky. Not so. Those “lucky” people have likely been working their butts off for a long time when they “got lucky”. Thomas Edison had thousands of failed inventions before he invented the light bulb!
Work on integrating the flow of ideas into the action of moving on those ideas; you’ll find once you get in the habit of following up on ideas it will come more and more naturally.
I use to think that I just wasn’t a creative person at all. It wasn’t until I started taking more action into pursuing my own ventures that more ideas started to come about and take form. I think that creativity is like a muscle that you have to exercise in order for it to stay strong and noticeable. Luck is what happens when all the pieces and hardwork fall into place.
Exactly, Greg. Creativity is just like a muscle. As long as you sit and think about it, you won’t do anything impressive with it, but as you put it to use and set aside the fear of creating something awful, more and more opportunities to improve present themselves.
Exactly 🙂
And couldn’t have said it better: “luck is what happens when all the pieces and hardwork fall into place.”
If you haven’t already done so, I recommend reading Twyla Tharpe’s book The Creative Habit. Your post reminded me of it.
Oops, that’s Tharp…no e.
A very good book indeed. Although, her followup book, The Collaborative Habit isn’t as good.
I’m in the process of improving my luck now:
– I have learned that I have to schedule time to be creative, otherwise I’ll “be to busy”.
– I need to look at other people’s creativity in order to spark my own (as a visual artist).
– As a student, I’m delving into the depths of knowledge that exist in my field, and growing by leaps and bounds as I do.
While I know that I need a space, and set up in a fashion that best suits me, I had never before considered the need for the smaller habits; a cup of coffee/tea, etc. I will have to pay attention to how I work best so that I can aim for that best at all times.
Definitely pay attention to the little things: I discovered on a mastermind call one day where I just couldn’t get in the groove, no words flowed, didn’t have any creative juices. Took a 5 minute break and made a pot of tea and all of a sudden things started rolling smoothly.
It’s like a creative lubricant.