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Creativity Can’t Be Hacked
You can’t optimize your way out of the messy parts of creativity
I know a writer and filmmaker who told me he used to hang upside down — sometimes from one of those pullup bars you can attach to a doorway, sometimes off the side of the couch — in the hope that the rush of blood flowing into his head would clear his creative blocks.
Instead, he’d get a headache and end up feeling grumpy.
Like many knowledge workers desperate to crank the ideas tap, he had been led to believe that creativity should be a series of eureka moments, and he was frustrated that he couldn’t generate them on command. When he found himself stuck, he figured he just had to prise loose a single brilliant idea and he’d be back on track.
Creating is hard, frustrating, sometimes even depressing or boring.
Creativity hacks like that headache-inducing one proliferate on Reddit threads and YouTube videos. Some come with a steep price tag. From “smart pills” to online courses offering a “blueprint for creative success” to $5,000 multiday flow-state retreats, creativity is big business.
I get it. I’ve been there. Creating is hard, frustrating, sometimes even depressing or boring. Those moments of struggling to focus…
