I am frequently asked where do I come up with my new ideas? To be honest, I'm not exactly sure... but I have thought about the process that I believe makes it easier for ideas to suggest themselves. I think that puts this post in the "creative thinking" bucket.
Two key ideas seem intermingled and both interestingly come from the jazz world.
This text which appears in the intro background of the 1997 Japanese Anime series Cowboy Bebop. It's never mentioned or referenced in the show, or even clearly shown. I had to search the Internet to find the exact words. If you're enjoyed the Ken Burns Jazz documentary, you will recognize the reference to Minton's Play House. BTW, The intro itself is just 90 seconds long... it's worth a listen.
We will play without fear of risky things.
Once upon a time, in New York City in 1941... at this club open to all comers to play, night after night, at a club named "Minston's Play House" in Harlem, they play jazz sessions competing with each other. Young jazz men with a new sense are gathering. At last they created a new genre itself. They are sick and tired of the conventional fixed style jazz. They're eager to play jazz more freely as they wish then... in 2071 in the universe... The bounty hunters, who are gathering in the spaceship "BEBOP", will play freely without fear of risky things. They must create new dreams and films by breaking traditional styles. The work, which becomes a new genre itself, will be called... COWBOY BEBOP
Don't Play the Butter Notes
The second thing is a story by Jazz great Herbie Hancock, where he tells about the words Miles Davis said to him that allowed him to change the shape of Jazz to this day. The whole clip is worth listening to, but the most important part is at 03:37 if you're in a hurry.
But by removing those notes, Hancock discovered he had room for different notes, ones that would have been in conflict if he had kept the third and seventh. Now, because they were gone, it was possible to weave many other harmonies to the tune.
We see a similar thing when playing with a Rubik's cube... it's easy to solve the first face, but it's impossible to make any further progress until you are willing to discard this apparent progress as you work on the next steps.
Takeaway One: Hancock progressed because he was willing to discard the most important notes in his chord and see what happened.
The three sections of the Bebob text all relate to the same theme: seeking the freedom to create a new life or style. For the musical pioneers, the futuristic bounty hunters, and the self-referencing creators of a new literary work, success is not guaranteed. That's why they have to acknowledge the risk and push forward "without fear."
Takeaway Two: Progress involves risk, and you have to push forward without fear.
Boiling this down to some practical questions that I regularly ask myself:
- What can I leave out of my current thinking? See what fills in the resulting gaps.
- How have my circumstances changed that might allow me to discard a previously useful practice? Those are the things that will hold you back.
- What ideas and precepts do I hold that have been valuable to me, but that might be blocking forward growth? How do these differ from things I shouldn't discard?
- Do I have the courage to discard these things and face a new future?
- In computers, eras are surprisingly short. Be prepared.
- If an idea seems "dangerous", understand it to the point you can advocate for it. Explain the different presuppositions that would make it the idea useful.
- Pushback is valuable; learn from it, incorporate it, and don't be discouraged.
- "Play without fear" even when you're afraid. That's called courage!
- Regularly review your "butter notes".
