CHAPTER 13 On Creative Spirit
like a fine wine or a well-aged whiskey. To stress the importance of this
stage, Young uses the example of Sherlock Holmes who understands more
deeply than his assistant Dr Watson that for an idea or a solution to appear,
you must walk away, take a break and let the unconscious take over. Where
Watson would rather work the case night and day, Holmes knows that a trip
to the theatre will almost certainly lead to the answers that are eluding you.
The fourth stage — marvel as, out of nowhere, an idea materializes – is, one
would hope, an experience all creative people have had. By giving ourselves
some breathing room we find solutions bubble naturally to the surface, as
stage three (the trip to the theatre) works its magic. This is why we often
hear of creative people having a “Eureka!” moment in the shower (or, so I’ve
heard, in the bath).
The fifth and final stage — critically assessing the idea after the rush of
imagining — is the moment of truth, or what Linds Redding calls The Over-
night Test^3 , the point in the cold, gray dawn of the morning at which you
take your new idea out and test it against reality. As Young wisely puts it:
“In this stage you have to take your little newborn idea out into the world
of reality. When you do, you usually find that it is not quite the marvelous
child it seemed when you first gave birth to it.”
It’s critical, in this final phase, to share your idea widely. Don’t hold
back — put it up for scrutiny and encourage constructive criticism. If the
idea doesn’t survive, better to repeat the process (back to stage one) in
the quest for a newer and more robust concept. I’ll leave the last word to
Young, who states:Do not make the mistake of holding your idea close to your chest at this stage.
Submit it to the criticism of the judicious. When you do, a suprising thing will
happen. You will find that a good idea has, as it were, self-expanding qualities.
It stimulates those who see it to add to it. Thus possibilities in it which you have
overlooked will come to light.3 http://j.mp/ashortlessoninperspective