I make computer programs for a living. Perhaps in the future, if opportunities arise, I hope to go into hardware production business.
So being in a situation where I must exert my "creativity" in order to succeed, I must say that this article is a resounding confirmation of what I had known all along. In fact, one of the earliest words on this topic that I remember hearing, was from my own mother, who is an artist. She told me that great, creative ideas came from observing many different great ideas produced by others, and juxtaposing them intelligently to make it your own.
I have two things that I want to talk about on this topic:
So firstly, I want to talk about the value of possessing(or experiencing) great, well-designed products. Although I try not to be so visible about it, my closest friends know I am completely anal when it comes to quality and design. As an example, when I am hanging out with my guy friends, and we decide to rent a movie online, I am the one that insists on renting the HD version. It's because of these type of situations that my friends would joke that I am a snob or too materialistic. And perhaps that is some truth to those statements, but I always felt that there was something much more important in the reasoning of my desire. I always felt that great products and great experiences set up the environment for me to be creative. I think Steve Jobs said it best when he said, "In order to create something that deserves to sit alongside the best products in the world, you have to have spent enough time interacting with the best products."
Now as for my second comment: It seems to me that most of the people in the world have this idea that creativity is purely original, and thus are so appalled when they see things such as Apple taking cues from Window Phone's flat design concept, and so on. And although technology is a relatively new thing, creativity has been around ever since there were civilizations, and so people were "stealing" ideas for centuries. How is it, after all these years, that the general public still have this almost mystical view on creativity? It's as if this is a deep, dark secret that all "creative" people in the world try to conceal from the general public to keep themselves in the business and to attach a "magical" appeal to their work.
This video was such a breath of fresh air for me. I also am struggling with similar problems that the speaker went through. Also, and I think many readers can relate, the analytical side of me tends to downplay all these psychological disorders. I see these disorders as "laziness" and "weaknesses", and often times I find myself telling myself and telling others to "man up".