I love listening to audiobooks.

Right now I’m listening to Imagine: How Creativity Works by Jonah Lehrer. I’m usually not oriented toward science books, but I like this one. Vignettes about musicians, writers, actors, inventors, and so forth bring the creative process to life. It explores the art and science of creativity, from flashes of insight to the genius of discipline.

In a moving tale about how Bob Dylan hit the wall and almost stopped writing and performing music, the author illustrates how flashes of insight require that we first reach an impasse—a place of not knowing, of giving up, of profound discouragement. I loved this. He remarks how this part of the story is rarely told. This part of the creative equation is associated with failure, therefore remains unpopular and unexpressed. I pass it on in hopes that it may encourage you as well.

He also talks about persistence as necessary to creativity: the ability to focus for hours on end on the same problem, to keep editing the same lines of poetry, to spend days on the same section of the canvas. Persistence is not associated with flashes of insight in terms of brain activity, but it is associated with amazing artistic accomplishments.

If I express nothing else to you today, it’s this: Never give up. If it feels like you’ve failed, the answer may be about to strike. Go on a walk, take a warm shower. Surrender. If you’ve created something you know is good but not quite “right,” keep at it. Whether bit by bit or whole cloth, it will emerge.

If you are like me, your creative expression is your life blood, your path to feeling alive. To stop is to die, whether physically or emotionally. So don’t stop.

And give this book a listen or a read! In the end, it confirms what I know: that creativity is not reserved for a chosen few. It’s a capacity we all have, we might simply need to remember, and to practice.

Coach’s Challenge: Companies that do a lot of innovating (3M, Google) set up their employees’ schedules with the expectation that they take time to daydream, or go on a walk. It’s in these times of mental release that sudden insights happen. Do you do this? This week, build in 15 minutes or more per day to do nothing. Be in nature, take a hot bath or a stroll. And leave us a comment about any insights that come in!

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