Trying to find the right solution is creatively exhausting.
In fact, I’d argue that in a lot of cases, it’s anti-creative.
It’s really difficult to try and go with the flow when you’re trying to be completely right the whole time along the way to a solution. To stay in flow and be 100% on the rightness of a solution 100% of the time is practically impossible.
You only end up spending a lot of time trying to avoid dead ends and wrongness which leads to a lot of u-turns and false starts, or, (and I’m an expert in this one in particular), not starting at all because of the desire to be right the first time and avoid being wrong. Wrong feels anti-creative because it means we tried something and it didn’t work, and, (again, speaking as an expert), it can feel like a reflection of ourselves being put out into the world, so the approach tends to be: best to avoid being wrong and be right from the outset.
The big problem here is that this approach can lead to something of a “righter’s block1”. Getting started becomes this mammoth task of trying to step towards the right solution and making the best first step that has ever been made in the process… which makes getting started terrifying.
I have been getting a lot of mileage out of flipping the whole approach on its head and any time getting started feels daunting, instead of trying to arrive at the best solution, ask: what does the worst version of this look like?
Instead of aiming at finding the elusive right solution from the outset, look at all the ways you could do it spectacularly wrong and watch the creative floodgates open, and (weirdly) rapid clarity of what feels right arrives by shining a light on all the things you want to avoid.
Try it in different walks of life:
What does the worst version of building a company look like?
Treat our staff badly
Ignore our customers
Provide crappy solutions that don’t even address the problems of our customers
Have no fun in the process
etc
All of a sudden, the right thing starts to seem obvious.
What does the worst version of being a husband look like?
Pay no attention to my wife
Provide no help whatsoever and refuse to do my bit
Tune completely out when she’s speaking
Lose all spontaneity and surprises
etc
It’s oddly flow-friendly to start throwing down the wrong things, but once again, the right thing becomes obvious very quickly.
What does the worst version of being a father look like?
Never play with my kids
Ignore their stories from their day
Don’t engage with any creative games they want you to be a part of
Skip tucking them in at night
etc
I had only been using this technique for creative problem-solving until recently, and even when I think I know what the “right” thing to go after is from the beginning, I found that it doesn’t do any harm to play out the worst version anyway to illuminate even better versions of whatever it is I’m pursuing.
Sorry.