4 Elements from the Legend of British Humor, John Cleese, That Will Boost Your Creativity

Contrary to those who declare creativity sacred, John Cleese, one of the screenwriters and actors of the Monty Python series, says that creativity is not a talent, but a kind of process. Let’s listen to Cleese explain what can be done to live a more creative life with four simple but essential points.

1) Venue

Cleese’s first condition is that you determine a place where you can isolate yourself from the outside world. According to Cleese, creating an environment where you will be completely undisturbed is the beginning.

2) Time

To be playful, it is not enough to limit oneself to space; It is also necessary to determine a certain time period. Quoting an essay on the game by the Dutch historian Johan Huizinga, he emphasizes the importance of creating time-space constraints: The game is separate from ordinary life in space and time. The main feature of the game is that it is abstracted and limited. The game starts and ends at a certain time.
Of course, creating an undisturbed space and staying there for a predetermined time is the beginning. By creating a “personal oasis,” in Cleese’s words, only the necessary prerequisites for creativity are met. He says that after we take our place in our quiet comfortable place, our mind will immediately try to block us with daily issues, but if we are patient for about half an hour, our mind will eventually calm down. For this reason, he recommends that the time you devote to your personal oasis be around an hour and a half, so that after your mind calms down, you will have an hour to do something in front of you:

“Your mind will wander to other matters, but don’t take it seriously. “Just sit there and try to tolerate the anxiety that comes to your mind.”

3) Self-confidence

Once you enter your space-time oasis and switch to open mode, the most effective thing that will prevent you from being creative is the fear of making mistakes. You’re either ready for the game or you’re not. As Alan Watts said: “You cannot act as you wish by reasoning.” You have to take the risk of saying ridiculous, illogical, wrong things. To feel the self-confidence necessary for this, you should know this: nothing is wrong in creativity, there is no such thing as a mistake. Any nonsense can lead to your big breakthrough.

4) Humor

While Cleese draws attention to the difference between being “serious” and “serious”, he touches on the mistake of seeing humor as a taboo on “serious” topics. Humor lies in the essence of acting spontaneously and being playful. It lies at the core of the creativity we need to solve problems; no matter how serious the problem is.