I’ve been thinking hard about what allows me to come up with creative things. Some things are obvious (you can’t force a creative process, a creative process is unpredictable, some people are born more creative than others) but to really nail it down may be very hard if not impossible.

In general, the problem with coming up with any theories about concepts which are abstract (such as creativity) is that the more abstract a concept is, the more variables you have to take into account to model the concept. This is why psychology or economics is not (and probably never will be) an exact science — the amount of data required to draw convincing conclusions is simply prohibitive, unlike in physics, for example, where it’s easy to control for the variables appearing in experiments.

Anyway…. I’ve been published a couple of times and I notice that when I get inspired to actually write something down it’s because I just read something creative, well-written, thought-provoking, etc. Like your blog! Or I’ve listened to someone speak about something they are passionate about – then I want to write. Usually, about a different topic, but the catalyst is the same. In fact, if I’m coming up to a conference or work deadline and I need to write something, I’ll spend 30 minutes reading a good book (always have one on hand!) to prime my mental/creative pump. Maybe from now on, I’ll reference your blog to get me started!

I also find it interesting that one person’s creativity can inspire another’s, even on un-related or loosely related topics. For instance… I’m reading thru your Principles stuff and thinking about how I can apply that to Project Management or Agile or something else that is always on my mind (sad, I know).