Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences or they have thought more about their experiences than other people.
— <p>Steve Jobs, <a href=“http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.02/jobs_pr.html" title=“Wired.com”>in an interview for Wired with Gary Wolf</a>.</p>
<p>This is why I read so many books, so many RSS feeds, and follow so many Twitter accounts: I need the raw material for new thoughts and new ideas. My wife’s brain naturally makes these new connections more easily than mine — it’s just how different people’s brains are wired; she’s naturally more creative than I am. For those of us who are not wired in that way, we need to be aware of it, and work at it harder; we need to pull in more, have more cognitive experiences, and work at synthesizing those ideas into something new, something creative. </p>
<p>In short, creativity doesn’t <em>just happen</em>; it’s something to be worked at — for everyone who does not want to stagnate…</p>