By Questlove

The Spark

• Creativity is the personality that makes it possible that something new and somehow valuable can be formed.
• Try to pay attention to the ways in which the things that you didn’t think of as creative acts are actually perfect examples of creativity.
• If we’re always discarding our thoughts to fit in with what’s acceptable, or correct, or accurate, we’re not going to have ideas that leap away from the ideas that are already there.
• Encourage your own cognitive disinhibition (Shelley Carson) - try to always be inspired by something surprising - or to surprise yourself by always being inspired.
• There are patterns and links everywhere, and if you are trying to remain in a creative frame of mind, you should let your brain find its way to them.
• Creativity is not about letting everything in - it’s about refusing to keep things out.
• Being creative is a mix of unfocusing your eyes in the right way, while still remaining focused on the picture.
• Mareike Wieth study (8am, 430pm tests) - Creative problem-solving improved by around 20 percent as a result of fatigue. She said that tiredness allows random thoughts in.
• It’s sometimes hard to see the heart of an idea, so chip away at all the things that aren’t the heart. This also helps to focus your overall artistic goals.
• Being creative, in whatever form, is the proof that we can leave an imprint on our surroundings, that we can make a mark on time.
• Creative things happen to creative people, especially when they let themselves go to the Zen of the moment, when they don’t allow themselves to be paralyzed either by overthinking or by laziness.
• Micro-meditations - You have to be both entirely consumed by the moment and also a million miles away.

Mentors and Apprentices

• “Mentors are like big cats that keep the cubs close. When you stray, they come get you. When you’re out of line, they bat you down. When you finally reach the point of self-awareness, there’s that Lion King moment where they hold you up for the world to see. Influence, on the other hand, is an octopus. But it’s a specific kind of octopus…, one that uses its tentacles to suck energy and nutrition from anything it touches. It’s sort of a vampire octopus, except not scary - a plush vampire octopus.”
• We take our ideas where we find them, and largely we find them in the works of other artists.
• Be receptive. Be sure to summarize what you’re learning. Isolate your insight and turn it into a short thesis statement.
• Where creativity is concerned, pure originality is at least partially a myth. People are heavily invested in that myth because they have egos, or because they are selling a brand. But it’s not real. Young creatives shouldn’t worry about it….or at least not worry about the fact you’ll be worrying about it.