The Myth of The Lone Creative Genius

19 Sep, 2017 | Entrepreneurship, Productivity, Product

Scott Belsky is a rare type, a creative who has been an operator, CEO and investor. He understands both the right and left side of the brain.

I first came across Scott’s work when a friend recommended his book and talk about Making Ideas Happen. He popped up on my Twitter timeline yesterday with the below video:

In just a few words Scott packs a lot of meaning. Being creative and producing good work is not the same thing1. Being creative implies novel ideas. Producing good work additionally requires discipline, work ethic and focus. We often aspire to be creative but more rarely are we prepared to be equally focused and disciplined2.

I love that Scott speaks out about trying to find the balance between both creativity and focus and discipline. Coming up with a new idea is both glamorous and exciting. Yet to be effective we must focus and persist with one idea.

It’s useful to remind yourself that both your time and energy are finite. With every new creative project you start, you are making the choice to spend less energy on last weeks creative and exciting project.  This video was a healthy reminder of that. I’ll endeavour to be more disciplined, Scott.

Related posts:

  • Walks vs Sprints - Where I discuss the ebb and flow of developing a new product.

  1. Additionally, see Julie Zhou's excellent post The Ideas Person.

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  2. I also wrote the post Learned Industriousness on how we can train ourselves to be more focused as a habit.

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