Creative Process

Simp-uccino

So…in a fit of techno-lust a few years ago I went out and used my Discover cashback-reward to get one of those pod-based coffee makers for my office. I used all of the normal rationalizations - how much money I’d save over time, how convenient it would be, etc. I loved it. Finally, I could have all of the flavor of pseudo-coffee anytime I wanted it. (I amused myself by cranking it up and glancing through my office blinds to see the reaction to what sounded like an oil drill grinding and spewing in my office.) With the exception of ongoing costs, (those pods are outrageous!), I loved it. For a while.

Over time, my pod-coffee gizmo began to be more trouble than it was worth. The constant cleaning, porting of water back and forth to my office, etc., soon made it less and less convenient. I wanted my caffeine fix NOW, not in ten minutes after cleaning and prepping the machine. I gradually began to grab coffee at the communal coffee dispenser or on the way to work. (So much for the saved money, huh?)

Now, besides the fact that this story illustrates my laziness and tendency toward convenience, I think that it also illustrates something about how we should approach creating.

It’s easy for us to adopt new ways of doing things - new systems - and layer them over and over again on top of our old ones. In the quest for the “perfect” way of doing things, we so over-complicate things that we forget why we doing them was important to begin with. What begins with infatuation for a new method becomes tiresome and overbearing. Gradually, we slip toward apathy and lose our heart.

If nothing else is true, I’m convinced of this - simplicity is the key to all things. Being simple in how we approach our thoughts, our life, our work, etc., cultivates our curiosity and keeps us from unnecessary redundancy.

Be simple and maybe you won’t end up with a $100 bookend.

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