On Genius

I have a feeling I'm going to find it difficult to talk about this without coming across as quite conceited, but I'm going to do it anyway. <!--more--> This video should be spread amongst anyone who has ever felt frustrated with what they do, be it creative or not in my opinion. Even though I wouldn't say that programming is inherently a creative art, you are certainly very able to express yourself in many different ways through it so the model still fits for me. I don't think it's about the levels of creativity recognised in what you do, but the passion you feel for it - I'm sure that a particularly passionate Chemical Engineer could well get "Chemical Engineer's Block"!

I have often felt hit by creativity in the way that Elizabeth Gilbert described in this video; totally unexpectedly and inexplicably. It's one of the reasons I nearly always have pens and paper and my camera with me. I don't consider myself to be a very creative person (one of the great things about programming is that it mostly requires a pragmatic approach, and I'm nothing if not a relentless pragmatist!) so I'm incredibly grateful when hit by song lyrics, or poetry, or short stories, or photos or database designs that solve all of my problems but may not necessarily be "textbook".

I've worked with many incredibly creative people over the last few years, and met even more, and it's quite traumatising to see people going through a block where they're just perpetually dissatisfied with the work they put out. If you've ever been one of these people, the advice given by this talk (or the advice that I took away as most pertinent!) - that you should just remember that you love doing what you do, and that you can only ever do your best at it and hope that genius hits you again soon - is something that you should definitely live by, or you could end up being driven to despair by the thing that you're supposed to love!