Developing Spontaneous Creativity

The British statesman Herbert Henry Asquith once said about Winston Churchill: "Churchill had a zig-zag streak of lightening genius in the brain. When he was right, he was ever so right. But when he was wrong, Oh my God."

Churchill was a rare breed. He was also a bit of a fox. When he spoke in the House of Commons, he spoke without notes, and appeared to be speaking off cuff. He earned a reputation as an incredibly witty, insightful and poetic extemporaneous speaker.

But none of his speeches were off the cuff.

Churchill worked late into the night, night after night preparing for his "extemporaneous" speeches. All of his insightful remarks and witticisms, for which he became legendary, were prepared beforehand. Churchill worked hard at being creative.

I'm no Churchill (Who is?), and I often have very tough speaking jobs. I have given motivational talks to some very skeptical audiences over the years and make no mistake about it, my first task is entertaining them. One of the things I'm known for is always giving an interesting talk.

How do I do this? I use Churchill's method, I prepare. There is not substitute for preparation. Never be fooled. Every creative person you know works hard at this supposedly unique ability.

The other trick is to realize that like Churchill, some times you are ever so right, and at others you are ever so wrong. This is called editing, part of my work.

My method is fairly simple. I take two sheets of paper. On the first, I brainstorm. I write down every idea, quote, anecdote or story that occurs to me. Every idea is a good one at this level.

When I have three to four times as much material as I can use, I take the second piece of paper, and I ask myself: "Now, what really is my point?" I write that in one sentence.

Then I edit. I cut out ideas which have nothing to do with my point, usually about half of my material, which still leaves me with twice as much as I need.

Then I ask, "Why should they care about my point?" Then I explain. Soon it begins to write itself.

There is a great editing line that is worth remembering: Never, never answer a question that nobody is asking. If you think you are, start over. It's actually fun being known as "spontaneously creative."

But we know better. Thomas Edison was right when he said, "Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration."