创造力并不是一种唯有天才才具备的深奥技能。悉心学习史上最有创造力的天才使用的方法，我们也能掌握这种技能。

Creativity isn’t some esoteric quality that only the Bob Marleys and Salvador Dalís of the world possess — it’s a learnable, trainable skill that can be honed into a process. Once you have the process down, you can use it to solve problems in innovative, interesting ways that make others look at your work and say, “Hey, that’s neat. Why didn’t I think of that?”

Creativity is your power tool regardless of whether the problem you’re solving is a musical scale, a business plan, a painting on canvas or a line of code. Let’s look at how three of history’s most creative geniuses used their gifts to change the world — and how you can adapt their tools to do the same.

Pablo Picasso: Work backwards.

To many beginning entrepreneurs and artists, nothing is more daunting than the blank slate.

“What type of business should I start?” (Try one of these ideas)

“Is my idea any good?”

Nagging questions like these haunt us, and sometimes make throwing in the towel before we even begin. Coming up with good ideas is so freaking hard. Picasso knew this, so he devised a strategy to work around creative blocks. It’s pretty simple. He said:

“I don’t have a clue. Ideas are simply starting points. I can rarely set them down as they come to my mind. As soon as I start to work, others well up in my pen. To know what you’re going to draw, you have to begin drawing… When I find myself facing a blank page, that’s always going through my head. What I capture in spite of myself interests me more than my own ideas.”

For Picasso, the key was getting started before he knew exactly what he was doing. Doing the work IN SPITE of yourself (a concept we’ve talked about before in The 70% Solution).

Inspiration then, comes not from the original idea — but from what happens when you allow yourself to start working without restriction or fear of “messing up.” In order to find a great idea, you have to start backwards: First start working.

Then, let your work lead you to your highest creativity. Remember, the root of “creativity” is “create.” So start making something.

Stephen King: Set daily quotas for yourself.

Stephen King is one of the most prolific writers of our generation, having written 55 novels (49 of which became bestsellers), hundreds of short stories and half-a-dozen nonfiction books. Oh…and he’s also pulling in about $40 million per year, which makes him one of the wealthiest writers in the world. So there’s that…. The guy knows how to GET IT DONE! But how does he unleash the creative beast so consistently, and with such high quality? His answer shouldn’t surprise you:

“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.”

You might be wondering how much qualifies as “a lot.”

According to King, he writes about 10 pages a day — which equates to about 2,000 words, seven-days a week, every week. Even holidays. Do you think this type dedication and consistency sounds crazy? Consider the fact that creating a daily quota and sticking to it is one of the most powerful habits you can ever create.

Just imagine what your life would be like if you took that “hobby” and finally became serious. Learned that language. Started that business. Wrote that book. What would happen if you worked on it for 365 days without stopping? You’d have incredible results. You might be the next Stephen King of your field. Start with a small quota for yourself and work on your craft every day.

Albert Einstein: Engage in “combinatory play.”

Yes, yes. Einstein was history’s most famous physicist, but he was also an amateur violinist and pianist. He often incorporated ideas from his musical background into his physics work to help he deal with challenging problems.

In order to break through plateaus in his work and see these problems from different angles, Einstein used his mind to “mash up” several different ideas and concepts and rearrange them at will — a process which he called “combinatory play”.

While it may seem a little “out there” for some, Einstein’s approach is actually pretty simple: strip down your ideas to their most basic components — without words. Next, use those visualizations as puzzle pieces and test different arrangements and orientations to see which pieces fit together. Combine seemingly disparate elements and look for new patterns. Play.

Learn to break the rules.

If you take the time to study more of the world’s greatest thinkers, you’ll see over and over again that they don’t adhere to conventional wisdom about what’s “supposed” to work.

Everybody’s creative process is different — but just like these three geniuses, you can find something that works for you. Then you’ll be unstoppable!

创造力并不是一种深奥的技能，并非只有鲍勃?马利和萨尔瓦多?达利这样的天才才能拥有——它是一种通过磨练便可以学会和掌握的技能。经过磨练，你便可以用创新有趣的方式解决问题，当其他人看到你的作品时会惊呼：“哇，真是巧妙。我为什么就没想到呢？”

不论你要解决的问题涉及音阶、商业计划、油画还是程序代码，创造力都是强大的工具。下面我们来看看三位世界历史上最有创造力的天才如何利用他们的天赋改变世界——以及你如何借助他们的工具做出同样了不起的成就。

毕加索：逆向创作

对于许多刚刚起步的创业者与艺术家们来说，最令人气馁的事情莫过于脑中一片空白。

“我应该创建什么类型的公司？”

“我的想法好吗？”

这些令人烦恼的问题会一直困扰我们，有时候让我们还没有开始便选择放弃。想出好的创意并非易事。毕加索很清楚创作的艰难，所以他选择了一种绕过创作障碍的策略。这种策略非常简单。他说道：

“我毫无头绪。想法只是起点。我几乎很难在脑海中产生想法的时候便将它们记录下来。在开始创作的时候，我的画笔之下又会诞生新的想法。要想知道你要画什么，首先你应该开始画……每当我的大脑一片空白时，我总会这样提醒自己。我觉得，在忘我状态下捕捉到的灵感，比最初的想法更为有趣。”

毕加索创作的关键，是在并不知道自己具体应该做什么之前便行动起来。忘我地进行创作。

若你能让自己打破约束或克服对“陷入困境”的恐惧，行动起来，你便可以获得灵感。灵感并非源自最初的想法，而是源于行动的过程。为了找到了不起的创意，你必须逆向思考：首先要行动起来。

然后，通过努力达到最高的创造力水平。记住，“创造力”的根源是“创造”。所以，先来进行一些创造吧。

史蒂芬?金：为自己设定每天的工作定额。

史蒂芬?金是当代最多产的作家之一，他写了55部长篇小说（其中有49本为畅销书），数百篇短篇小说，以及6本非虚构类图书。他的年收入达到4000万美元，是全世界收入最高的作家之一。所以，他很清楚如何完成创作！但是，他如何做到始终如一地释放自己的创意，并保证作品的高质量呢？他的回答应该不会让你感到意外：

“若想成为作家，你必须做好两件事：多读书，多写作。我认为，除此之外，别无他法，没有任何捷径可走。”

你或许会质疑多少才算“多”。

史蒂芬?金表示，他坚持每天写10页——相当于2000个单词。节假日也不例外。你认为这种敬业和持之以恒的精神听起来有些疯狂？不妨考虑一下这个事实：制定每天的工作定额并坚持执行下去，是你可以养成的最强大的习惯之一。

想象一下，如果你养成了这样的习惯，并最终能够严肃对待它，你的生活会变成什么样？学习一种语言。创办一家公司。写一本书。如果你一年365天从不停歇地努力，又会发生什么？你会取得惊人的成果。你或许也会成为你所在领域的下一个史蒂芬?金。从小做起，每天坚持磨练自己的技艺。

爱因斯坦：投入“组合游戏” Albert Einstein: Engage in “combinatory play.”

爱因斯坦是史上最有名的物理学家，也是一位业余小提琴手和钢琴师。他经常将从音乐中得到的创意用于物理学研究，帮助自己解决棘手的问题。

为了突破工作瓶颈，能够从不同角度思考问题，爱因斯坦脑子里会把不同的想法与理念“搅成一团”，然后随意地重新进行排列组合——他将这个过程称为“组合游戏”。

爱因斯坦的方法听起来有点怪，但实际上非常简单：将你的创意抽丝剥茧，抓住最基本的内容——不需要文字。之后，就像拼图一样，测试不同的安排与方向，检验可以合在一起的创意。将表面上看起来毫不相干的元素结合在一起，寻找新的模式。你也可以这么玩。

学会打破规则。

如果你能拿出时间向世界上最伟大的思想家们学习，你会发现，许多人并没有遵守那些“理应”有效的传统智慧。

每个人的创造过程千差万别。但如同上述三位天才一样，你肯定也能找到适合自己的方式。然后，你将所向披靡！