1. The Law of Connection
Creativity isn’t about making something ‘new’ and ‘unique’, it’s about connecting two existing things to create a third.
2. The Law of Constraint
Creativity requires freedom within a framework. You need boundaries in order to ‘force out’ the best ideas.
3. The Law of Input
Your output is a direct reflection of the diversity and quality of what you consume. As they say, ‘Garbage in. Garbage out.’
4. The Law of Boredom
Brilliance requires the white space that only stillness provides. If you never allow yourself to be bored, you will never allow yourself to be inspired.
5. The Law of the Shitty First Draft
You cannot edit a blank page. Quantity is the only way to get to quality. The more ideas, the better they become.
6. The Law of Fragility
A new idea is delicate and must be protected. If you expose a nascent idea to criticism too early, you will kill it before it has the chance to evolve into something more promising.
7. The Law of Incubation
The best ideas often come when you aren’t trying to think of them. Lighbulb moments occur when the subconscious is left to its own devices.
8. The Law of Subtraction
Take away as much as you can whilst leaving the idea intact. Perfection is achieved not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
9. The Law of Play
If the process is too serious, the output will be sterile and conservative. Big ideas require the mindset of a child at play.
10. The Law of the Paradox
The best ideas are both completely obvious and entirely unexpected.
11. The Law of Mimicry
To find your own voice, you must first mimic others. Copying is an important part of discovering your own style.
12. The Law of Vulnerability
If you aren’t willing to look like a fool, you aren’t doing anything new. Creativity requires you to dissolve the ego.
13. The Law of Environment
You do not create in a vacuum. Your physical and social surroundings are either a catalyst or a toxin. Make sure you cultivate a space that is conducive to generating ideas.
14. The Law of the Pivot
Your initial idea is seldom the final one. Creativity is the courage to abandon your first plan when a better one reveals itself.
15. The Law of Perspective
Fresh eyes are enormously valuable. Distance is important for seeing things differently and exposing any weaknesses in your idea.
16. The Law of the Amateur
Knowledge is a double-edged sword. While it provides a foundation, it also creates blind spots. To be truly creative, you must maintain a ‘beginner’s mind’. You have to be able to look at a problem without the baggage of ‘how we’ve always done it.’
17. The Law of Failure
If every idea you have works, you aren’t being creative. Success is built on a mountain of failure. You must allow yourself to make mistakes.
18. The Law of Specificity
In creative work, ‘general’ is the enemy. By trying to appeal to everyone, you appeal to no one.
19. The Law of the Threshold
The best ideas are hidden behind the wall of your most obvious ones. Your brain is a filter designed for efficiency, so it will always offer the most cliché answers first. You must push past the threshold of common thought.
20. The Law of the Edge
Breakthrough ideas happen at the boundaries, never in the middle. The centre of any field is crowded, safe, and derivative. True creative breakthroughs happen at the ‘extremes’.
21. The Law of Obsession
Great creative work is usually the product of deep intensity and focus, in which the rest of the world is forgotten until the vision is realised.
22. The Law of Realisation
An idea that stays in your head doesn’t exist. For it to become real, you have to have the courage to release it into the wild.
Which of these laws do you resonate with the most? And which ones would you substitute for something else?
Stay curious,
Chris & the 42courses team x
