Positive Creative Obsessions

“Sometimes creativity is a compulsion, not an ambition.”

The quote above about compulsion is by actor Edward Norton, commenting on the documentary “The Devil and Daniel Johnston” (2006) – about a manic-depressive singer.

The language we use to ourselves and others about having and pursuing creative talents can have a big impact on our attitudes and motivation.

For all too many years, I have been self-critical about focusing on creative interests instead of, for example, socializing.

Choices like that generally aren’t simply right or wrong, but it may be helpful to consider the consequences. And choices can be influenced, of course, by mental health aspects, by traumas, by unconscious influences and more.

The photo above is writer-director Wes Anderson working on one of his stop-motion projects: “Fantastic Mr. Fox.” He has made a number of unique and delightful movies including “Moonrise Kingdom”; “The Royal Tenenbaums”; “The Darjeeling Limited”; “Rushmore” and others.

Anderson commented in an article about his live action film “The Grand Budapest Hotel”: “You know, these movies are my life.”

Actor Jason Schwartzman commented: “Wes, his whole way of working, and this is what I’ve noticed from when I first met him, he gets so much joy out of the work. That is like his favorite thing to do, is to work.”

Ralph Fiennes – who plays the main character M. Gustave in the movie – commented about Anderson:

“He’s probably the most prepared director. He has these storyboards, very beautifully drawn, detailed and slightly animated. So, in a way, he’s kind of made the film, as it were, on the drawing board.” He also compares him to a music conductor who “knows precisely, musically, the nuances he wants.” [contactmusic.com]

Positive Obsessions fuel creative expression

Creativity coach Eric Maisel, PhD thinks obsession is a more or less necessary element of creative achievement – at least the healthy variety of obsession.

He says,

“Negative obsessions are a true negative for everyone, but most creators — and all would-be creators — simply aren’t obsessed enough.

For an artist, the absence of positive obsessions leads to long periods of blockage, repetitive work that bores the artist himself, and existential ailments of all sorts.”

From his article: In Praise of Positive Obsessions. [Note - this is an old format article that does not view well on mobile devices.]

See multiple Eric Maisel books (including “Brainstorm: Harnessing the Power of Productive Obsessions”) in my Amazon storefront Books for Creative People.

Commitment and perseverance

Indiana University psychologist Jonathan Plucker notes, “I don’t see anyone teaching these kids about task commitment, about perseverance in the face of social pressures, about how to handle criticism.

“We say, ‘Boy, you’re really talented.’ We don’t say, ‘Yeah, but you’re still going to have to put in those 60-hour work weeks before you can make major contributions to your field.’”

(Jonathan A. Plucker is a co-author of Essentials of Creativity Assessment.)

Developing creativity with time, risk, love and hard work

Creative achievement – especially the sort that gets mentioned in books and the media – has often been considered something special, that only a “genius” can do. I have often felt held back in writing, such as this book, by self-limiting ideas related to how I identify myself and my writing talents.

Professor of psychology R. Keith Sawyer, among others, disputes that idea. He was asked, “What advice can you give us nongeniuses to help us be more creative?”

His answer: “Take risks, and expect to make lots of mistakes, because creativity is a numbers game. Work hard, and take frequent breaks, but stay with it over time. Do what you love, because creative breakthroughs take years of hard work. Develop a network of colleagues, and schedule time for freewheeling, unstructured discussions.”

He added,

“Most of all, forget those romantic myths that creativity is all about being artsy and gifted and not about hard work.

“They discourage us because we’re waiting for that one full-blown moment of inspiration. And while we’re waiting, we may never start working on what we might someday create.”

From article The Hidden Secrets of the Creative Mind, Time mag. Jan. 8, 2006.

Prof. Sawyer is author of book Explaining Creativity.

Focus for long periods

In a New York Times op-ed, David Brooks pointed out that Mozart’s early compositions “were nothing special. They were pastiches of other people’s work.” He added, “Mozart was a good musician at an early age, but he would not stand out among today’s top child-performers.

“What Mozart had, we now believe, was the same thing Tiger Woods had — the ability to focus for long periods of time and a father intent on improving his skills.”

From his 2009 article Genius: The Modern View.

Most of the above text is from the “Obsession – Perseverance” section of my book “Developing Multiple Talents: The personal side of creative expression” – visit the About the Book page for more info.

The Dodo Skeleton

Another example of creative obsession is Adam Savage (of “Mythbusters”) who followed his passion for making a replica Dodo skeleton.

He relates how he collected thousands of images and documents, and crafted a beautiful museum-quality mounted skeleton of the defunct bird.

Another example of creative obsession was director Stanley Kubrick, who once had a photographer take pictures of every single building on a road in London, so he could lay them side-by-side in his living room.

See more in my post Creative obsessions: Adam Savage and Stanley Kubrick.

Obsession of course may not always be ‘positive’ but it can be helpful to think about how we (and others) label the intense levels of focus and energy that often go into creative work.

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