第1704期:How to be more creative

Do you get your best ideas when you are bored, or when you are out doing new things? What should we look for when we want to be more creative? Boredom and stimulus may be opposites, but studies into creativity suggest that actually we might need both.

当你感到无聊时，或者当你出去做新事物时，你会得到最好的想法吗？当我们想要更有创意时，我们应该寻找什么？无聊和刺激可能是相反的，但对创造力的研究表明，实际上我们可能两者都需要。

Writing for BBC Culture, Clair Thorp looks at the role that boredom plays in the creative process. Many writers and artists credit being bored with helping them have their best ideas – JK Rowling came up with Harry Potter while on a long train journey. Thorp tells us how some researchers believe that boredom drives our brains to find something to do – leading to creative ideas. So, maybe we should take the advice of the musician Questlove and learn to ignore the distractions that we can find on our phones.

克莱尔·索普 (Clair Thorp) 为 BBC Culture 撰稿，着眼于无聊在创作过程中所扮演的角色。许多作家和艺术家都认为无聊是因为帮助他们有了最好的想法——JK 罗琳在长途火车旅行中想出了哈利波特。Thorp 告诉我们一些研究人员如何相信无聊会驱使我们的大脑找点事做——从而产生创造性的想法。所以，也许我们应该听取音乐家 Questlove 的建议，学会忽略手机上的干扰。

However, before we all start planning how to bore ourselves into creativity, Sandi Mann, an academic and author, warns that too much boredom can take away the energy we need for creativity. Many experts talk about the importance of finding new experiences in order to be more creative. Actor and writer Kayode Ewumi recommends getting on a random bus and seeing where you end up or learning a new musical instrument as ways to avoid writer's block. Professor Gerard Puccio, a professor of creativity studies, believes that having to look at new things, or old things in a different light, can force us to make unusual connections and come up with innovative solutions.

然而，在我们开始计划如何让自己陷入创造力之前，学者兼作家桑迪·曼 (Sandi Mann) 警告说，太多的无聊会带走我们创造力所需的能量。许多专家都谈到寻找新体验以提高创造力的重要性。演员兼作家 Kayode Ewumi 建议搭上一辆随机巴士，看看你最终会去哪里，或者学习一种新乐器，以此来避免作家的瓶颈。创造力研究教授 Gerard Puccio 教授认为，必须以不同的眼光看待新事物或旧事物，可以迫使我们建立不寻常的联系并提出创新的解决方案。

So, perhaps what we need is a balance – enough stimulus to make us look at things in different ways, and enough boredom to give us the breathing space to work through these thoughts.

所以，也许我们需要的是一种平衡——足够的刺激让我们以不同的方式看待事物，足够的无聊给我们喘息的空间来解决这些想法。

词汇表

creative 有创造力的，有创意的
stimulus 激励（创作）的因素
creative process 创意过程
come up with 想出
drive 迫使，驱使
creative idea 创意
musician 音乐家
distraction 分散注意力的事物
plan 计划
energy 精力，干劲
experience 经历
writer's block 作者心理阻滞，神思枯竭，写不出东西
in a different light 从不同的角度（考虑某事）
unusual 不寻常的，独特的
innovative 创新的，新颖的
breathing space 喘息的空间
work through 推敲，斟酌