Maximise your creativity with chaos, not peace.

David Bowie needed conflict to write songs, his creative streak was fuelled when he was in an aggravated environment. Artifically creating this conflict himself didn’t work, he needed it to come about naturally, but when it existed, it allowed his art to flow.

Despite regarding Bowie with fanatical idolatry, I thought he was nuts for this statement. I ascribed creativity to the concept of peace, serenity and order allowing me to get a creative wriggle on. A clear desk, a purposeful task list, a good computer, the right pen, phone on silent, nice coffee and a supportive chair will surely fuel the torrid heat of my burning creative passion.

Hold on a moment, that sounds wrong.

Bowie said chaos, I said serenity. He said provocated, I said isolated. He said passionate, I said anodyne.

When I put it like that, Bowie starts to make more sense. He’s saying that when there’s turmoil, passion is fuelled. I’m saying that when I’m in a highly controlled situation, creativity happens. That’s wrong.

Looking at the writing I’ve done on my blog and on Medium, the best pieces were fuelled by joy, anger, passion or rage. They were crowdfunded by a collective explosion of fierce emotions, which tore through my head and hammered a torrent of words into my keyboard.