On Magic, Science, & Creativity...
Matt Pritchard's thoughts on herding cats & creative tails
Creativity is hard to capture. There’s a danger that writing an article on ‘How to be More Creative’ it comes across as preachy and condescending. Instead, I want to explore some big holes that allow an escape route for the imagination.
In many cases, those holes can’t get plugged, but knowing they exist can help you be kinder to yourself and not feel guilty when the muse has seemingly left the building or doesn’t want to get out of bed. Let’s start with a biggie.
Blackpool
It was the night before my Blackpool Magic Convention lecture; I’d just got back to my hotel room when my wife phoned.
The tiny baby girl in our foster care was struggling to breathe, and they were being blue-lighted to the hospital in an ambulance. She was soon stabilized by doctors but had to stay in the ward for monitoring.
My wife and I decided that I could not immediately help as I was so far from home. We both agreed that the morning lecture should go ahead, and then I’d leave afterward.
That second night, I spent ‘sleeping’ on a chair in the hospital, reflecting on a crazy 24 hours. How I wished it was just that! The last 2+ years have been relentlessly horrible for my family and for a myriad of reasons.
Why do I tell you this? Partly, it’s a reminder that many of us have “on-stage” and private lives. Externally, through social media posts and performances, we can seem to be flourishing, but internally, we can be crumbling. Critiques and crappy comments can hurt. A kind word or gesture can have more power than we think.
The main reason is that these last few years have taught me that stress is a massive killer of creativity. The mental and emotional burden of surviving leaves little time and space for playful pursuits like making magic.
Play, that safe and open exploration of the world, is a crucial ingredient for wonder. It’s been tough to realize I just didn’t have the capacity to do what I wanted to do and to let opportunities slip through my fingers.
Here are two things that have helped me:
- Be kind to myself and not feel guilty. I understand that my lack of creativity is not lost; it’s just in hibernation, waiting for a better season.
- Think short and simple. I might not be able to accomplish big projects, but I can take a little out time to do something easy without any pressure to succeed. Enjoy the ride, not the destination.
For me, that second step involved making basic animations, and for you, it could be toying with a deck of cards, performing to a new music track, going through one of the many abandoned boxes of tricks you bought in pursuit of a miracle, etc.
Busyness Kills Business
Most of my work is spent performing within educational establishments like schools and universities. Therefore, my life is dictated by the academic calendar. The end of each term is my busiest and most lucrative period.
Every year, I stupidly overfill my diary with gigs to compensate for the long holidays, during which paid work is less forthcoming.
When the holidays hit, I’m exhausted and often fall ill from the physical endurance of working long hours. I enter these rest periods with grand ideas for all the projects I’m going to achieve, but I have neither the energy nor motivation to proceed.
