The uncomfortable secret to creative success is “disequilibrium”
Some of the best work comes from some of these hardest times…….
Knowledge doesn’t exist in the world, and you don’t acquire it: Knowledge exists in our own minds, through our own active construction.
It’s easiest to think about this theory by considering how young children learn language. Let’s say you are driving through the countryside and see a cow. You point to it and say “cow.” As the child looks, she forms a picture in her head, something like, “OK, a ‘cow’ is big animal with four legs, and is black and white.” Later, you point to another cow, this time one that is brown and small. What’s happening in the child’s mind? Her thought process might sound like, “Wait! That doesn’t match what I understand about a cow. I thought a cow was bigger. This has four legs, but it’s not black and white.”
In that moment, the child has a choice. She can ignore you, and her mental model will stay fixed. Or, she can reconsider her understanding of a cow. Maybe cows are also brown. Maybe cows can be big and small. The perfect word to describe this state of misalignment: Disequilibrium.
Disequilibrium happens when you begin to see things in the world that don’t make sense to you. The things you thought you knew — the things that helped you feel stable and clear — are now in question. And, woof. This state is hard. We crave equilibrium.
“Whether someone is sitting down to write a scholarly paper or trying to solve a problem in the workplace, the state of disequilibrium is a really uncomfortable place to be,” “But we don’t give up, because we don’t like being in that stage of confusion. It’s hardwired in us to create new frameworks to accommodate the information we get about the world.”
In order to bring yourself back to a calm state of knowing, you have to generate a new “a-ha” inside your mind that re frames your old information with the new information. A mental model that, through the force of your imagination and intelligence, connects those dissonant dots into new meaning.
Learning is the process of using our innate abilities to construct-or create-new understandings of the world.
While it is obvious that a child naturally refines and recreates their mental models of the world, we often ignore the fact that we go through this same process as adults. It is even more challenging for us, however, as our mental models have become entrenched and intertwined with our identity. It’s no longer just about understanding the word “cow”: Now it’s about designing whole new offerings, experiences, and organizations that go against the convictions that have solidified in our minds. Putting ourselves into that vulnerable state of disequilibrium becomes riskier over time, especially if we are high-status leaders.To begin, it takes a lot of effort to create new mental models, but we leave little room for the cognitive load of innovation, what with our endless news feeds and unrelenting inboxes. For example, while I constantly think about the time required to tick off my to-do list, I rarely evaluate how much emotional energy is required to take my work to new creative heights. I realized that I am misspending my energy. How might I more clearly recognize the areas where I’m committed to developing new solutions? How might I make space for myself to be in the challenging state of disequilibrium? How might I pace ambitions so that I’m not disrupted by too many things at once?
Somehow, just knowing that you’re in that state of disequilibrium makes it feel less stressful.
Somehow, just knowing that you’re in that state of disequilibrium makes it feel less stressful. We can become conscious of the signals of our mental states, and we can turn them into positive feedback. For me, the signs seem to be frustration and impatience. Now, when I feel those bubbling up, I smile and realize I’m just in that pesky state of disequilibrium, and that I can be patient with myself and realize that a new state of knowing is on the other side.
There is a belief out there that designers are constantly optimistic and confident, but that hasn’t been my experience. Creativity isn’t all about fun. Acknowledging that allows us to design better environments and processes that support the profound vulnerability necessary to develop creative solutions.
I believe that some of the best work comes from some of these hardest times. Confusion, self-doubt, existential searching, getting lost, and then finding your way out of that state of disequilibrium — these are the essential experiences for the emergence of creativity.
By Mahima Rathod
2nd November
