Scott Berkun - The Dance of the Possible: the mostly honest completely irreverent guide to creativity

Early praise for The Dance of the Possible:

Youll find a lot to steal from this short, inspiring guide to being creative. Made me want to get up and make stuff!

Austin Kleon, author ofHow To Steal Like An Artist

A fun, funny, no-BS guide to finding new ideas and finishing them. Instantly useful.

Ramez Naam, author of theNexustrilogy

Concisely debunks all kinds of misconceptions about the creative process in a book thats no-nonsense, fun, and inspiring.

Mason Currey, author ofDaily Rituals: How Artists Work

If I were alive Id consider endorsing this book, but would likely just tear it apart with my chisel and get back to work.

Michelangelo, creator ofDavid, the Sistine Chapel ceiling (includingThe Creation of Adamfresco) and other works

This book will undoubtedly increase your abilities to invent, innovate, inspire, and make things that matter. Its fun, its funny, and its phenomenally effective.

Jane McGonigal, author ofThe New York TimesbestsellersReality is BrokenandSuperBetter

Highly recommended for anyone whose employment just might depend on the quality of their next idea.

Todd Henry, author ofThe Accidental Creative

Creativity is the nature of the mind. It is our birthright and our gift. The Dance of the Possible, beautifully, reminds us of how to open it.

Sunni Brown, co-author ofGamestormingandThe Doodle Revolution

A fun read and a helpful book! Berkun demystifies creativity in work and play with truth and common sense.

Dan Boyarski, Professor, School of Design, Carnegie Mellon University

This new nugget of genius from Scott is the best thing Ive read about creativity in a long time.

Dan Roam, author ofThe Back of the NapkinandDraw To Win

They didnt have books in my day but if they did Id have read this one and asked: why isnt it in Hexameter verse?

Homer, author ofThe IlliadandThe Odyssey

This short, irreverent-yet-authoritative book from Scott will set you on the right path to get inspired and take action on what you create.

Chris Guillebeau,The New York Timesbestselling author ofThe $100 Startupand host of Side Hustle School

makes the font of creativity something that is right at your door, offering you a cup and inviting you to drink every day.

Andrew McMasters, Founder and Artistic Director, Jet City Improv

The best short book on creativity yet! Playful, irreverent, insightful, exciting! Full of good advice delivered by example rather than description. Get on with it, Berkun advises, and expeditiously gets you on your way!

Bob Root-Bernstein, co-author ofSparks of Genius,Professor of Physiology, Michigan State University

demystifies the creative process and makes it easily accessible to anyone. If youre looking for the quickest route from stuck to creative spark, this is the book for you.

Dave Gray, author ofLiminal ThinkingandThe Connected Company

A spirited and tangibly useful guide to actually getting art donememorably clear, mercifully artspeak-free, and filled with pithy nuggets of real-world wisdom.

Ted Orland, co-author ofArt & Fear.

Ive been inspired by Scott Berkuns creativity for over a decade. In Dance of the Possible, I finally got to see how he does it.

Jake Knapp, author ofThe Wall Street Journal bestseller Sprintand Design Partner at Google Ventures

THE MOSTLY HONEST AND COMPLETELY IRREVERENT GUIDE TO CREATIVITY

BY SCOTT BERKUN

COVER AND ILLUSTRATIONS
BY TIM KORDIK

Copyright 2017 by Scott Berkun.

Kindle Edition

All rights reserved. All lefts are reserved too. And while were reserving things, Ill also take front row seats to all NBA Finals games. Unless you are observing the doctrine of fair use, please do not reproduce, distribute or transmit this work as it took a long time to make and Id like to be paid for it, just as you would. If you are from the future and are in the possession of winning lottery numbers some exceptions can be made, so get in touch. Otherwise go in peace into my book with reciprocal author/reader respect. We need each other to do well. Cheers.

Dance of The Possible / Scott Berkun1st ed.

March 2017

Other fine books by Scott Berkun

scottberkun.com/books

Making Things Happen

The Myths of Innovation

Confessions of a Public Speaker

Mindfire: Big Ideas for Curious Minds

The Year Without Pants: WordPress.com and the Future of Work

The Ghost of My Father

To hire him to speak at your event:

scottberkun.com/speaking

(THE PAGE BEFORE THE OTHER PAGES)

For years Ive taught people about ideas and how they work. In lectures and at whiteboards around the world Ive experimented with different ways to teach lessons on creative thinking, trying to be more concise and useful each time. Ive discovered there isnt that much to know: perhaps a few well-explained insights, just enough to fill a short and worthy book, which is what I hope you find in the pages that follow.

Where does creativity come from? This sounds like an important question, but the first surprise of this book is that its not. To prove this, Ive listed some possible answers based on the latest neuroscience research on creative thinking. If you guess the right answer to my question, which I doubt you will, I will give you a special and wonderful prize. Choose wisely.

Creativity comes from:

A) Friendly aliens living underground in the planet Saturn

B) The tasty filling found inside blueberry doughnuts

C) An invisible gas that is released only when you finish a nice bottle of wine

D) All of the above

E) Some of the above (there are no aliens on Saturn)

Of course these answers are both made up and wrong. I admit that I hoped C was true, but even after many experiments I was never able to stay awake long enough to see the gas, if it exists. I promise I will keep trying, as with the pursuit of all interesting ideas, persistence is required.

Meanwhile, the only possibly correct answer is F) Your mind. This seems obvious, yet when people decide they want to be more creative, they are willing to look just about anywhere except inside themselves. I know from years of study that most of what you need you already have, despite the books, seminars and coaches that claim otherwise. I admit this is a curious way to begin a book about creativity, but I must start here. My central premise is we must first undo the damage of popular misconceptions about ideas and how they work, and in that undoing progress will naturally ensue.

The best place to start is to recognize that creativity, as a subject of study, is a modern invention. Ten thousand years ago people were too busy solving real problems in their lives to worry much about how to label those solutions, or what to call the people who made them. They also made art and music for their own pleasure and didnt worry much about what to call that either. They went and did it because they wanted to. Even the masters of the Renaissance, like Raphael and Donatello, and of the Enlightenment, like Locke and Descartes, didnt talk much about brainstorming exercises or ideation methods. This should make us suspicious about the modern obsession with studying creativity as a thing unto itself.