On Twitter and on the past couple episodes of Shawn Today I’ve been talking a lot about the importance of fun when it comes to doing our best creative work. Not only are we more whimsical and daring when we’re having fun, but playfulness and fun also serve as indicators letting us know we’re in a setting where we are capable of doing great creative work.
Along those lines, here’s an excerpt from a speech that Calvin and Hobbes creator, Bill Watterson gave in 1990 for the graduating class at Kenyon College:
If I’ve learned one thing from being a cartoonist, it’s how important playing is to creativity and happiness. My job is essentially to come up with 365 ideas a year.
If you ever want to find out just how uninteresting you really are, get a job where the quality and frequency of your thoughts determine your livelihood. I’ve found that the only way I can keep writing every day, year after year, is to let my mind wander into new territories. To do that, I’ve had to cultivate a kind of mental playfulness.