The Spark and the Grind: Ignite the Power of Disciplined Creativity

by Erik Wahl

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Author: Erik Wahl

Publisher: Portfolio

Hardcover:
ISBN 10: 0399564209
ISBN 13: 978-0399564208

We’ve been conditioned to think about creative genius as a dichotomy: dreamers versus doers, creativity versus discipline, the spark versus the grind.

But what if we’re wrong?

What if it’s the spark and the grind?

We love people whose creative genius arrives in sudden sparks of inspiration. Think of Archimedes in his bathtub or Newton under his apple tree.

But we also admire people who work incredibly hard and long for their creative breakthroughs. Think of Edison in his lab, grinding through hundreds of failed variations on the lightbulb. We remember his words in tough times: “Genius is 1 percent inspiration, 99 percent perspiration.”

Now Erik Wahl, a visual artist, speaker, and entrepreneur, helps us unite the yin and yang of creativity— the dynamic new ideas with the dogged effort. He shows why we won’t get far if we rely on the spark without the grind, or the grind without the spark. What the world really needs are the creators who can hold the two in balance.

Fortunately, it’s possible to get good at both, as Wahl knows from experience. After his corporate career suddenly ended, he pursued a spark—to paint photorealistic portraits—and ground it out until he got good enough to make very good art very quickly. That’s the basis of his riveting live shows, which have captivated skeptical audiences who never expected to be inspired by art—and taught them to embrace creativity in a whole new way.

This book offers surprising insights and practical advice about how to fan the sparks and make the grind more productive. Wahl deftly synthesizes the wisdom of other artists, philosophers, scientists, and business visionaries throughout history, along with his own views. Here’s how he sums up his approach:

The world needs people who enjoy swimming in ideas until they discover a great one. The world also needs doers who have a gift for activation, a.k.a. “getting s*** done.” But the most potent individual creators in any industry or environment have learned how to be both. They’ve learned how to spark their grind and they’ve learned how to grind their sparks. As a result, they not only make things happen, they make great things.

If you want to ensure constant creativity in your life and produce your most innovative work—this is your guide.

Review

“An authentic masterpiece. Erik Wahl has become a bona fide general in the ‘War of Art.’ ”
—Steven Pressfield, author of The War of Art

“True creativity is as much about the disciplined grind as it is the spark of inspiration. Erik Wahl will permanently change the way you think about pursuing innovation. Highly recommended.”
—Cal Newport, author of Deep Work

“My advice to every young entrepreneur? Adopt Erik’s thesis: Stop treating your ideas so preciously. Make them real. Tangible. Taste them and touch them. When an idea sparks, get in the dirt, grind it out, and let the idea evolve . . . or don’t expect sh*t.”
—Gary Vaynerchuk, author of Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook

“Time to stop dreaming and start doing. In this breakthrough book, Erik Wahl will open the door for you to do the hard work of making something creative happen.”
—Seth Godin, author of Linchpin

“What an absolute gem of a book. Many creativity books overemphasize either inspiration or perspiration, but Wahl shows how to harness them together to do brilliant work. Anyone who has to create for a living will find The Spark and the Grind is both thoroughly enjoyable and imminently practical.”
—Todd Henry, author of The Accidental Creative

“As Erik Wahl shows in this terrific book, we must cultivate ways to ignite the spark of innovation and then keep it glowing with the grind of focused, disciplined work. This formula will send your creativity soaring!”
—Daniel H. Pink, author of Drive and To Sell Is Human

"Wahl is offering a way to unlock the nascent power of creativity, yes, but he is also offering a way to unlock life’s treasures—to experience again the wonder you felt as a child at what you now take for granted. His observations are relevant to anyone with a pulse."
—Huffington Post

About the Author

ERIK WAHL is an artist, author, and entrepreneur. He is internationally recognized as a thought-provoking graffiti artist and one of the most sought-after speakers on the corporate lecture circuit. He lives in Southern California with his wife, Tasha, and their three sons.

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Creativity is a Complicated Friend

Creativity is a complicated friend.

But not at first.

When you and creativity initially met, you were young and the friendship was fast and easy. Wherever you went, creativity went, too. It never argued about the rules or who went first or whether an idea was relevant. And no matter how many times the two of you crashed and burned, creativity dusted itself off and was ready for more.

Then, sometime in middle school or high school, your relationship with creativity started to change. It's hard to say whose fault it was, but suffice it to say you two began growing up and growing apart.

You sought creativity's input less and less. Schoolwork and homework didn't require its companionship, and while you remembered fondly those carefree hours in the backyard-maybe even missed them now and then-there wasn't time for that anymore. Getting older meant your time was occupied by more "mature" activities. Your days of role-playing and fort building were replaced by studying and socializing and sports. Although creativity was welcome when it showed up, its youthful exuberance made things a little awkward. It was like a goofy younger sibling who wants to join but doesn't really fit in.

Creativity tagged along for a little while but eventually it just stopped showing up. You understood; it was an amicable separation, after all. You and creativity had simply grown apart. You didn't have the chemistry you once did.

One day, a few years later-probably when you set out to write your college entrance essay-you realized you could use creativity's input again. You called it up and asked it to coffee . . . but when you two sat down, creativity was cold. The relationship had become complicated-a connection that required work. Getting anything out of creativity was like pulling teeth. But with the help of a venti latte and a cinnamon scone, you got through the ordeal. Your entrance essay written, you said good-bye and parted ways again.

You went to college. You got a job. Maybe you got married and had some great kids. Now here you are. How many years has it been since you were close to creativity? Even as you reflect on how long it's been, you-like everyone else-hear creativity's name frequently. It's become a celebrity! Countless articles and books are written about it. Seminars praise its power. Gurus promise to reveal its secrets. Studies prove its indispensability. Everyone wants to know creativity again. Everyone wants a piece-to touch its cloak, to kiss its ring, to kneel at its altar.

What is it about creativity that draws us in? If we grasp it, understand it, embody it, we believe it can give us a new start. A first step. A cutting edge. A breath of fresh air. A breakthrough. Originality. Freedom.

Our desire for creativity is one of the most transcendent desires of our lives-if not the most. That's because our desire for creativity is ultimately a longing for more meaning, and more meaning breathes more life into our days. When our creations are an unobstructed outflow of our purest thoughts, beliefs, and convictions, our doing is in step with our being.

I'm not a vaunted sociologist, but I don't believe it takes a PhD to see that events over the past two decades-from 9/11 to the Great Recession to the rapid emergence of social media and the persistence of terrorism-have led to a recalibration of both personal and corporate values. Sure, the ability to BS ourselves and others will always remain. But the state of our world has prompted us to consider more deeply why we are doing what we are doing and where we are going. The beauty is that we live in an age where quick change is more possible than it's ever been. If we don't like why we are doing what we're doing or where we are heading, we have instant access to infinite resources that can help us alter our pace, direction, or trajectory. And we believe that creativity will get us to a better place, faster.

Whether or not you've experienced the spoils of creativity in your own life, we have all observed that a tight bond with creativity forges freedom and opportunity quite unlike anything else. Whether or not we understand it, we often desire it in the areas of our lives that matter most. We especially desire it in the areas where we sense we are either underperforming or off track.

This attraction is much bigger and broader than a desire to be a better artist in the traditional sense of the word. It's not just the authors, fashionistas, and interior designers looking for an in with creativity. All of us are looking for communion with creativity, including:

Parents wanting to shape rambunctious offspring into thriving adults.

Coaches scrapping for the secret sauce to inspire this year's team.

Managers searching for the keys to engaging a new generation.

Investors foraging for the next Spotify.

Entrepreneurs aiming to become the next Elon Musk.

Executives crafting the ideal culture.

Lovers longing to last.

Creativity is a scorching-hot commodity. We are paying for it in historically large sums. And yet the investment isn't paying off as we'd expect.

On the corporate level, efforts to court creativity translate to serious money. According to "2015 Global Innovation 1000," a report produced by PricewaterhouseCoopers's consulting team Strategy& that details how much the top thousand public companies spend on innovation each year, total spending "increased 5.1% to $680 billion" in 2015. The top five companies leading the way were:

   1.   Volkswagen, at $15.3 billion or 5.7 percent of revenue

   2.   Samsung, at $14.1 billion or 7.2 percent of revenue

   3.   Intel, at $11.5 billion or 20.6 percent of revenue

   4.   Microsoft, at $11.4 billion or 13.1 percent of revenue

   5.   Roche (a biopharmaceutical company), at $10.8 billion or 20.8 percent of revenue

And yet, after conducting ten thousand analyses, the same study found no statistical relationship between increased innovation spending and:

sales growth

gross profit growth

operating profit growth

operating margin

net profit growth

net margin

market cap growth

and total shareholder return

In fact, the study's ten most innovative companies based on performance (led by Apple, Google, and Tesla) cumulatively outperformed the top ten spenders by nearly 10 percent-a trend that has held true for the last six years. Clearly, there is a tangible difference between treating creativity like a health supplement and treating it like the ecosystem in which your company breathes and operates. While casual dress codes, company retreats, and brand renovations can be effective additives in the body of a highly creative ecosystem, they are merely antacids in an organization that does not breathe creativity.

If you're not in the corporate world or otherwise affected by corporate performance, you're not out of the woods either. If you're, say, a full-time parent or a high school teacher or a physician in private practice, I daresay the same ineffectiveness is true for your personal investments into creativity and innovation. Legitimate statistics for individual R&D spending are nonexistent, but how many creativity seminars (or YouTube videos) have left you feeling full of inspiration that faded within a couple of weeks (if not days) and never translated into any sustained difference in your work or home life? How many blogs, articles, and books on innovation have you read that felt like they lit a flame under you, burning hot only until your creativity chops were actually tested? Generally speaking, how have your investments into bettering your creativity worked out for you thus far? I hope much better than what most people experience, which is that the burning flame didn't amount to much more in reality than a flicker of hope that always burnt out-fodder for a great tweet, but not for sparking greater imagination or fresh improvements in your life.

If you're like most, you're left to wonder: How is it that creativity seems to ooze from some people's pores while others struggle to squeeze out a great idea once a year? Maybe once a lifetime?

The relationship between you and creativity today is complicated. Let's start there. It's not effortless like it was when you were young. You have changed. Creativity has changed. Life is different now. You did, in fact, grow apart. Traditional schooling and typical corporate protocol have taught you that creativity isn't as important as finding the correct answer or following the correct strategy (as if there is always just one). As a result, your relationship with creativity takes real work today. And that's where the relationship stalls-even ends-for many of us.

The common practical response to this realization is that you will work at being more creative only when you need to-like when your marriage is dry or your job is drying up or your customer needs something better. It's the whole "necessity is the mother of invention" thing. So like a lonely former lover, you swallow your pride and reach out for some attention from creativity when you're feeling needy.

The common cynical response to realizing that connecting with creativity is hard is the proclamation that being creative on a regular basis is unrealistic and, frankly, takes a certain kind of quirkiness that doesn't play in all settings. "Creativity wasn't handed out to everyone for a reason" is the message.

Having internalized this message, people settle, and the act of creativity is relegated to requiring: 1) a great need, or 2) an eccentric nature. It makes the kind of daily relationship with creativity you had as a child seem completely out of the question, unless you're willing to be desperate or odd. The truth, however, is that you can rekindle that relationship. You just have to understand how to do it as an adult, because the way it works has changed. Here's what I mean.

Your childhood experience with creativity was real. To start, you needed creativity to learn your first language and understand how to get by in the world outside your mother's womb. Your brain and body were focused on breathing in as much data as possible to try to understand as much as possible. You didn't know, or care to know, what data mattered and what data didn't. You possessed an unconscious trust that the important concepts would illuminate themselves to you in time. In the meantime, you attempted much, ventured into whatever caught your attention, and had fun while doing it. Most important, you learned. Rapidly, in fact. You also started becoming who you would grow up to be.

Creativity was your trusty travel partner then. You trusted the relationship, or perhaps it's more accurate to say your genetic makeup trusted it. The products of your trust in creativity didn't always come easy. Remember skinned knees, twisted ankles, and burned fingers? You just accepted that you didn't know what you needed to know. And you innately understood that if you stuck with creativity, you would learn.

The neuroscience associated with this is heady, but the gist is that from the minute you were born you already had all the neurons you needed for a lifetime of learning. But those brain cells weren't yet linked with the complex networks needed for more mature comprehension of the world around you. So in your earliest years, your brain cells sought out and formed thousands of connections each day. While some of that process was genetic, your experiences were the primary catalyst that initiated connections and told you what went where and did what, and who was who. As a three-year-old, you had twice as many neural connections as you do today. Why? As you grew older your brain sought to become more efficient.

From about ten years old until adulthood, trillions of connections in your brain were systematically eliminated. How? According to use. Those connections that were reinforced-your daily interactions with caregivers, the ways you found nourishment, the language you used to communicate, your understanding of your environment, certain character traits-were locked in. Those connections that were not reinforced were treated as unnecessary or inefficient data in your brain and were promptly relegated to your brain's version of a junk folder.

One of the primary connections that was not reinforced was your connection with creativity.

At five years old, you went to school and, if that school was like the great majority of schools in the Western world, by about fourth grade an invariable learning style and a static theory of success and failure was reinforced daily. Becoming a big girl or big boy meant you needed to begin breathing out the results of the data you breathed in. Not a dynamic or personal translation of that data or a natural, cumulative revelation of that data-no, you were required to breathe out your teachers' and your books' translation of that data. Give the "right" answers, in other words. Suddenly, the hallmarks of your relationship with creativity-unbridled curiosity, unlimited fantasy, and discovery through trial and error-were no longer reinforced. Before long, your brain shed its inherent, trustworthy connection with creativity.

This was growing up under the governance of traditional education: you breathed in the data that your teachers and books said you should breathe in, and you breathed out their translation of that data, which were the only answers you needed to know in order to move on to the next grade with your friends, and ultimately grow into a smart, hardworking grown-up who could do anything you wanted to do.

Unless, of course, you wanted to be someone or do something that required a lot of imagination or originality.

Turns out that's most of us. It's definitely you. In that case, you will need to unlearn how you were taught to think and learn.

More specifically, you'll need to figure out how to know and trust creativity again, as an adult, which starts with a clear understanding of what creativity really is. Turns out it has grown up, too.

Here's the good news: you can learn to trust creativity again. On a daily basis. As a result, you can learn to churn out more vibrant, imaginative results from your efforts.

Here's the bad news: that has nothing to do with dressing more casually or sipping more coffee or working in the corporate equivalent of a McDonald's playhouse. At best, those efforts might put you in the mood to be more creative, but they'll never generate more creative results on a regular basis.

Trusting and utilizing creativity as an adult involves simultaneously embracing two concepts that, in your mind right now, probably sit on two different planets. And yet these two concepts are the two sides of the same coin we call creativity. They also make up the title of this book:

The Spark.

The Grind.

The Spark

The spark is what we traditionally think of as the start of creativity-an initial illumination. It denotes the most basic understanding, the lowest common denominator of creative production. It's what we first hope for when we're looking for that creative edge, that game-changing idea, that fresh catalyst for progress. We commonly refer to it as a lightbulb moment or a bolt of lightning. The inference is that it comes suddenly, unexpectedly.

The Spark and the Grind: Ignite the Power of Disciplined Creativity

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The Spark and the Grind: Ignite the Power of Disciplined Creativity