Some dude named Murphy gets a law (“Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.”)
Gordon Moore, too (“the number of transistors on integrated circuits doubles approximately every two years.”)
Well, I want one of my own—so here goes:
“Time devoted to subconscious creative thought is as, and in many cases far more, valuable than the conscious variety.”
History is replete with examples of this (two great examples: Archimede’s bathtime funtime water displacement observations and Kekulé’s snake & tail daydream discovery of the structure of a benzene ring).
Believe it or not, this is not a copywriter’s rationalization for staring out the window (although it admirably serves that function). It is, however, a dead-serious call to creatives to schedule as much time for window staring as you do actual “what others describe as productive work” (and what I call either typing or kerning depending on your primary role in the creative process).
So I call “dibs” on this one. Call it D.P.’s Declaration (sorry, gotta have the alliteration):
“Time devoted to subconscious creative thought is as, and in many cases far more, valuable than the conscious variety.”
The next time you’re asked by the scheduling types how much time you’ll need to perform and complete a creative project, don’t forget to schedule your subconscious.
– dp
