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Week 7 [26.11 – 2.12.18] How frustration can make us more creative?

By s18716


Tim Harford is a member of the Editorial Council of the Financial Times newspaper, the author of several bestsellers in economics. His articles are published by the world's leading newspapers and magazines. In his speech, he convinces us of the advantages of working in difficult conditions. He cites the amazing stories of celebrities as an example:
1.What do you think about working in a little mess?
2.Have there been such things in your life?
3.Would you like to try to do something with artificial difficulties?

Comments

Lukasz Mroczek said…
Generally for me it’s obvious that every work will make a little mess and we have to accept that. Of course it depends on what type of person we are but as for me, I like when there is a little mess on my desk or computer desktop. But as I’ve said, I like only a little mess. Few times when I was trying to do my projects for school I remember that after moments of frustrations and being angry, I’ve always felt some kind of power to do it and new ideas came to my mind. I have to admit that frustration can make us more creative.
26 November 2018 at 15:53
Unknown said…
We all find ourselves in situations that are too complicated and problems that seem hard to solve. Maybe, this is the whole point of the essence of life to go through struggles and learn to live in constant discomfort and face challenges every day.
Yes, I had moments of frustration at some point in my life and had to come up with some clever solution or approach or even make a serious decision. But these are things that are inevitable in our lives, difficulties are usually temporary and can be a great opportunity for us to finally confront ourselves in order to become better then we were yesterday.
I don't think that I would like to have such difficulties I would rather try to do everything what possible to stay focused and maintain my rhythm of work rather than look for some artificial distractions that would only keep me frustrated.
29 November 2018 at 18:48
Unknown said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
30 November 2018 at 20:13
Unknown said…
Truth be told I don’t like when my table is overwhelmed with a bunch of unnecessary things. But mainly what I like and what I have on my table is 2 completely different things. I would even say I am more motivated and productive when there is absolutely no mess on my table but it happens extremely rarely. To my mind everything depends on the kind of person you are and it’s all individual. 
If we are talking about the frustration and how it affects our productivity then I would say that it has a significant impact on what we are doing or what we are about to do. I had a few situations when there were moments, hours, days of frustration but lately I was so strongly motivated and full of ideas that solutions to the problems was coming one by one to my mind. 
No, I wouldn’t like to try to do something with artificial difficulties because I have lots of real ones.
30 November 2018 at 20:15
Kyrylo Proskurin said…
I prefer to call this multitasking ability. Sure, one may admit that doing several thing at the same time decreases effectivness drastically, however I would disagree. A simple example -- cooking. You chopped the vegetables, boiled a pot of water, threw potatoes and meat there, and now the only thing you can do is wait until the soup is ready. And during that time it would be a great idea to start doing something useful. But do not fall for a temptation to open youTube and Netflix if you want to want your soup ready boiled, and not fried.
1 December 2018 at 11:12
Bartosz Kiwerski said…
I think working in a little mess may lead to increase in productivity or gives a possibility of developing something unique, but in my case, it would be extremely exhausting because I'm excessively concerned about minor details and rules so I would end up trying to finish each opened path in the best possible way. I much more prefer difficulties and mess which are commonly introduced to my work by the environment (colleagues which are distracting me, receiving tasks in which I have to get out of my comfort zone, etc.) so I guess that I don't need any other artificial difficulties.
1 December 2018 at 14:56
Unknown said…
Working in stress situations might be beneficial to overcome some borders of creativity you can't overcome but it's not sustainable on low level. To do a good job order is what you need. It's good idea to have under some constraints just to leave your comfort zone. I tried to wash my teeth with left hand or do something without one instead of two. To break this vicious circle of unconsciousness while you perform daily routine.
1 December 2018 at 23:48
Vladlen Kyselov said…
I guess that it could be useful sometimes to work in stressful situations, but just sometimes, to make your brain think in another, maybe more creative way than it used to.
Personally I don`t like to work in mess, but even though it happens sometimes and it really helps me.
2 December 2018 at 13:38
Unknown said…
In my opinion it is quite important to be able to work in difficult conditions because very often we have no real influence on the environment we have to work in. Therefore, it is of great importance to be able to stay focused on our tasks and filter out noises when working in e.g: open office.
Many times I had to work in unfavorable conditions including working in open office or studying in a shared apartment. Although those conditions had not been perfect for creative and intensive work, I had to minimize the negative impact of the environment and get my job done.
I have never considered creating artificial mess around me as a way to improve my creativity and effectiveness, but it seems to be interesting strategy when we are getting stuck on the problem and we have no idea how to move on.
2 December 2018 at 17:39
Unknown said…
Difficult conditions flex my mind, so I agree with this approach, however I it would be really stupid to try to create such conditions. As it happens unintentionally it's valid, but explicitly picking some parts and making them not working might work but does not guarantee success in my opinion. I think a good example of such approach regarding IT world is Netflix. They test their infrastructure generating disasters but this does not bring their whole network down, so my point is that faking this harsh environment in which some should thrive is not the best idea.

I, as everyone else I believe, also like to overcome problems. The more complex it is the prouder I am. I wouldn't like my manager to create problems intentionally tho.
2 December 2018 at 19:05
Unknown said…
I like to be suranned with lots of different pieces of art, starting with some fancy cartoon figures, nice postcarts ending toys. I feel like they make me more creative. I believe we can answer to that question just by looking at somebody's desktop files organization. I always have a little mess there, some old files are rolling back and forth waiting for their time.

So that was about the mess in my working space, but I also feel more motivated where lots of things are happening concurrently. For example, working on different projects at the same time, for various clients, different scopes and advanced levels. I have learned that it's a skill rather than a type of character. No matter who you are or what you believe in, at some point you reach the point where you have to delegate the work to others, and there you are surrounded with the little mess all the time. It's beneficial for a people with whom you are working because it gives them space to show off their skills and improve.
2 December 2018 at 19:52
Sylwester Stawicki said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
2 December 2018 at 20:54
Szymon Gibalski said…
1. What do you think about working in a little mess?
- It is fine, you cannot expect from your life that everything will be perfect and exactly as you would like.
2. Have there been such things in your life?
- Yes, of course, I had to use a Pc that I hate and is terrible for development but I managed to finish my task on time and I was pretty happy that I achieved the success without the tools I needed.
3. Would you like to try to do something with artificial difficulties?
No, if you have to do something and you know how to achieve it why should I waste my time to add "artificial difficulties", of course, I can achieve something more as disrupted in a video but I could fail and waste my time.
2 December 2018 at 21:56
Sylwester Stawicki said…
After watching the movie above, I changed my mind and think it is a good idea. It follows that it is sometimes something difficult to make our work more efficient.

In my life I always tried to choose the simplest and easiest way.

I don't like working in noise. When I work or study, I need to have peace and quiet.

2 December 2018 at 22:21
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