Creativity and the art of paying attention

I recently watched a Tedtalk on the importance of paying attention versus that of getting attention and how it affects our creativity. It got me thinking about how focus and creativity really are related. The truth is that the creation of art and innovation requires focus, it requires paying more attention to details that others probably would not notice and then using that information to either create something new or improve on an existing thing. In the talk the speaker mentioned that when we create based on what we pay attention to rather than creating with the intent to get more attention for ourselves, we are better creators. As a writer, I find that I write so much better when I am particularly interested in what I am writing rather than when I imagine exactly how much attention it would receive from others. In fact, it is the writings that I created with the least interest in getting attention that really got others attention. For instance, of all my recent articles the two that I am most invested in are those that involved writing about what is close to my heart, mental health and sexual harassment. This was because I paid close attention to those subjects since they are of particular interest to me.

In that sense then, as creatives we need to pay attention to what takes up our attention. It might be the key to creating so much more ‘magic’. A writer named Amy Krouse Rosenthal once wrote: “For anyone trying to discern what to do with their life: Pay attention to what you pay attention to. That’s pretty much all the info you need.” However, these days it seems the hardest thing to actually do is to pay attention. We are all so genuinely busy doing a million things that we are never really actually doing any thing. We call it multitasking. Research has shown countless times that we cannot really be very successful in pursuing many things at the same time. We perform better when we schedule our time enough to give attention to one thing before moving on to the next. Yet, our fast paced digital world always tries to convince us that we can do it all. We can listen to music while writing, check emails while listening, watch a YouTube video while chatting with a friend. In fact, you can switch between multiple tabs on your internet browser. So yes, you can do it all; but are we really doing it all? What we find are people who are less creative, more distracted and yet completely occupied and exhausted. Is that really what we want?

One other thing about being creative is being in the moment. Artists often spend countless moments staring at an object to be able to replicate those intricate details on a canvas. Writers have to pay attention to people, events and ideas in a moment to be able to put words together that capture the emotions of that moment. Actors have to pay attention to other actors to know exactly when to come in with their lines. And the list goes on and on. Being in the moment is the art of paying attention. It takes time which is something we think we have so little time for these days but that little time leads to a richer and deeply fulfilling experience. The moments that are close to my heart that I can describe in rich detail are not those found on camera but the moments that I truly paid attention and stayed in the moment. The moments that exist only in my memory, the safest camera they could ever be. They are also the moments I can best take their emotions to create and make art out of. They are my true creative moments.

Paying attention may take up more of your time, it might even have you checking out of the world of social media for a while but it will give you something you cannot buy, the joy of paying attention. It can lead to creating a masterpiece that you would otherwise not have created. A writer named Brooke says, “When I’ve spent my time noticing, I’ve been rewarded. Not in riches or Instagrammable displays of success, but in depth and joy and beauty. Noticing costs time, absolutely, but it also gives us time.” The mind is a wonderful thing, it can be trained to do so much. It can learn and unlearn. Just the same way you trained yourself to multitask, you can train your mind to focus. You can train yourself to ignore that text for a while; you do not have to always check your phone. Soak up your immediate surroundings, stay in the moment, put those feelings and details to use, create. Pay attention, it is worth it!

• Wale-Olaitan is of the Faculty of Education, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.