Thank you Margaret - Chris and I have been grappling with this for a while. Years! Habits are great but there is something about creativity that doesn't fit the model. I'd love to hear you experience.
Jun 21Liked by Chris Smith, Breakthroughs & Blocks
This distinction is also useful to me at work: I’ve just had confirmation this week that my secondment will end in 4wks and I’ve been reflecting on why some of it was so hard. I have been working mostly in the fog of “how do we change this longstanding problem with a new approach”
Jun 20Liked by Bec Evans, Chris Smith, Breakthroughs & Blocks
Love these distinctions. They remind me of a meme I think you had up: "Writing is not like following a recipe."
Here's a sticking point for me: sometimes after I've written something that might be good, instead of carrying on I start wondering a) if I'm wrong, so maybe I shouldn't trust myself, or b) maybe I'm right, in which case I berate myself for being arrogant or scare myself by thinking I won't write anything else as good.
My mind seems to prefer judging to writing (?!?!?). UGH.
That's right, writing is not like following a recipe because when you do that, each stage is known and predictable. I'm not suggesting this is easy but I think the key is to acknowledge that you experience these doubts - but find away to continue. You are certainly not alone - wishing you lots of luck :)
This is a revelation for me! Despite being more productive than ever - by consistently writing and posting my memoir here on Substack - I am so self critical that I manage to think I am never getting the creative process right, that somehow I’m not the writer I’ve always been chasing because it still hurts too often and I haven’t cracked the habit thing. I always blame myself for not finding a glorious habitual sweet spot. To be told that’s ok is such a relief. Thank you.
Thanks Emma. Basically, if you find the creative process hard, you're doing it right! But it's finding that good level of difficulty. I reckon we can make some things more habitual, but when we are stuck in the middle that's when we need different sticking with it tactics that go beyond automatic habits.
This was so great to read this morning. The habit of sitting down at my writing desk is algorithmic--and I need to work on that! But some days the friction is because I am not sure where I am going next or how to proceed with this novel. It's usually true that I need to spend some kind of time interacting with it, but I find this distintion with heuristic work very helpful. Thank you!
Vicki - I am so thrilled this made sense to you. Chris and I have been grappling with why writing habits are hard. It made a lot of sense to us the distinction between algorithmic and heuristic. There is more, as you suggest, such as making getting to the writing easier.
I appreciate the difference between heuristic and algorithmic tasks, but I also think this overlooks that all habits aren't "tasks" per se. There are action-habits, yes, what I would think of as procedural memory, which allows the chaining together of actions or doing a specific thing in a specific place or in response to a specific "trigger". The body going into "automatic". But there are also brain-habits - ways of responding emotionally or cognitively that happen without intention per se that I'm not sure these address.
For me, there are (at least) these two components of a "writing habit":
- There is the action-habit of where and when and how I write and what "triggers" I build in or what I have chained together with the practice of writing.
- But there is also the collection of "brain-habits" AKA mindset. The habit of how I talk to myself about writing, the words I choose to acknowledge the discomfort/uncertainty of not knowing where to go or how to achieve what I'm aiming for (Am I "stuck"? Or doing "discovery-writing"? Playing with options or creating one useless try after another?) These are just as much "creative habits" as actual actions and more likely to be the ones in the way, it seems to me.
Thanks so much for this Karen - I really like the distinction between brain habits and action habits. Could these also be understood in terms of system 1 and system 2 cognitive processing I wonder? My main motivation for writing the post was to encourage people to consider a little more deeply what they mean when they say they want a writing habit (which is what many people say and feel guilty when they can't find one). Writing can be made easier but I think that effort can't be entirely removed from the creative process as it is integral to it. Thanks again it's great to hear from you.
Jun 21Liked by Chris Smith, Breakthroughs & Blocks
Totally agree that friction and effort is necessary and a good sign we're doing it right! And I do think it's so important for us to keep in mind when writing. (I'm looking at you, Karen!) There are interactions between action-habits and brain-habits, of course. When I choose to go to my office to write, I'm in the mindset of "Dr Shue" and I'm more confident I Know Stuff. Writing from home as a retired person can strip me of that mindset and put more (too much, some days) friction into the process. so I do try to create action-habits that will support the brain-habits, if you see what I mean.
I don't think Systems 1 and 2 are a fit here, though. "System 1" is typically considered as some version of speedy-automatic-cognitive thinking, which is often inaccurate (like "gut reactions" or estimating large numbers) -- whereas I think what you're going for as algorithmic (problems having linear solutions) or my procedural (the Body Knows the routine) don't quite fit the System 1 notion.
Thanks Karen - I really appreciate you taking the time to respond. Yes this makes sense and I'm going to read through the article re. systems 1 & 2 and process things a little more deeply. Thank you very much.
Karen - I wanted to say thank you for this clear and insightful comment. Chris and I have been chatting about it and he'll respond separately.
I love the distinction you made between procedural-habits (the step by step of algorithmic) and the brain-habits specific to heuristic. There's an idea we've been exploring about cognitive disfluency which happens when we hit that discomfort and uncertainty that comes with creative projects. It is about much more than habits, as you say, but habits are a good starting point. Glad it got you thinking as much as it has done us!
Jun 20Liked by Bec Evans, Chris Smith, Breakthroughs & Blocks
Glad my thoughts resonated!
I think cognitive disfluency plus what I'll call "brain-wandering" plus pauses are the perfect match for those times of uncertainty that make us so uncomfortable during creative projects.
From my brain perspective, disfluency helps create a need for "wandering" to activate new and weak links in the brain using a variety of strategies. Once we've gotten good and lost among the possibilities, our brain will be able to keep chewing on the bits while we take a pause and get out of the way until it pops out something new or unexpected in our aha moment.
Hope this makes sense -- it's mostly content stolen from the second chapter of my work-in-progress-progress-progress.....
That is so funny - I was just looking at the research on mind wandering for next week's newsletter! Would love to hear more about your work in progress, sounds like we can learn a lot from it!
Loved this week's newsletter. I can't comment there, so I'm adding on here. :-)
It had me musing on whether decluttering is a form of Fresh Start - so many of us seem to kick into gear after even a brief bout of decluttering -- maybe kind of a "fresh, new space" effect?
And I think there's likely two forms of brain-wandering: one, for refreshing and relaxing tired focus-networks; and another type paired with having spent some time with the confusion/uncertainty/multiple possibilities first as a kind of "set-up" for the brain to work on the problem without our conscious interference. The first is a habit we need to cultivate regularly; the other may be more random.
Hope to get my own substack newsletter going soon, which will hopefully give more of my perspective on Brains!
I really appreciate this post, really helpful to see this distinction. So obvious now when I read your post but not before this. Thank you!
Thank you Margaret - Chris and I have been grappling with this for a while. Years! Habits are great but there is something about creativity that doesn't fit the model. I'd love to hear you experience.
This distinction is also useful to me at work: I’ve just had confirmation this week that my secondment will end in 4wks and I’ve been reflecting on why some of it was so hard. I have been working mostly in the fog of “how do we change this longstanding problem with a new approach”
Love these distinctions. They remind me of a meme I think you had up: "Writing is not like following a recipe."
Here's a sticking point for me: sometimes after I've written something that might be good, instead of carrying on I start wondering a) if I'm wrong, so maybe I shouldn't trust myself, or b) maybe I'm right, in which case I berate myself for being arrogant or scare myself by thinking I won't write anything else as good.
My mind seems to prefer judging to writing (?!?!?). UGH.
That's right, writing is not like following a recipe because when you do that, each stage is known and predictable. I'm not suggesting this is easy but I think the key is to acknowledge that you experience these doubts - but find away to continue. You are certainly not alone - wishing you lots of luck :)
This is a revelation for me! Despite being more productive than ever - by consistently writing and posting my memoir here on Substack - I am so self critical that I manage to think I am never getting the creative process right, that somehow I’m not the writer I’ve always been chasing because it still hurts too often and I haven’t cracked the habit thing. I always blame myself for not finding a glorious habitual sweet spot. To be told that’s ok is such a relief. Thank you.
Thanks Emma. Basically, if you find the creative process hard, you're doing it right! But it's finding that good level of difficulty. I reckon we can make some things more habitual, but when we are stuck in the middle that's when we need different sticking with it tactics that go beyond automatic habits.
Thank you for this thoughtful response, Bec. Finding that good level of difficulty is a very helpful way of looking at it.
This was so great to read this morning. The habit of sitting down at my writing desk is algorithmic--and I need to work on that! But some days the friction is because I am not sure where I am going next or how to proceed with this novel. It's usually true that I need to spend some kind of time interacting with it, but I find this distintion with heuristic work very helpful. Thank you!
Vicki - I am so thrilled this made sense to you. Chris and I have been grappling with why writing habits are hard. It made a lot of sense to us the distinction between algorithmic and heuristic. There is more, as you suggest, such as making getting to the writing easier.
Thanks for this message! I needed it. :)
So pleased it helped - if you are writing you are doing something hard, I hope you find ways to keep going despite that.
I appreciate the difference between heuristic and algorithmic tasks, but I also think this overlooks that all habits aren't "tasks" per se. There are action-habits, yes, what I would think of as procedural memory, which allows the chaining together of actions or doing a specific thing in a specific place or in response to a specific "trigger". The body going into "automatic". But there are also brain-habits - ways of responding emotionally or cognitively that happen without intention per se that I'm not sure these address.
For me, there are (at least) these two components of a "writing habit":
- There is the action-habit of where and when and how I write and what "triggers" I build in or what I have chained together with the practice of writing.
- But there is also the collection of "brain-habits" AKA mindset. The habit of how I talk to myself about writing, the words I choose to acknowledge the discomfort/uncertainty of not knowing where to go or how to achieve what I'm aiming for (Am I "stuck"? Or doing "discovery-writing"? Playing with options or creating one useless try after another?) These are just as much "creative habits" as actual actions and more likely to be the ones in the way, it seems to me.
Thanks for making me think about this a bit more.
Thanks so much for this Karen - I really like the distinction between brain habits and action habits. Could these also be understood in terms of system 1 and system 2 cognitive processing I wonder? My main motivation for writing the post was to encourage people to consider a little more deeply what they mean when they say they want a writing habit (which is what many people say and feel guilty when they can't find one). Writing can be made easier but I think that effort can't be entirely removed from the creative process as it is integral to it. Thanks again it's great to hear from you.
Totally agree that friction and effort is necessary and a good sign we're doing it right! And I do think it's so important for us to keep in mind when writing. (I'm looking at you, Karen!) There are interactions between action-habits and brain-habits, of course. When I choose to go to my office to write, I'm in the mindset of "Dr Shue" and I'm more confident I Know Stuff. Writing from home as a retired person can strip me of that mindset and put more (too much, some days) friction into the process. so I do try to create action-habits that will support the brain-habits, if you see what I mean.
I don't think Systems 1 and 2 are a fit here, though. "System 1" is typically considered as some version of speedy-automatic-cognitive thinking, which is often inaccurate (like "gut reactions" or estimating large numbers) -- whereas I think what you're going for as algorithmic (problems having linear solutions) or my procedural (the Body Knows the routine) don't quite fit the System 1 notion.
I will admit, though, that I'm not a big fan of this System 1 vs 2 distinction since most cognitive/brain activities involve both forms of "processing". (This article gives a summary of some of the evidence not supporting the model (https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/a-hovercraft-full-of-eels/202103/the-false-dilemma-system-1-vs-system-2)
Hope this makes sense.
Thanks Karen - I really appreciate you taking the time to respond. Yes this makes sense and I'm going to read through the article re. systems 1 & 2 and process things a little more deeply. Thank you very much.
Karen - I wanted to say thank you for this clear and insightful comment. Chris and I have been chatting about it and he'll respond separately.
I love the distinction you made between procedural-habits (the step by step of algorithmic) and the brain-habits specific to heuristic. There's an idea we've been exploring about cognitive disfluency which happens when we hit that discomfort and uncertainty that comes with creative projects. It is about much more than habits, as you say, but habits are a good starting point. Glad it got you thinking as much as it has done us!
Glad my thoughts resonated!
I think cognitive disfluency plus what I'll call "brain-wandering" plus pauses are the perfect match for those times of uncertainty that make us so uncomfortable during creative projects.
From my brain perspective, disfluency helps create a need for "wandering" to activate new and weak links in the brain using a variety of strategies. Once we've gotten good and lost among the possibilities, our brain will be able to keep chewing on the bits while we take a pause and get out of the way until it pops out something new or unexpected in our aha moment.
Hope this makes sense -- it's mostly content stolen from the second chapter of my work-in-progress-progress-progress.....
That is so funny - I was just looking at the research on mind wandering for next week's newsletter! Would love to hear more about your work in progress, sounds like we can learn a lot from it!
Loved this week's newsletter. I can't comment there, so I'm adding on here. :-)
It had me musing on whether decluttering is a form of Fresh Start - so many of us seem to kick into gear after even a brief bout of decluttering -- maybe kind of a "fresh, new space" effect?
And I think there's likely two forms of brain-wandering: one, for refreshing and relaxing tired focus-networks; and another type paired with having spent some time with the confusion/uncertainty/multiple possibilities first as a kind of "set-up" for the brain to work on the problem without our conscious interference. The first is a habit we need to cultivate regularly; the other may be more random.
Hope to get my own substack newsletter going soon, which will hopefully give more of my perspective on Brains!