How to Be Brilliant at a Moment’s Notice
Anyone who starts with a blank page and has to turn it into something useful day after day will tell you it’s one of the scariest things in the world.
Creativity can be magical and wildly fulfilling, but it’s also unpredictable and often terrifying. To be both brilliant and prolific, without burning out, takes more than talent.
Too many creatives fizzle out because they fail to fuel their creative spirit in healthy, sustainable ways. Inspiration doesn’t just show up when you need it. You have to cultivate it: energy, fresh input, positive relationships, and a structure that supports your focus.
That’s the premise of Todd Henry’s book The Accidental Creative: How to Be Brilliant at a Moment’s Notice. And because Todd Henry understands that creative minds like easy-to-remember frameworks, he uses the acronym FRESH.
F – Focus
Keep your key problems or challenges visible every day. Henry suggests writing down your top three focus problems each month somewhere you can’t miss them. When your brain keeps circling back to them, even while you’re doing other things, unexpected solutions tend to emerge.
R – Relationships
Your brilliance isn’t built in isolation. Other people can dramatically boost your creativity. Seek out mentors, join creative peer groups, or have cross-disciplinary brainstorms. The more varied your collaborators’ backgrounds, the richer the ideas you’ll generate.
E – Energy
Sleep-deprived “rock and roll” creativity is a myth, and a fast route to burnout. Rest, move your body, eat well, and know whether you’re energised by social time or solitude. Protect the habits that make you sharper.
S – Stimulation
What you put in determines what you can put out. Seek great books, art, films, podcasts, and experiences. Henry recommends keeping a “stimulation queue” and setting aside 30 minutes a day to learn or explore something new. Your future self will thank you.
H – Hours
Creativity and rigid timetables rarely mix, but you still need protected blocks of time for deep thinking. Group similar tasks together to conserve mental energy and create space for focused work.
Whether you use some, all, or none of these practices, remember this: if your livelihood depends on your ideas, cultivating your creativity is not optional. It’s your most valuable asset.
The more prepared you are, the more “brilliant” moments you’ll have on demand.
Or as we like to say, luck favours the well-prepared.
