Want to be more creative? Then keep a notebook.
““Keep a notebook. Travel with it, eat with it, sleep with it. Slap into it every stray thought that flutters up into your brain.”
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The artist David Hockney was born in 1937 in Bradford, England.
Hockney started drawing sketches of his family when he was a teenager.
Back then, paper was expensive (following the end of the war) so he used to steal scraps from school or draw on the back of old bus tickets.
Over time, he expanded his subject matter and has been a relentless experimenter during a career which has spanned more than six decades.
Today, he’s considered to be one of the most talented and celebrated British artists of the 20th century.
Key to his success has been one object he would take with him everywhere: his notebook.
He used it to record anything he found interesting or to capture a particularly beautiful scene.
Taking notes was so important to his creative process that one day he made an unusual request to his tailor.
Hockey asked him if he could make a custom-sized pocket for his favourite notebook so he could easily carry it with him wherever he went.
He did this because he never knew when it might be useful.
The artist wasn’t alone in such a practice.
The famous Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci was also a prolific note-taker.
He would get up in the morning and write down a list of everything he wanted to learn that day.
Da Vinci called them his “to-learn lists.”
When he found out the answers he would write down detailed notes he could return to at a later date.
Both Hockey and da Vinci recognised that notetaking is an important part of the creative process.
If this isn’t something you’re doing already, they why not try taking a leaf out of their book?
After all, you never know when inspiration might strike.
If you’re looking for more ways to be more creative, why not sign up for our How To Be More Creative course featuring some of the world’s top experts and certified by Cannes Lions.
