The answer is Friday. As posted earlier this week, sometimes creativity is simply the process of looking at familiar things in new ways. Hence Mr. Phineas and Mr. Ferb. These two are all about making uber-cool stuff, seemingly out of nowhere. Sure, it’s just a cartoon. But for me, the real life takeaway is the fact that it’s all about the fun, and self-editing just takes away from your creative energy. Even more better (yes, I know that sounds wrong – but it’s Friday, remember?) they are all about positation. That’s a real word. I know ’cause I learned it in college – Bill Ball was a theater instructor in SF for many years, and positation was his way of saying “yes!” to every idea, without all the self-editing we use on ourselves. Here’s what a couple of his students had to say:
“Bill had this word, ‘positation.’ He would say, ‘Never say no.’ Of course, this was good for him because he didn’t like people saying no to him. But it was also a wonderful way to work on a play, to be open to any suggestion. Then, through doing what you might not want to do, wouldn’t have thought to do, you have another thought, and his mind would feed on whatever idea you’d come up with, and you’d end up exactly where you really wanted to be. It’s sort of a lesson for life, too, though of course there are times one should say no.” — Kitty Winn

“The point is that if you entertain everybody’s idea, eventually you get to the right one. But unless you say yes all along the way, you might not get to that great idea. … Bill had some genius in him. He was a very nutty person. He was a man who did not play by the rules. … But he had a power to lead and he was willing to stand in front of everybody and, if he had to make a fool of himself, he’d make a fool of himself in order to get done what he wanted to do.” — Annette Bening, former ACT student and company member

So next time you find yourself self-editing, think of Phineas and Ferb and instead say “yes!” and keep working on that backyard roller coaster. BTW, the platypus’s name is Perry.