I like to watch
By Gary Bertwistle
In a recent television interview, star American comedian Jerry Seinfeld was interviewed by one of Australia’s best talk show hosts Andrew Denton. Denton made the comment that Seinfeld was what they call an observational comedian. Seinfeld agreed. Denton then went on to ask ‘So you observe. Is it something that you consciously have to switch off or is it something that you’re always doing?’. Seinfeld’s response was ‘No I never really turn it off, its just there. I don’t know what it is, you just get ideas.’ Denton then asked ‘Is it something you train your brain to do, or is it always just there?’ Seinfeld replied, ‘You just pick things out as they go by and think I could do something with that.’
The more I hear people like Jerry Seinfeld talk about their skill in observing, the more I appreciate the fact that its something that we all could learn and/or make the effort to do in order to unlock our great ideas.
Another example is Billy Connolly. I’ve been to see Billy Connolly a number of times now and have had the fortunate privilege of meeting him in a previous life when I worked in radio. One thing I noticed was that Billy was always on the ball looking out for the next great piece of comedy. In fact I recently had a coffee with a lady who has toured Billy through Australia for the last 20 years. She agreed with my comments and said that quite often they’d sit at dinner in the evening and have in depth conversations about social issues, politics and culture. She said the next night Billy would be on stage and do a whole routine about their conversation and she’d be sitting in the audience looking at him on stage thinking ‘I don’t remember that conversation at all, was I really at the same table?’. It’s because Billy doesn’t have dinner like the rest of us or walk the street like the rest of us. He like Jerry Seinfeld is always ‘on’. They’re always open and observing what’s going on around them in order to create new and interesting ideas and angles. That’s what makes them the comedians they are.
In an interview with Michael Parkinson, the sensational UK talk show host, music superstar Sting was asked whether he enjoyed being the centre of attention at parties. Sting said he’d much rather be in the corner with a drink watching and listening to everyone else. He said people like him are story-tellers and he’d rather be in the corner by himself looking and listening for the next great story.
So how does this relate to you and I in our world of work and play? The problem comes for most people where they’re so caught up in getting the job done or getting from point A to point B on time, or multi tasking the way through their day, they never really get the chance to sit down, stop and observe. These days we feel as though we always have to be busy. If we’re not doing anything and we’re bored, it’s a bad thing. But this is where the creative genius is born. Leonardo da Vinci said ‘There’s no room in a busy mind for creativity’, yet in this day and age we think we always need to be busy in order to be accomplishing something. Never confuse activity with accomplishment. What’s one bright idea worth to you, your company and or your family?
There’s so much to be said for merely stopping and observing and thinking. Seinfield said it so well when he commented that he’s always ‘on’ and he’s always looking for things and thinking ‘what if’. It is a natural talent that all of us have if we choose to put the time and effort into it. But it’s also something that you can get better at. This is why journaling is such a wonderful tool to help expose and provoke great thinking. When you have a journal you sit there and actually take the time to write down random thoughts, ideas, concepts and ponderings. It’s why we have great ideas when we’re sitting on a plane, sitting on the bus, walking the dog or running through the park.
I was recently doing a creative session with an association full of banking executives in Sydney. I started the day by asking them what they were observing and seeing amongst their friends, society, in their social circles or around health and fitness. We made a big list up on the board of all these observations. I then asked them to direct this thinking into the bank. How are the colours that are so prevalent in fashion being reflected in the bank’s colouring, brochures, website and styling? With the big push on health, fitness and obesity where’s that being reflected in the company’s values and presentation? One of the obvious ones was technology and how it’s changed and everything is being done now through your mobile phone. I then asked them to look at their media spend and tell me how their media spend was being reflected in this trend or what they were observing with their friends or within social circles. Naturally I drew blank looks because none of them had really thought about what they were seeing. Too many people are walking the streets with their eyes glued to their crackberry or sitting in cafes with their ear stuck to their mobile telephone. It’s the person who takes the time to actually look around that will benefit the most in the long run and truly fire up their creative spirit.
I remember seeing Billy Connolly in a shopping mall in Sydney the afternoon before one of his shows. Billy was walking around in his hippy gear with his hippy bag over his shoulder dressed in a pair of moccasins. But he was just walking, looking, observing and most importantly, thinking. You guessed it, that night on stage, Billy rolled out a whole routine about some of his strange observations from his walk around the streets of Sydney. Most of us would have walked along in a hurry to get to our next destination but for Billy it was fodder for a wonderful and entertaining routine. Now you may be saying well that’s his job to find material, but when you switch it around, its your job to find new and interesting ways to stimulate your mind, and if you work for an organization, furthering the success of the company will only come from spending time with your eyes open, observing and thinking. Remember, the brain is the only organ in the body where the more you use it the better it gets and when you’re observing and actually thinking and putting some of these thoughts into play, you gain the ultimate benefit….you exercise your brain and make it better, and that is an incredible investment for your future.
Maybe Hannibal Lector in the Silence of the Lambs was right when he said ‘ I like to watch.’
Gary speaks to audiences around the world about unlocking their thinking, imagination and ideas in the areas of performance, problem solving, innovation, marketing, strategy, creativity and learning. He is the author of The keys to Creativity and Who Stole my Mojo.