Leadership Lessons from Confucius: creative thinking

Confucius said: “I once spent a whole day without eating and a whole night without sleeping in order to think. I gained nothing from this; it was nowhere near as useful as learning.”
子曰：「吾嘗終日不食，終夜不寢，以思。無益，不如學也。」

Creativity doesn’t occur in a vacuum. It isn’t the product of magical thinking, but the result of the deliberate application of the knowledge and experience we accumulate during our lives.

Without deep roots and continuous nurturing, creativity withers on the vine before it is able to bear fruit. Without constant replenishment from new sources, it can easily become labored and stale.

The key to boosting your creativity is to be actively engaged with the world and maintain an open mind so that you can combine the lessons of the past with fresh ideas and perspectives in interesting new ways to solve the problems of today.

Notes
This article features a translation of Chapter 31 of Book 15 of the Analects of Confucius. You can read my full translation of Book 15 here.

(1) Confucius never claimed to be an original thinker. He saw his role as reviving the accumulated wisdom of the classics in order to restore the Zhou dynasty to its golden age under the regency of his hero, the Duke of Zhou. In 7.1, he unashamedly (and perhaps modestly) admits: “I transmit but I don’t create. I am faithful to and love the past.”

(2) In 2.15, Confucius also highlights the importance of linking thinking with learning: “Learning without thinking leads to perplexity. Thinking without learning leads to trouble.”

I took this image at the Mencius Cemetery in Qufu.