It's impossible to explain creativity. It's like asking a bird, 'How do you fly?' You just do. — Eric Jerome Dickey

It's impossible to explain creativity. It's like asking a bird, 'How do you fly?' You just do.

Author: Eric Jerome Dickey

Insight: We spend a lot of energy trying to reverse-engineer how creative people work—breaking down their process into steps, habits, and techniques. But there's something true in this quote that keeps getting lost: some things work because of instinct, not instruction. A bird doesn't learn aerodynamics; its body just knows. When you're in a real creative flow—writing, designing, problem-solving—you're often not thinking through it step by step. You're doing it. The tricky part is that we live in a culture obsessed with explanations and systems. We want the formula. So we interview artists, read productivity guides, and try to replicate what worked for someone else. And sure, technique and practice matter. But the moment you're too aware of the mechanics, you can paralyze yourself. A musician can over-analyze their playing and suddenly sound wooden. A writer can get tangled in "the right way" to write and lose their voice entirely. Maybe the real skill isn't learning to think about creativity differently—it's learning to trust the part of yourself that doesn't need explaining. Showing up, doing the work, letting your instincts take over. The explanation comes later, if it comes at all.