The great pianist Alfred Brendel has an insatiable curiosity about the music he plays. He loves to explore its various nuances and find new ways to convey the musical intentions of the composer. He not only plays music, but also writes and speaks about it. He has even composed it.

He is committed totally to his journey of musical exploration, possessing an unquenchable appetite for new ideas, opinions and approaches that might add to his understanding of the music he plays. He revisits his past performances and recordings (especially Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert) to search for new insights that might add artistic integrity and creative freshness to his interpretations.

And, most important of all, he really enjoys his work!

This personal preparation is vital to his success. His audiences hear and applaud the very public output of the process, his climactic performances, but they are not so aware of the hidden, increasingly energetic simmering of his preparation.

When we search for creative approaches to problems the danger is that we focus too much on the very public climax at the end of our crescendo of activity, on unveiling the solution rather than on unravelling the intricate details of the challenges in front of us. We can wait too long for a moment of inspiration, a ‘Eureka Moment’. In effect, we do the mental equivalent of waiting passively for a kettle to come to the boil.

Instead, we should stop waiting for some kind of transformational moment; stop waiting for things to come to the boil, and start heating up the creative process ourselves. We must commit enthusiastically to finding out everything there is to know about the problem or situation challenging us. We need to dive deep into it, seeking out new insights, interesting facts and alternative explanations and approaches. Then, once our insights and ideas are simmering nicely, we must pour them over the frigid, problematic areas in need of warming inspiration.

The next time you need to address a problem stop gazing longingly towards your goal, the public climax at the end of your gradual crescendo of effort, and start concentrating on the here and now of the situation in front of you. What is interesting about it? Why does it happen? How is it developing and changing? What new insights and alternative ways of looking at it can you find? Where else has it happened? What do other people think about it? How did they deal with it? What other issues surround it and what is interesting about them? How are these issues contributing to the overall situation?

Really get to know the issue and, most importantly, enjoy your journey of discovery.

As you work intensely on the increasingly fascinating issue in front of you, you may be distracted momentarily by the sound of a kettle coming to the boil. You may even hear the distant but growing sound of applause.