Creativity Quote by Tom Jenkinson

Jenkinson is talking like someone who’s spent a career turning sound design into a form of navigation. “That territory” isn’t a literal place so much as the next aesthetic patch of ground: the groove you haven’t discovered yet, the idea you can’t name until you’ve built it. The language is telling - not “plan” or “decide,” but “find,” a verb that frames creativity as reconnaissance rather than self-expression.

The insistence on “constantly open” reads less like New Age positivity and more like studio discipline. Openness here isn’t passive receptivity; it’s an active refusal to let habit harden into taste. For an electronic musician, especially one associated with meticulous, systems-heavy production, the danger is obvious: your tools become your instincts, and your instincts become a loop. Jenkinson’s “only way” is a pressure valve against that feedback.

Then there are the “signs.” He’s not promising epiphanies; he’s describing weak signals: a wrong note that’s interesting, an artifact from a plugin, a rhythmic misalignment that suddenly feels alive. The subtext is that direction doesn’t arrive as a grand vision. It shows up as tiny anomalies you’re willing to notice, and then protect, before the rational mind edits them away.

Contextually, this is a veteran’s advice disguised as a mantra: creativity isn’t a lightning strike, it’s a practice of attention under conditions designed to numb attention. The quote works because it demystifies inspiration while still honoring its unpredictability - the map is made of crumbs, and you have to keep your eyes down to see them.