At two-and-a-half, my daughter is just starting to grok the concept of friendship. It’s delightful to watch her figure it out. Out of dozens of children at the playground she somehow knows exactly who she wants to be her friend. And with very few words, she’s able to form a connection and start playing together. Magic.

It occurs to me that friendship, distilled down to its essence, is very simple. 

"I see you. I like you. Let’s play."

So it’s got me thinking about the power of friendship and how it can be a catalyst for creativity. I’ve come up with 5 roles that friends can play to facilitate and enhance our creative process. 

Which ones resonate with where you are on your creative journey?

1. Friend as muse. Friends can be great inspiration for a creative project. Currently, my daughter is loving this book by Eric Carle (of The Very Hungry Caterpillar fame) about a boy who goes on a journey to find his lost friend.

Tucked into the last page is this charming photo of Carle at 3 with his best friend. They lost touch when he moved away a few years later. But he always cherished this photo and she was the inspiration for him to write this book.

And, incredibly, after almost 82 years, they were reunited because of the book.

In another example, Ramy Youssef sourced part of the inspiration for his critically acclaimed TV show Ramy from his best friend since fifth grade, Steve, who has muscular dystrophy, and acts alongside Ramy in the show.

Do you have a friend who deserves to have their told or inspires you in some way?

2. Friend as playmate. Play is closely connected to creativity: the lightness, the looseness, the enjoyment, the energy, the openness, the immersion.

Several years ago I somehow convinced 3 of my close PhD girlfriends to try a Bollywood dance class with me. I thought it would be appropriate for beginners. It was not. We were awful. We spent the whole time trying - and failing - to keep up and catch our breath. It was painful...

And it was absolutely hilarious! We laughed so hard our sides hurt. I can't remember a time we had so much fun.

Creativity often involves trying something new. Trying something new is scary. Because we probably won't be good right away. But trying something new is much less scary with a friend. And if you suck, your friend still loves you. And at the very least you get a story you can laugh about forever.

Are you feeling a bit stuck creatively and feel like trying something new? Who could you cajole into stepping out of your creative comfort zones together?

3. Friend as brainstorming buddy. Idea generation is a critical stage in the creative process. Best practices of brainstorming include psychological safety - a sense that it's safe to share ideas without the risk of being judged. Friendship is the ultimate psychologically safe space.

Just yesterday at the playground I shared a new seed of an idea with my husband, Akram Dweikat, and he helped me brainstorm ideas of what it could look like to flesh it out. I left the conversation feeling seen and validated and amplified.

Are you in the early stages of a new idea and could use a brainstorming buddy? Which of your friends would best help nurture and develop the idea?

4. Friend as cheerleader/ critic. Maybe you don't need brainstorming support but you need some positive encouragement. When I was working on a screenplay several years ago I had one friend I would share my draft with first because I knew she'd just tell me it was wonderful and that's what I needed to hear at the beginning.

Next, I would share it with a different friend who I knew would give me really thoughtful constructive feedback, but who also wouldn't think any less of me for the shortcomings in the draft.

If you're lucky, you might find both roles in the same person, like C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. In 1929, Tolkien asked Lewis to read an epic poem he'd been working on...for the previous 4 years...without showing it to anyone. Lewis said yes and wrote the next day, "I can quite honestly say that it is ages since I have had an evening of such delight...Detailed criticisms (including grumbles at individual lines) will follow." The importance of this role to the creative process can't be overstated. Tolkien said of his friendship with Lewis, "Only from him did I ever get the idea that my 'stuff' could be more than a private hobby. But for his interest and unceasing eagerness for more I should never have brought [The Lord of the Rings] to a conclusion." Imagine a world without LOTR?!?! No thank you.

Who can you turn to for a little cheerleading/constructive criticism or both?

5. Friend as co-creator. My mind immediately goes to startup co-founders who started off as friends like Google’s Sergey Brin and Larry Page or theSkimm’s Danielle Weisberg and Carly Zakin. But there are many examples across disciplines as explored exhaustively in the fascinating book, Powers of Two.

During Covid, I joined with two of my close friends to design and launch a 9-month women's circle journey. It was such a rich and enlivening experience. It took our friendship to a whole new level. There was a real sense that together we made something much more magical than any one of us might have managed on her own. Doing it together also meant that the tasks were distributed and didn't become a burden for any of us.

Co-creating with friends means there's a baseline of trust, respect, shared values, understanding, admiration and communication. And it's a chance to deepen your connection with a shared meaningful experience and the satisfaction of putting something new out into the world.

Do you have a creative project in mind that you'd assumed you'd do alone? Might it be more fun and less stress to bring on a friend as co-creator?

So there you have it! Five ways friends can be a catalyst for your creativity. Which one(s) will you use to take your creative dreams/projects to the next level?