In 1937, Pablo Picasso finished one of his greatest and best-known works—Guernica. The massive black-and-white painting is over 11 feet tall and 25 feet wide. 

The story behind Guernica is well known—it was commissioned for the World's Fair in Spain and inspired by the Nazi's complete and horrifying annihilation (at Spain's ruling party's request) of a town that was not only a center of Basque culture but also a stronghold of the Republican resistance movement. 

What sets Guernica apart is how well-documented Picasso's creative process was. 

He meticulously dated drawings and paintings—hundreds of sketches and studies. In addition, with Guernica, Picasso invited observers to watch, believing it would raise awareness for the resistance.

One of the observers was Dora Maar, who captured twenty-eight photographs of the painting as it developed and changed between May and June. 

Academic studies of Picasso's process reveal what many of us would suspect: the creative process does not move deliberately to a final solution in a linear direction. It does not necessarily get better and better at each step.

Instead, we witness how Picasso changed directions frequently. Many of the elements he incorporated into his final painting were iterations dismissed early on and brought back later.

Creative processes are messy—full of false starts, dead-ends, direction changes, circling back to past variations, and incorporating unexpected connections.

What does Picasso's process show us?

The biggest challenge to achieving originality is not inspiration or generating ideas—but choosing wisely.

To do this, you must be willing to move forward rapidly. And to compare versions ruthlessly without becoming too attached to any particular idea. 

If you master that skill—comparing and contrasting before choosing—you can find truly meaningful and effective solutions.