The Skinny On

Unlocking Your Creative Genius: Lesson #3: Never Settle on Idea #1

 

In building your creative muscles, it is important to learn to expand your thinking BEYOND the obvious.

When speaking on creativity, I sometimes divide the audience into 3 groups.  I will then ask each group to think of potential uses for a simple household object - say a chair or a piece of paper or a spoon. 

I will ask Group #1 to stop at 3 ideas, Group #2 to stop at 8 ideas, and Group #3 to come up with 13 ideas.   Now, here is what is interesting:  Group #3 often has the best and most creative ideas.

Why?  Well I am sure that they say to themselves (perhaps unconsciously): "Hey, we have to come up with 13 ideas for a spoon … that's nuts … we'd better let our minds go totally crazy."  And the result is often amazingly creative.

When boosting your creativity, you need to break from convention and from what is called convergent thinking.  Convergent thinking is the type of thinking you need to respond to a need or problem with the most logical or reasonable idea.  It is what helps us survive - we have an issue and we deal with it as logically as possible.  But, convergent thinking also stifles creativity.

The opposite of convergent thinking is divergent thinking.  Divergent thinking is when you let your mind flow (go crazy) - giving it license to explore all the nooks and crannies of your imagination.  It is divergent thinking that sometimes leads to super creative ideas.

Our minds are programmed to think by convergent thinking.  That is OK.  We need that.  But, when in a situation where you need to think creatively (13 uses for a spoon??), well then take off the reins and let that bronco in your head run free.  You never know!!

                                    "Nothing is more dangerous than an idea . . .

                                           when it is the only one you have."

                                                            Emile Chartier, French Philosopher

Unlocking Your Own Creative Genius

I have studied the process of creativity for many years.  I have concluded that everyone has a large reservoir of creativity.  Some people may know how to access it better than others.  But,  here is the headline: 

                                  EVERYONE CAN IMPROVE THEIR CREATIVITY.

I do not believe that some people are creative geniuses and that the rest of us are on Earth to be their admirers. 

I do not believe that Benjamin Franklin had a Eureka moment and discovered electricity when he was flying a kite with a key on it.  Or, that Isaac Newton finally figured out gravity when he got hit on the head with an apple.   Or, that Marie Curie would never have discovered penicillin but for mold growing on a culture.

I believe that in all these cases - and thousands more - the discovery was the result of years of incubation during which Franklin, Newton, and Curie had been thinking about their subjects. 

Great ideas are like a piece of sand in an oyster.  The sand irritates the oyster (Newton - "this damn gravity problem is driving me nuts") so the oyster applies a coating against the sand.  This coating (called nacre) is applied layer after layer, year after year.  And then one day, WOW, a beautiful pearl.  That, in my view, is how great ideas arise.

I am going to use the next 20 weeks of my blog to teach you how to improve your creativity.  I am not interested in world-changing ideas (although that would be OK) but rather to help you develop your own creative talents in your particular field of expertise.  Every one of us can benefit from unlocking our creative juices.  That is what my blog will be about for the next twenty weeks.

The Concentration of Energy

I have read hundreds of books on the path to success.  I have spoken with dozens of highly successful people - in multiple fields of endeavor.  My objective is to find the common threads, the lessons that any one of us can employ to achieve our own particular objectives.

Although rarely communicated in this fashion, one of my most important "take-away's" is that successful people (either consciously or unconsciously) develop life styles that conserve personal energy for all things EXCEPT activity that can move them closer to their goals.

In prior blogs I have spoken to routines … how developing continuing predictable habits and schedules can facilitate the path to success.  These routines are not just about putting aside time for specific activity.  These routines are also about the allocation of energy to just those activities that can have a positive impact in a movement toward one's aspirations.

You are burning energy every second of your day (even when you are sleeping).  And, you only have so much of it.  Let's just say you have 100 units of energy for your 24 hour day (note the similarity between energy and time).  How you choose to spend that energy (and time) is going to have a tremendous amount of influence over what your life looks like in a year, or ten.

Success types realize that we all have a finite opportunity to realize our aspirations.  We have so much time to get there.  We have so much energy to consume on the path.  And they expend their energy in ways that are most likely to bring them to where they want to be. 

So, as you hopefully do with your time, think about how you expend your energy.  Is it being invested in those endeavors most likely to take you to personal ambition?

No. 58 - How To Generate New Ideas

We're all taught in school that there is one right answer to every question. In mathematics and other precise disciplines, that's usually correct.

But don't believe there is only one right approach to a problem - it can be limiting.

When creativity experts teach about innovation and idea generation, they suggest people focus on the "second" right answer.

They try to encourage people to think beyond the first (or most logical) answer that comes to mind; people should develop lots of ideas. This process can sometimes produce new, exciting and useful approaches.

Humans tend to be convergent thinkers, which means they reject anything that doesn't seem helpful at first blush. Of course, this is a useful approach when we must evaluate many decisions in a given time period.

But equally important is divergent thinking, which is expansive, outside-the-box, free-flow thinking.

When you refuse to reject ideas quickly, release your mind out of practical mode, and look for lots of possible answers, you may just uncover a better approach than your 'first right answer.'

"Nothing is more dangerous than an idea...when it is the only one we have." - Emile Chartier, philosopher

The way to produce one good idea is to produce lots of ideas.

Some experts refer to creativity as lateral versus vertical thinking. Vertical thinking is the standard process: A to B to C. We move from step to step in a normal and rational progression.

But sometimes creativity results from breaking the chain, from moving laterally rather than vertically. Lateral thinking is about challenging the status quo and refuting existing truths. Lateral thinking is disruptive and sometimes even ridiculous.

The process of letting your mind go - let it roam unfettered into unknown territory - will sometimes lead to great discoveries.

"You can't discover new worlds without losing sight of land." - Famous Explorer

Read more about creativity, or check out the work-in-progress book 'Street Smarts 101: Lessons Textbooks Miss.'

Click here to learn more about the book The Skinny On Creativity.

No. 67 - Flex Your Creative Muscles by Acting Childish

There are times in life when you have to get very creative. When you're stuck with a problem or challenge, and the solution is just not immediately obvious.

Experts in creativity have several suggestions for jump-starting your creative thinking. One suggestion is to think like a child.

Creative thinking is sometimes just about going beyond the immediate boundaries of practicality or tradition. Many of us – when faced with a problem – get stuck because we limit our resolutions within parameters of what has already been done.

But sometimes creativity requires us to drop self-imposed barriers. To think of nutty ideas...stuff that goes beyond our own gravity. And you know who thinks like that?

Yes, children of course.

Children imagine without any consideration for practicality, expense or penalty. They just imagine. And that is often what creative thinking is all about – coming up with ideas that may seem ridiculous at first but which actually hold the essence of a breakthrough.

So, when you are stuck, take off your business clothes and put on a silly hat. Think about what is bothering you and stick out your tongue at it. Make a loud noise, too.

In other words, act like a child and let your mind roam free. You never know what ideas might result from this childish behavior.

"Let the child in you come out. Don't be afraid. One of the ways to come up with new ideas is to be more like a child.

Loosen up. Run down the hall at work. Take everything out of your desk drawers and put it on the floor for a couple of days. Rearrange your furniture. Write notes with crayons.

Forget what was done before. Break the rules. Be illogical. Be silly. Be free. Be a child!" - Jack Foster, How to Get Ideas

Read more about creativity, or check out the work-in-progress book 'Street Smarts 101: Lessons Textbooks Miss.'

Click here to learn more about the book The Skinny On Creativty.

How To Develop Sticky Ideas

Read more on how to improve your creativity.

Click here to learn more about the book The Skinny On Creativity.

Improve Your Creativity By Taking Copious Notes

Learn more about The Skinny On Creativity.

The Internet IS Changing Our Brains

Neuroplasticity is the capacity of our brain and nervous system to change in response to the external stimuli in our lives. It is a protective device. To accommodate changes in our environment, our brain rewires its circuitry so we can survive – and hopefully prosper.

No event in the last several hundred years has changed our environment more than the Internet and related digital devices. The pace of our lives is increasing exponentially.

And our brains react. We learn to skim when we read. We learn to search for visual guides and distractions. We don't struggle to remember information that we know is readily available with the touch of a button.

There's no point to debate whether we are better or worse as a result. What's done is done, and it's certainly not ever going back to the way it was. But if you want to read the pros and cons, I recommend Nicholas Carr's excellent book The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains. (I've already reviewed it once here.)

"One thing is very clear: if, knowing what we know today about the brain's plasticity, you were to set out to invent a medium that would rewire our mental circuits as quickly and thoroughly as possible, you would probably end up designing something that looks and works a lot like the Internet." - Nicholas Carr

Our brains are changing. End of discussion. As a business person, my goal is to discover what products and services I can develop to mesh with these changes.

"The Net's influence doesn't end at the edge of a computer screen. Media companies are reshaping their traditional products, even the physical ones, to more closely resemble what people experience when they’re online.... Many magazines have tweaked their layouts to mimic or at least echo the look and feel of Web sites. They've shortened their articles, introduced capsule summaries, and crowded their pages with easy-to-browse blurbs and captions." - Nicholas Carr

Look carefully. You will see all sorts of innovative marketing and products arise in the days ahead to accommodate the changes in your brain.

Serendipity Breeds Creativity

Learn more about The Skinny On Creativity.

A Skinny Brainteaser