In this state of mind you are taking in reams of information from your surroundings uncritically. Paying attention to disparate sights, sounds and smells is useful while you are incubating an idea and gathering data....[More]
Absorb Brainset:
In this state of mind you are taking in reams of information from your surroundings uncritically. Paying attention to disparate sights, sounds and smells is useful while you are incubating an idea and gathering data. An open mind and an interest in novelty are helpful here. In one famous example of the use of this brainset, Alexander Fleming noticed the absence of bacteria in a section of a lab dish that had been contaminated with a mold. That observation led to the discovery of the antibiotic penicillin.
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Mdd via Wikimedia Commons
A Certain Slant of Light:
To become more aware of your environment and enhance your ability to perceive the world around you, try this exercise. First find a stopwatch or a timer of some kind, and set it for five minutes....[More]
A Certain Slant of Light:
To become more aware of your environment and enhance your ability to perceive the world around you, try this exercise. First find a stopwatch or a timer of some kind, and set it for five minutes. Wherever you are, try to take in the sights, sounds and other sensations around you. Observe your surroundings with curiosity but without judgment. Look for patterns of color and light. View edges and angles of objects or walls. Notice movement by people, objects, insects and shadows. Listen to sounds. Pay attention to the tonal qualities of voices, the variations in any music you can detect, the rhythms of incidental noises such as dogs barking, rain hitting the roof or pavement, splashes in a bathtub or the hum of traffic. Also note tactile sensations: the contours or texture of the surface on which you are sitting, the temperature and humidity of the ambient air. Finally, take in any faint odors—say from food, flowers or fuel—again without rating their quality. Continue this process until the timer sounds. If performed frequently, this exercise will condition you to become attracted to what is new around you. You may soon inhabit a sensory world that, as William Blake wrote, is "clos'd" to others.
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Delton via Wikimedia Commons
Connect Brainset:
Here, you relax your focus so that you can see the connections between very different types of objects or concepts. This process of so-called divergent thinking helps you generate multiple solutions to a problem rather than just one....[More]
Connect Brainset:
Here, you relax your focus so that you can see the connections between very different types of objects or concepts. This process of so-called divergent thinking helps you generate multiple solutions to a problem rather than just one. The more ideas you can come up with for a difficult conundrum, the more likely one of them will work. This brainset enables you to "think outside the box," and generate flashes of insight. Use it, for example, to solve the following problem: Connect all the dots in the array pictured above using four straight lines, and without lifting your pencil from the page.
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Scientific American
Novel Solutions:
To improve your ability to mentally connect the dots, try this activity. Get a stopwatch or timer, three pieces of paper and a pencil or pen. Set the timer for three minutes and then write down all the uses for a soup can that you can imagine....[More]
Novel Solutions:
To improve your ability to mentally connect the dots, try this activity. Get a stopwatch or timer, three pieces of paper and a pencil or pen. Set the timer for three minutes and then write down all the uses for a soup can that you can imagine. Use the whole three minutes. For the next three minutes, jot down all the white edible things you can think of. Lastly, on your third sheet of paper, spend three minutes noting what might happen if humans had three arms instead of two. On other days, practice thinking of new uses for household objects such as a paper clip or chair, and considering the consequences of other weird changes to the human body!
Now consider a social scenario that bothers you. Perhaps one of your co-workers talks to you so much that you can't get your work done, or your neighbor complains about your dog's barking. Or perhaps your child throws tantrums whenever you do homework together. Set the timer for three minutes and write down as many ways to solve this problem as you can think of, without judging the quality of the solutions. Look over your list. Are there surprises? Sift out the silly ideas, holding on to the gems. Spend at least 15 minutes daily, or whenever you can, thinking in this "divergent" way about a practical problem in your life.
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SixSigma via Wikimedia Commons
Reason Brainset:
You can also solve a problem by manipulating information in your working memory, a type of short-term memory that functions as a mental sketch pad....[More]
Reason Brainset:
You can also solve a problem by manipulating information in your working memory, a type of short-term memory that functions as a mental sketch pad. People perform this conscious mental gymnastic whenever they are setting a goal, devising a plan, making a decision or just thinking about something. To grease your reasoning machinery, bone up on this eight-step problem solving process: 1. Recognize that you have a problem. One clear sign is the presence of negative emotions: stress, anxiety, shame and depression are often signs of something that needs to be addressed. 2. Define the problem. Decide exactly what it is and what caused it. 3. Set a goal for solving it. Make sure this goal is realistic for you to accomplish. 4. Brainstorm solutions, using your connect brainset. 5. Evaluate those solutions by making a list of pros and cons for each one. 6. Choose the best solution, ranking the one with the least cons higher than the one with the most pros. 7. Make a plan to implement your solution. 8. Assess success: Did your solution work? If not, try another.
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Dornicke via Wikimedia Commons
Thought-Stoppers:
To be able to think logically, you may also need to train your brain to block out thoughts that are upsetting or distracting. You can do this by writing "thought-stopping" commands on a three-by-five index card....[More]
Thought-Stoppers:
To be able to think logically, you may also need to train your brain to block out thoughts that are upsetting or distracting. You can do this by writing "thought-stopping" commands on a three-by-five index card. Choose four of the following to write on your card: "I need to stop thinking these thoughts." "Don't buy into these thoughts." "Don't go there." "Stop this thought now!" "Mentally walk away." "These thoughts won't help the situation." Add two more directives of your own to the card. Now, whenever unwanted notions enter your mind imagine a mental stop sign or take out your card and recite these instructions to yourself.
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Nicke L via Wikimedia Commons
Envision Brainset:
Think visually. Imagine objects and manipulate them in your mind's eye to see new patterns and similarities between disparate concepts. To enhance your ability to imagine things, try this exercise: Stand a few feet away from an object in your surroundings....[More]
Envision Brainset:
Think visually. Imagine objects and manipulate them in your mind's eye to see new patterns and similarities between disparate concepts. To enhance your ability to imagine things, try this exercise: Stand a few feet away from an object in your surroundings. Hold a pencil far out from your body and trace the outlines of the object in the air, starting with its outer edge and then proceeding to its interior contours. After two minutes close your eyes and try to envision the object. Try to do this exercise daily with increasingly complex objects. You can also try visualizing a familiar object from different angles each day.
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Marcela via Wikimedia Commons
What if?:
To hone your mind's eye in a way that helps you imagine hypotheticals, try this activity. First, set a stopwatch or timer for five minutes. Next, pick an article from a local newspaper and change one key aspect of the story in a "What if?" scenario....[More]
What if?:
To hone your mind's eye in a way that helps you imagine hypotheticals, try this activity. First, set a stopwatch or timer for five minutes. Next, pick an article from a local newspaper and change one key aspect of the story in a "What if?" scenario. For example, think "What if children were allowed to vote to decide the next president of the U.S.—and their votes counted?" Imagine the scenario and visualize the consequences—socially, politically and economically. What changes would occur in that alternate reality?
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Jarda 75 via Wikimedia Commons
Transform Brainset:
Strong emotions and vulnerability can motivate us to express our ideas. Instead of trying to escape from a bad mood, explore it by thinking about what you are feeling and why....[More]
Transform Brainset:
Strong emotions and vulnerability can motivate us to express our ideas. Instead of trying to escape from a bad mood, explore it by thinking about what you are feeling and why. Many creative people have used negative emotions such as anxiety, depression and hurt as subject matter for works of art in which they share their inner experiences. Emily Dickinson wrote about depression in her poem, "There's a Certain Slant of Light". Edvard Munch depicted a state of high anxiety in his painting The Scream (rendered in the snow sculptures above). And blues music is, after all, based on feeling blue.
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Helge Høifødt via Wikimedia Commons
Emotional Rescue:
You can use your bad moods to inspire music or art, writing, decorating, dancing and even creative cooking. You don't need training or talent; conveying emotions is powerful, no matter your expertise....[More]
Emotional Rescue:
You can use your bad moods to inspire music or art, writing, decorating, dancing and even creative cooking. You don't need training or talent; conveying emotions is powerful, no matter your expertise. To better understand and describe your feelings, try this exercise. Get a piece of paper and writing utensil, and sit in a quiet place. Consider your own feelings as if you were an outside observer. Write down at least three sentences describing them. Next, explore and describe your physical sensations. Does any part of your body feel tense or painful? Do you think these sensations are related to your emotions? If so, write down how the two are connected. Now, consider your mental state: Are your feelings making it difficult to concentrate? Also, note whether you are feeling the urge to act—say, to run away or escape, or to lash out at or throw your arms around someone. The idea is to train you to think about and completely describe your feeling state. If you do this once a week, you will gain insight into your feelings, hone your ability to express yourself and develop your emotional intelligence—all traits that will improve your creative work.
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Stanitsa via Wikimedia Commons
Stream Brainset:
In this mind-set, you achieve what psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls a state of "flow" in which you are completely absorbed in the creative process—whether you are sketching a blueprint for a device, constructing a collage, solving a mathematical conundrum or writing a piece of music....[More]
Stream Brainset:
In this mind-set, you achieve what psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls a state of "flow" in which you are completely absorbed in the creative process—whether you are sketching a blueprint for a device, constructing a collage, solving a mathematical conundrum or writing a piece of music. When you are in the stream stage, ideas come almost effortlessly one after another as you continue to build onto your original thoughts. The conditions for this state include having clear goals, receiving immediate feedback to your actions and a task that matches your skill level.
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Fir0002 via Wikimedia Commons
Battling Boredom:
One critical condition for achieving flow is motivation. To motivate yourself, find a task that is the right level of difficulty. A job that is too hard will frustrate and worry you; a very simple chore will lead to boredom....[More]
Battling Boredom:
One critical condition for achieving flow is motivation. To motivate yourself, find a task that is the right level of difficulty. A job that is too hard will frustrate and worry you; a very simple chore will lead to boredom. There are ways to adjust the level of challenge for tasks that lie at either extreme. For example, if the task seems dull—say, you have to dust the furniture, photocopy a report or pen thank-you notes—you can try setting a timer and working under time pressure to boost your arousal. Alternatively, try appreciating the activity more by, say, considering how much you like the furniture you are cleaning or are looking forward to the conference at which you will present your report. You can also try raising your standards—writing original letters may be more interesting than penning the same thank-you note over and over again. Tasks that seem too complex, on the other hand, can be broken down into smaller parts. If you need to write a 30-page report, decide which sections you will write in what order and set intermediate deadlines. Some very difficult tasks may need to be postponed until you feel you have the expertise to complete them.
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Adam63 via Wikimedia Commons
Evaluate Brainset:
Eventually, you need to critique your progress, judging the ideas and products you have created to be sure they are well suited to the purpose you had in mind and are likely to be effective....[More]
Evaluate Brainset:
Eventually, you need to critique your progress, judging the ideas and products you have created to be sure they are well suited to the purpose you had in mind and are likely to be effective. Impersonally examine your work and reject what you don't want, leaving the best possible solution. To sort the rubies from the rubble, ask yourself: Is the idea original? Will it be useful to someone? Will the idea change the way people think? Does this idea meet a goal I set? If not, does it meet another possible goal? And lastly, Does the idea have aesthetic value?
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Tsca via Wikimedia Commons
Difficult Choices:
To improve your ability to make decisions and weed out alternatives, try this exercise. You will need a pen or pencil, two pieces of paper and a timer....[More]
Difficult Choices:
To improve your ability to make decisions and weed out alternatives, try this exercise. You will need a pen or pencil, two pieces of paper and a timer. On one sheet of paper, list your 10 favorite books, all of which should be meaningful to you. On the other sheet, write the numbers 1 through 10 and beside those, make two columns, one headed "Keep," and the other, "Throw Away". Now imagine you are in the ocean on a small boat and must throw away half your books to stay afloat. Set the timer for two minutes; decide which books you will toss out to sea before the timer runs out. Try the same exercise weekly with other types of belongings—say your suits or dresses—that are important to you. The activity will help you make rapid judgments about the value of the things you own.
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Gnosos via Wikimedia Commons
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Again, I am going to disagree with you. Creativity is not a brain set created by man (you can do it, but the person is going to be very uncomfortable and feel degraded), you are born with the ability, just as a good surgeon is born and that ability is recognized at a very early age. If the parent or teacher helps the child develop that creativity, at that young age, the child can, and most often do, become very successful...remember Tiger Woods and golf, and Michelangelo and art?
James, your examples of Tiger Woods and Michelangelo only confirm that ultimate creativity requires combination of many factors including good genetics, early exposure to the activity and a lot of of work. Like every math function max of creativity is reached at the certain optimum values of multiple parameters. On the other hand, and that is what is that article about, it's absolutely clear that any ability will increase with adequate training. Genetics is not enough and is is not a guarantee that you will reach your maximum creativity in your life. I met several math geniuses in my life, winners of International Math Olympiads with an excellent early age abilities, who never realized themselves as creative scientists later in life due to the lack of regular exercise.
A question: How would you recognize who is going to be a good surgeon early in life?
That aside, I must disagree with the idea that the quality of a human being can be determined solely by genetics. Since it is possible to build up muscle through excercise and knowledge through education, why should it be impossible to build up creativity through some form of practice?
A very good set of ideas, but I am not sure I agree with them all. Stopping extraneous thoughts is good for getting a job done, but I is actually anti-originality. It is those random thought which are the basis of creativity. Battling boredom by trying to do a job as quickly as possible is another efficiency booster, but trying to think of alternate ways to do a job, like Hercules cleaning the Aegean stables by diverting a river, is more likely to increase creativity. I also think that cultivating contrariness should also be included in the list. A study I read some years ago claimed that the top creative people answered word association tests with opposites: up for down, fast for slow, etc.
But to make this a true science, what is needed is to test these ideas by having a study where people try each of these methods and see if their creativity is increased.
White Might: you should include your solution rather than just making a claim. (My 3-line solution is that the lines must be very long (since there is nothing that says the lines must go through the exact center of the dots). As the size of the dots approaches zero, the length of the lines required approaches infinity).
Image 2 description describes my state of mind all the time-I am an artist, and this is the way I look at the world, fascinated everyday by clouds, trees, the little things of spring as the environment changes, and I see everyone else hellbent on some mission for family or money or job, and I think they miss the greatest wonder of all, the universe we live in.
You might be pre-programmed to do what you have to do in this life. My Father, a marvellous Music Teacher, was hell-bent to turn me into another Mozart. On my sixth Birthday I announced that I was going to invent Gravity Control when I was BIG. Great hilarity amongst the guests, all Teachers and Principals. My Father started me on the violin at age three, Piano at four, Alto violin at six and a friend Organist started me at that at age ten. Unfortunately he discovered that I knew all about the organ. Going home with me I told my father that I had played it at age four in a church that did not have electricity, how he was dressed in Gold Velours and had a white wig and that the people behind me were all laughing. "Which Church was that?" My father told me that I was a liar and ordered me to go to my room and write one thousand times: "I must not be a liar". Then the organist told him, who that happened to. My Mother came to my room to tell me that I did not have to write those thousand lines. Then we got visits from French, Belgian, German, English and famous musicians, who all gave me tests. Simple ones, like play a piece of music using four or five notes. I wanted to be an engineer. No, my father was not going to pay a cent for that, I had to go into music. Two hours every day Piano and violin, plus all the High School work (24 subjects all the time). Then we were liberated in 1944 and I joined the Netherlands Marines, trained in the USA for the invasion of Japan. I came back after my stint in Indonesia and became a self-taught electronics engineer and Techwriter. I emigrated to Canada, worked as a Technician, Techwriter and Engineer and discovered in 1967 the technology of the Flying Saucer, GRAVITY CONTROL. Offered to Nasa, it was misused by Propulsion Engineers and declared not suitable for Space Travel. It could have been applied to the Shuttles that thereupon would have been able to fly without rockets all over the place for another thirty years at low cost. An invention is first ridiculed ( I had that till I got the patent), then it is attacked, (these Nasa guys were probably programmed to do that) and eventually it will be declared self-evident when I construct a real Flying Saucer. The nay-sayers will probably go down in the history books as a bunch of stupids..
I think you're confusing your observations of creative people with a prescription for creative behavior. You have described, for example, many of the things I do naturally as a creative person. I'm not sure that means someone could perform consciously according to your description and, therefore, "become" creative, however.
15. bucketofsquid
in reply to JamesDavis10:30 AM 4/26/11
You have a very simplistic view of reality. All of my early assessments said I would be a factory worker on an assembly line. I write fairly sophisticated software. As usual, your post shows a very narrow view of reality.
16. bucketofsquid
in reply to Steve310:33 AM 4/26/11
Steve3 - you are aiming too low. If he cheats at golf and has a lawyer while that young he will obviously be either the CEO of a mega bank or the President of the country.
I think it's interesting how your recommendations are very structured and linear. In my experience (as a chief creative officer myself) it's necessary to have structure around the brainstorming process, but the the true creativity comes when analyzing the ideas and delineating the best from the rest. Our process for our clients, when creating creative ideas for campaigns, requires us to push past the initial ideas and mash them up in a different way. To me, true creativity is exercised when you can recognize unexpected patterns in ideas that create exciting twists on concepts that may have not been paired together before. This skill requires critical thinking coupled with time to allow your mind to venture out in an imaginative way and mentally explore the possibilities of many ideas. Once those are out and down on paper, it takes m ore critical thinking to connect with the ones that will garner attention. Creativity, to me, is connecting with that place that lives inside every human being that reminds them of what it's like to be light and free. It's a gift we all possess, but in my humble opinion most people listen to others at an early, influential age the cynicism and doubt and start believing it. The people who hold creativity as an important part of their identity guard it close and protect it as they age, making it seem like they were born with the skill as a unique talent. It wasn't that they were born with it; it was that they chose to not let it go. I believe everyone is creative in their own right, and if people could see this delicious wonderfulness inside of themselves, the world would be a much more fun and positive place to thrive and produce. That is my wish for humanity... To recognize this in themselves and understand it's power. Btw, ennui, you sound like a very interesting person and I would love to hear more of your story! Please email me at Courtney@PureMatter.com so we can connect. Thanks for listening!
Camaraderie can reward creativity I like the site http://www.halfbakery.com where a person describes a new technology under fairly stringent rules then peers suggest improvements
The most stringent social effect at the halfbakery might be that you think the new idea actually will work as well as providing instructions such that a group of reasonably knowledgeable people could build it. You cannot just say A sunscreen that lasts as long as henna You would say Using the micheal reaction (wikipedia reference) that attaches henna to skin protein create a functional group that does the micheal reaction then attach that to a sunscreen molecule to create a transparent colorless sunscreen that lasts as long as henna
theres an amazingly brilliant idea there every day
also a thing I was doing that either built up creativity or just caused creative activity is looking at an entire list or catalog then improving every item at the catalog. Every Item. like every single item at the hammacher schlemmer catalog or R&D magazines list of top new technologies Its both fun n gruellingly weird
Its like "um a new diamond coated bearing" aha "they could use cvd to put a layer of c14 diamond on the diamond bearing then spectroscopy lasers could automatically view the bearing to see where the c14 had worn away to reveal bearing wear"
anyway you do this to hundreds of items because you cant turn the page until you think of something you honestly believe is better although its possible to just go with an entirely new idea as well
There are hundreds of books on creativity but the best way is to travel to a foreign country and you will see life—and ideas— in a different, more creative way.
I'm pretty sure the current discussion goes back to the aged debate of Nature VS Nurture. There is more evidence that it is a combination of both that attribute to who we become, not one or the other. If one is left to just his nature, then he does not learn right from wrong, just and unjust. If one is forced by another to behave a certain way (Nurture) opposite of what is in his nature, then he will become neurotic as his intrapsyche fights against what it was made to due. Ones Nature is guided by ones Nurture. Creativity is rooted in ones Nature, but does not blossom without a good Nurturing environment.
I always found "Creativity exercises" as anathema to "Creativity". Never found such Western, standardized exam type "exercises" to be stimulating. They can dry and forced.
There are many ways to be creative. Wordplay in contemporary rap/hip hop culture, installment art appreciation, Superbowl ads... Point is what Buddhist call Mindfulness or Flow in modern psychological parlance.
One's mileage may vary. Found the visualization exercise to be of interest.
I also suggest Roger van Oech [sick [siq [siks [sic]]]]
I agree with sdswa. I too am creative and work as an artist, writer, fix-it-man, etc. The element of joy was missing from most comments. I get a kick from creating and solving seemingly intractable physical problems. However, I believe it's possible to open up a closed-person's creative impulse with some basic techniques, which address all the senses as well as consciousness (Buddha's contribution). I am putting together a program to help creative-blocked people. It's a challenge to find the right mix. But I believe I have the basic outline already. Enjoy all these intelligently considered opinions.
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25 Comments
Add CommentAgain, I am going to disagree with you. Creativity is not a brain set created by man (you can do it, but the person is going to be very uncomfortable and feel degraded), you are born with the ability, just as a good surgeon is born and that ability is recognized at a very early age. If the parent or teacher helps the child develop that creativity, at that young age, the child can, and most often do, become very successful...remember Tiger Woods and golf, and Michelangelo and art?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisJames, your examples of Tiger Woods and Michelangelo only confirm that ultimate creativity requires combination of many factors including good genetics, early exposure to the activity and a lot of of work. Like every math function max of creativity is reached at the certain optimum values of multiple parameters. On the other hand, and that is what is that article about, it's absolutely clear that any ability will increase with adequate training. Genetics is not enough and is is not a guarantee that you will reach your maximum creativity in your life. I met several math geniuses in my life, winners of International Math Olympiads with an excellent early age abilities, who never realized themselves as creative scientists later in life due to the lack of regular exercise.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI can do it with three straight lines
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisA question: How would you recognize who is going to be a good surgeon early in life?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThat aside, I must disagree with the idea that the quality of a human being can be determined solely by genetics. Since it is possible to build up muscle through excercise and knowledge through education, why should it be impossible to build up creativity through some form of practice?
A very good set of ideas, but I am not sure I agree with them all. Stopping extraneous thoughts is good for getting a job done, but I is actually anti-originality. It is those random thought which are the basis of creativity. Battling boredom by trying to do a job as quickly as possible is another efficiency booster, but trying to think of alternate ways to do a job, like Hercules cleaning the Aegean stables by diverting a river, is more likely to increase creativity. I also think that cultivating contrariness should also be included in the list. A study I read some years ago claimed that the top creative people answered word association tests with opposites: up for down, fast for slow, etc.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBut to make this a true science, what is needed is to test these ideas by having a study where people try each of these methods and see if their creativity is increased.
White Might: you should include your solution rather than just making a claim. (My 3-line solution is that the lines must be very long (since there is nothing that says the lines must go through the exact center of the dots). As the size of the dots approaches zero, the length of the lines required approaches infinity).
Inspirations have I none, just to touch the flaming dove
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisDavid Bowie
Image 2 description describes my state of mind all the time-I am an artist, and this is the way I look at the world, fascinated everyday by clouds, trees, the little things of spring as the environment changes, and I see everyone else hellbent on some mission for family or money or job, and I think they miss the greatest wonder of all, the universe we live in.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou might be pre-programmed to do what you have to do in this life. My Father, a marvellous Music Teacher, was hell-bent to turn me into another Mozart.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOn my sixth Birthday I announced that I was going to invent Gravity Control when I was BIG. Great hilarity amongst the guests, all Teachers and Principals.
My Father started me on the violin at age three, Piano at four, Alto violin at six and a friend Organist started me at that at age ten. Unfortunately he discovered that I knew all about the organ. Going home with me I told my father that I had played it at age four in a church that did not have electricity, how he was dressed in Gold Velours and had a white wig and that the people behind me were all laughing. "Which Church was that?"
My father told me that I was a liar and ordered me to go to my room and write one thousand times: "I must not be a liar". Then the organist told him, who that happened to.
My Mother came to my room to tell me that I did not have to write those thousand lines. Then we got visits from French, Belgian, German, English and famous musicians, who all gave me tests. Simple ones, like play a piece of music using four or five notes.
I wanted to be an engineer. No, my father was not going to pay a cent for that, I had to go into music. Two hours every day Piano and violin, plus all the High School work (24 subjects all the time).
Then we were liberated in 1944 and I joined the Netherlands Marines, trained in the USA for the invasion of Japan. I came back after my stint in Indonesia and became a self-taught electronics engineer and Techwriter.
I emigrated to Canada, worked as a Technician, Techwriter and Engineer and discovered in 1967 the technology of the Flying Saucer, GRAVITY CONTROL.
Offered to Nasa, it was misused by Propulsion Engineers and declared not suitable for Space Travel.
It could have been applied to the Shuttles that thereupon would have been able to fly without rockets all over the place for another thirty years at low cost.
An invention is first ridiculed ( I had that till I got the patent), then it is attacked, (these Nasa guys were probably programmed to do that) and eventually it will be declared self-evident when I construct a real Flying Saucer. The nay-sayers will probably go down in the history books as a bunch of stupids..
"just as a good surgeon is born and that ability is recognized at a very early age"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have a 7 year old who cheats at golf and has a lawyer .. could he be surgeon material?
I think you're confusing your observations of creative people with a prescription for creative behavior. You have described, for example, many of the things I do naturally as a creative person. I'm not sure that means someone could perform consciously according to your description and, therefore, "become" creative, however.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI want that 5 minutes of my life back. Worthless.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisGeorgeVth - you're a true wonder-tracker.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou can't have your 5 minutes of life back unless you get with ennui and use his gravity control to travel through time.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI can do it with 1 straight line. All I have to do is warp the space/time continuum. Without cheating though, it takes me 4 lines.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou have a very simplistic view of reality. All of my early assessments said I would be a factory worker on an assembly line. I write fairly sophisticated software. As usual, your post shows a very narrow view of reality.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSteve3 - you are aiming too low. If he cheats at golf and has a lawyer while that young he will obviously be either the CEO of a mega bank or the President of the country.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think we all need to learn and practice a lot more humility.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think it's interesting how your recommendations are very structured and linear. In my experience (as a chief creative officer myself) it's necessary to have structure around the brainstorming process, but the the true creativity comes when analyzing the ideas and delineating the best from the rest. Our process for our clients, when creating creative ideas for campaigns, requires us to push past the initial ideas and mash them up in a different way. To me, true creativity is exercised when you can recognize unexpected patterns in ideas that create exciting twists on concepts that may have not been paired together before. This skill requires critical thinking coupled with time to allow your mind to venture out in an imaginative way and mentally explore the possibilities of many ideas. Once those are out and down on paper, it takes m ore critical thinking to connect with the ones that will garner attention. Creativity, to me, is connecting with that place that lives inside every human being that reminds them of what it's like to be light and free. It's a gift we all possess, but in my humble opinion most people listen to others at an early, influential age the cynicism and doubt and start believing it. The people who hold creativity as an important part of their identity guard it close and protect it as they age, making it seem like they were born with the skill as a unique talent. It wasn't that they were born with it; it was that they chose to not let it go. I believe everyone is creative in their own right, and if people could see this delicious wonderfulness inside of themselves, the world would be a much more fun and positive place to thrive and produce. That is my wish for humanity... To recognize this in themselves and understand it's power.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBtw, ennui, you sound like a very interesting person and I would love to hear more of your story! Please email me at Courtney@PureMatter.com so we can connect. Thanks for listening!
Camaraderie can reward creativity I like the site http://www.halfbakery.com where a person describes a new technology under fairly stringent rules then peers suggest improvements
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe most stringent social effect at the halfbakery might be that you think the new idea actually will work as well as providing instructions such that a group of reasonably knowledgeable people could build it. You cannot just say A sunscreen that lasts as long as henna You would say Using the micheal reaction (wikipedia reference) that attaches henna to skin protein create a functional group that does the micheal reaction then attach that to a sunscreen molecule to create a transparent colorless sunscreen that lasts as long as henna
theres an amazingly brilliant idea there every day
also a thing I was doing that either built up creativity or just caused creative activity is looking at an entire list or catalog then improving every item at the catalog. Every Item. like every single item at the hammacher schlemmer catalog or R&D magazines list of top new technologies Its both fun n gruellingly weird
Its like "um a new diamond coated bearing" aha "they could use cvd to put a layer of c14 diamond on the diamond bearing then spectroscopy lasers could automatically view the bearing to see where the c14 had worn away to reveal bearing wear"
anyway you do this to hundreds of items because you cant turn the page until you think of something you honestly believe is better although its possible to just go with an entirely new idea as well
There are hundreds of books on creativity but the best way is to travel to a foreign country and you will see life—and ideas— in a different, more creative way.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYou're not connecting all of the dots if you're only using three straight lines.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat is all this total BS doing in Sci-Am? I thought I'd accidentally logged onto National Enquirer.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'm pretty sure the current discussion goes back to the aged debate of Nature VS Nurture. There is more evidence that it is a combination of both that attribute to who we become, not one or the other. If one is left to just his nature, then he does not learn right from wrong, just and unjust. If one is forced by another to behave a certain way (Nurture) opposite of what is in his nature, then he will become neurotic as his intrapsyche fights against what it was made to due. Ones Nature is guided by ones Nurture. Creativity is rooted in ones Nature, but does not blossom without a good Nurturing environment.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI always found "Creativity exercises" as anathema to "Creativity". Never found such Western, standardized exam type "exercises" to be stimulating. They can dry and forced.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThere are many ways to be creative. Wordplay in contemporary rap/hip hop culture, installment art appreciation, Superbowl ads... Point is what Buddhist call Mindfulness or Flow in modern psychological parlance.
One's mileage may vary. Found the visualization exercise to be of interest.
I also suggest Roger van Oech [sick [siq [siks [sic]]]]
I agree with sdswa. I too am creative and work as an artist, writer, fix-it-man, etc. The element of joy was missing from most comments. I get a kick from creating and solving seemingly intractable physical problems. However, I believe it's possible to open up a closed-person's creative impulse with some basic techniques, which address all the senses as well as consciousness (Buddha's contribution). I am putting together a program to help creative-blocked people. It's a challenge to find the right mix. But I believe I have the basic outline already. Enjoy all these intelligently considered opinions.
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