We
would all like to be creative; perhaps it is not so hard.
“Curiosity
about life in all its aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative
people,” noted the late Leo Burnett, outstanding advertising executive and
founder of the firm that bears his name. If so, then by encouraging our own
curiosity, we can become more creative.
Former
journalist Harry W. Hoover’s recent little book Born Creative maintains that we all are born
creative, but some of us don’t believe we are, and so we don’t exercise that
skill.
Hoover
cites a Harvard Business Review (HBR) study that found that those who
think they are not creative, are not, and those who think they are creative,
are. Inventor Henry Ford is credited with, “Whether you think you can or think you
can’t, you’re right.” Perhaps your opinion correctly summarizes past
experience, but Ford’s implied urging toward positive thinking supports Hoover’s
view that however much we are innately creative, we can all do better.
Creative Mindset Test
Hoover
offers HBR’s five-question test to gauge our “creative mindset.” It asks yes/no
questions about
1. Associational
thinking: do you solve problems by drawing on diverse ideas or knowledge?
2. Questioning:
do you often ask questions that challenge assumptions?
3. Observing:
do you get innovative ideas by watching how people behave?
4. Idea
networking: do you frequently interact with a diverse set of people?
5. Experimenting:
do you try to create new methods?
HBR
would rate you as “creative” if you answered “yes” to a majority of these
questions, but even if you did not, Hoover proposes some approaches to exercise
and improve your creative muscle. Hoover reports that a study found that the
average adult thinks up two or three alternatives for “any given situation,”
but the average child thinks of 60. No wonder kids find so many ways to get
into trouble!
Embrace Change
A
comment by David Norris helped Hoover realize that his time was more precious
than his income, especially when he was spending a couple of hours a day
commuting. He altered his career trajectory and now works from home.
Generate an “I Am” List
Hoover
recommends this clever exercise: Leaving the first entry blank, write down 30
things you are good at. When all done, put as #1 “I am really creative.” Re-read
it frequently, as auto-suggestion, self-hypnosis.
Don’t Be Like This Big Fish
Scientists
ran an experiment with a big fish, Hoover relates, a fish that was initially
given all the minnows it could eat, while it swam in its aquarium. Next, they
encased minnows individually in strong, transparent containers, where they
could swim, but the big fish could not get at them. Soon, it gave up trying.
Next, they released the minnows from the containers, but the big fish did not
try to eat them, having “learned” it couldn’t. This did not end well.
Make Creative Weather: Brainstorm
You
are probably familiar with brainstorming, which Hoover praises. In an informal
meeting, solicit ideas, and keep pushing for more ideas, while shielding each
participant from criticism. Crucial elements are: proper preparation, a skilled
facilitator, generating without denigrating, suspending judgment, quantity not
quality to start, going “beyond reason,” and piggybacking one idea on another.
Capture the ideas in writing.
Use SCAMMPERR for Creativity
To
come up with novelty, Hoover uses SCAMMPERR to suggest the following approaches:
Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Magnify, Modify, Put to another use, Eliminate,
Rearrange, Reverse.
Steve
Jobs has been quoted as saying that creativity is often the joining of
disparate elements to make something new.
Psychologist
Edward de Bono, author of multiple books on creative thinking, emphasized the
value of comparing and contrasting dissimilar items to generate new ideas. De
Bono also maintains that creativity helps make life more fun and more
interesting.
Harness
Your Creative Courage and Judgment
“Creativity is allowing oneself to make
mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep,” wrote
cartoonist-author-entrepreneur Scott Adams. By being brave, we can risk making
mistakes. “Art” may largely be a matter of taste.
You won’t know until you try.
Questions
How do
you express your own creativity? What do you do to stimulate it?
Please
join the conversation.
###
Douglas Winslow Cooper, Ph.D., is a former Harvard science
professor. He still publishes, and he helps others write and publish their
books via his coaching business website, http://WriteYourBookWithMe.com. His life's central theme has been his half-century romance with his wife, Tina Su Cooper, now quadriplegic for over a decade
due to multiple sclerosis, receiving 24/7 nursing care at home, as discussed at
their website here.
###
Published in a somewhat different form at http://sixtyandme.com/6-keys-to-being-creative-at-any-age/
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