Creativity Basics

The issues dealt with in this section include the basics of defining creativity as well as in recognizing and harnessing personal creativity. What is Creativity? Am I creative? Isn't creativity found in a few people, like inventors or artists? What can I do to increase my creativity? Obstacles to Creativity Coping with Daily Distractions Developing Imagination

Definitions of Creativity
There are many definitions of creativity; dictionaries give the following meanings:

Heritage Illustrated Dictionary:

create: To cause to exist, Bring into being, Originate, To give rise to, Bring about, Produce, To be first to portray and give character to a role or part (appropriate to creating fictional characters and writing stories) creation: An original product of human invention or imagination. creative: characterized by originality and expressiveness, imaginative

Macquarie Dictionary (an Australian dictionary)

create: to evolve from one's one thought or imagination to make by investing with new character or functions. create: author, bring into being, compose, conceive, parent, form, give rise to, throw together creative: generative, ground-breaking, innovative, originate, handmade

Other related words re: creativity:

creativity creativeness, formativeness, innovation, inventiveness, originality, productivity, craftsmanship, authorship, creatorship

"Being creative is seeing the same thing as everybody else but thinking of something different"
There are many aspects to creativity, but one definition would include the ability to take existing objects and combine them in different ways for new purposes. For example, Gutenberg took the wine press and the die/punch and produced a printing press. Thus, a simple definition of creativity is the action of combining previously uncombined elements. From art, music and invention to household chores, this is part of the nature of being creative. Another way of looking at creativity is as playing with the way things are interrelated. Creativity is the ability to generate novel and useful ideas and solutions to everyday problems and challenges. Creativity involves the translation of our unique gifts, talents and vision into an external reality that is new and useful. We must keep in mind that creativity takes place unavoidably inside our own personal, social, and cultural boundaries. The more we define our creativity by identifying with specific sets of values, meanings, beliefs and symbols, the more our creativity will be focused and limited; the more we define our creativity by focusing on how values, meanings, beliefs and symbols are formed, the greater the chance that our creativity will become less restricted. In the creative process there are always two different (but interrelated) dimensions or levels of dynamics with which one can create: The system which may be a particular medium (e.g. oil painting or a particular musical form), or a particular process (like a problem solving agenda, or an approach to creativity like Synectics). The creative person manipulates that means to a creative end.

The second dimension is described by the conceptual "content" which the medium describes. Again, the creative person depicts, changes, manipulates, expresses somehow the idea of that content. There is no one definition of creativity that everyone can agree with. Creativity researchers, mostly from the field of psychology, usually claim that being creative means being novel and appropriate. Subsumed under the appropriateness criterion are qualities of fit, utility, and value. At least three aspects of creativity have drawn much attention. The creative process, receiving the most attention, focuses on the mechanisms and phases involved as one partakes in a creative act. A second aspect of creativity is the creative person. Here, personality traits of creative people are central. The environmental atmosphere and influence are concerns of a third aspect, the creative situation. Lastly, the criteria or characteristics of creative products have been sought. This area is of particular importance because it is the basis of any performance assessment of real world creativity and may provide a window on the other aspects of creativity. Briefly stated, creativity is often thought to exist on at least five levels: 1. a higher level versus a lower level 2. grand versus modest 3. big "C" versus little c 4. paradigm-shifting versus garden-variety 5. eminent versus everyday Some researchers claim other categories of creativity as well: 1. expressive versus productive 2. expressive versus inventive 3. expressive versus innovative 4. invention versus discovery 5. theory versus invention versus discovery 6. accommodative versus assimilative 7. personal versus public There are three general ways of achieving a creative solution: serendipity similarity and meditation Also, the mode of activity one is in when being creative differs. For example, there is a distinction between real-time creativity and multistage creativity. Real-time creativity is spur-of-the-moment, improvisational, and demands output in a short interval of time; whereas in multistage creativity, sufficient time is allowed for the generation and selection of ideas. Creative thought can be divided into divergent and convergent reasoning. Divergent thinking is the intellectual ability to think of many original, diverse, and elaborate ideas. Convergent thinking: the intellectual ability to logically evaluate, critique and choose the best idea from a selection of ideas. Both abilities are required for creative output. Divergent thinking is essential to the novelty of creative products whereas convergent thinking is fundamental to the appropriateness. Thus, any general definition of creativity must account for the process of recognition or discovery of novel ideas and solutions.

How do I know if I am, or could be, creative?

Every living, breathing human being has the potential to be creative. Each of us is a unique individual capable of creating...it comes with the human territory. We are, simply, quite a creative species. All people can be creative but those who are recognized as being creative have an awareness that others don't. Creative people seem to be able to tune in more to their thought patterns and glean great ideas. People who do not use their creative potential don't know how to do this or aren't even aware it is possible. Creative people can start thinking about something, then forget it. Meanwhile, their brains are still thinking about it. Later on, the person will start thinking about whatever it was again and their brain will say, "Excuse me, I've been thinking about this while you were off doing other things and I

have a few ideas. Care to hear them?" Non- creative people don't know that their brains are working for them offshift -- they don't know what they don't know! There are many components that influence the creativity of individuals. This is not to say that people tremendously fluctuate in their creativity day to day and hour to hour; the opposite is often believed - that some individuals are generally more creative most of the time than others. The reasons why some people are more creative, however, are many. a) Without the abilities needed to do the creative act, it is highly unlikely the individual will do the act. Just because a person has the ability to do something, however, does not necessarily mean that the person will do it. This is why researchers examine people's motives. b) Without the motivation to do so, it is unlikely that a person would complete an act, regardless of the person's abilities. c) Lastly, opportunities in the environment can affect the creativeness of individuals and groups of individuals. d) If you've ever generated a novel response to a problem or challenge then congratulate yourself as being creative. If you do this on a regular basis, say every day, then put the "creative person" badge on yourself. With, practice, your ability to generate novel and useful responses to problems and challenges will greatly improve. One aspect of a creative personality is the fluency with which he/she generates a number of new ideas. Not only does the creative person think of good ideas, but he/she can think of many ideas, explore them, and record them. If you feel a need to quantify your creative ability, go to a local psychologist and ask about taking a test to measure your creative ability. If you live near a college or university approach their psychology department with this request. But recognize that creative ability can be learned, improved upon, and increased over time.

Isn't creativity found in a few people, like inventors or artists?

Most (if not all) people are creative to various extents. It's just that some people act on their ideas and others ignore them. Inventors and artists take action on their ideas. How may people have said "I could have done that". The response to that is "Well, why didn't you?" or "Too late...someone else thought of it first". That is the whole purpose of creativity training...to develop one's ability to generate and implement new ideas. Different people have different levels and abilities of creativity, much like anything else that is a skill However, everyone can be creative if they want to be. And like other skills, creativity can be developed. Often people will think they aren't creative because they are basing their opinion on a skill they don't have, e.g. "I am a lousy painter." But that doesn't mean I can't be creative as a painter even though I make horrid stuff. A lack of creativity is not what is limiting my output as a painter. Creativity, the ability to generate novel responses to problems and challenges, in a basic human ability. Some people are encouraged to express their creative ability more than others and may even get rewarded for doing so. Artists, in addition to expressing their creativity, also have traits like manual dexterity, good eye-hand coordination and other skills than enable them to more fully express their creative thoughts. Similarly, athletes, teachers, scientists and auto mechanics have special skill sets that enable them to express their creative ideas. In western societies people seem to assign certain universal human abilities, like creativity, to only a subset of all people (usually artists, musicians and architects) making it more difficult for all members of society to see themselves as creative people. This is a Western myth that we must be aware of and work to overcome. Some people have extraordinary talents in fields that have been recognized as "creative." When they combine these extraordinary talents with the determination and persistence that it takes to achieve skill mastery, they are recognized as creative artists. Inventors are generally better than average at channeling their creativity towards practical ends, whereas artists are better at expressing themselves creatively. There are, however, many ways of being creative. Each of us can be creative if we recognize our unique talents and develop mastery in those areas. That is no guarantee that the world will recognize us... but it does provide the soul satisfaction that comes with living a creative life. Thus, we can freely assert that creativity is found in all people and that creative talents can be increased with study.

What can I do to increase my creativity?

The first task in becoming more creative is giving yourself permission to do things creatively. The second is overcoming your personal blocks to creativity. For some people, being creative involves trying not to be embarrassed by their own ideas; for others, it is a matter of being aware that things can be done in many different ways. Some people are self-aware or confident enough to have fewer inhibitions and can just let their creative natures work. Surround yourself with people who love and support you and you will be even more creative. Spend time meditating on your own worthiness, reading about other creative people and creative solutions, concentrating on the positive power of your own creative forces - these activities, combined with a belief in your own intuition and creative abilities, will help improve your confidence.

Action Steps
Here are a few additional things you can do to improve your creativity: Study books on creative thinking techniques and put them into practice Attend courses on creative thinking and put the ideas into practice. Keep a daily journal and record your thoughts, ideas, sketches, etc. as soon as you get them. Review your journal regularly and see what ideas can be developed. Indulge inrelaxation activities and sports to give the mind a rest and time for the subconscious to digest information. Develop an interest in a variety of different things, preferably well away from your normal sphere of work. For example, read comic books or magazines you wouldn't normally get. This keeps the brain busy with new things. It is a common trait of creative people that they are interested in a wide variety of subjects. Don't work too hard -you need time away from a problem to be creative after periods of intense focus. It really helps to think of creativity as a skill or set of skills. By practicing, one can get better at using them. So whenever you have a chance try and do mundane things in novel ways - it will make them more entertaining and you will get more used to expressing your abilities. Practicing at overcoming irrational inhibitions will also help to improve your creativity. When you're at a standstill, and you witness somebody with a vital and flowing creative force, it can be intimidating. The thing that's easy to miss when you're caught up in the magic of somebody doing something effortlessly that seems impossible is that it doesn't happen all at once. Anything can be achieved by breaking it down into its component parts. Creativity requires patience and a willingness to work for a creative outcome rather than simply wait for enlightenment. Still, it is important to creativity to happen. This can be encouraged by setting up an environment that encourages creative output, a comfortable space within which you feel non-threatened and able to create. A program to improve your personal creativity might include the following steps. 6. First set a measurable goal. Some goals might be: to generate 10% more solutions within 6 months to come up with an original solution for problem "X" within 2 weeks to practice generating ideas by brainstorming (for example, "find at least 100 ideas for a new pen") to find a new and effective way to relate to my children that results in them wanting to spend more time with me 7. Second, set up criteria to indicate whether or not you have or are reaching your goal. Typical criteria are: a) the ideas are novel (in that particular context) b) the ideas are useful, they solve the problem or meet the challenge c) the ideas can be implemented within an appropriate time and budget 8. Third, read and learn about creativity techniques which is one of the sections of the Creativity Web. This information can be gathered from books, conferences, other people, software products and the Internet. Spend time with people who you believe are creative and ask them how they did it. There are many paths to creativity. 9. Fourth, surround yourself with people who love and respect you; people who encourage you to take risks. 10. Fifth, celebrate your progress in reaching your creativity goals.

11. Finally, begin thinking of yourself as a creative person. Surround that identity with beliefs about your creative abilities. Learn the skills of creativity, act creatively every opportunity you get and find environments that support creative behavior. Creativity is increased by acknowledging that it exists and by nurturing it. Create a sensory stimulating environment, increase awareness of that environment and provide sufficient quiet time to allow that sensory stimulation to be translated into external reality ... a poem, a bridge, a meal, a song, a quilt, a business report, a game, a dance, a garden. Flood yourself with information in your chosen area of creativity then deliberately expose yourself to information outside your area. Respect and care for your creativity as you would a child. Attend to your needs, listen to your creative inner voice, spend time with yourself. Manage stress in your life as much as possible. Practice meditation or some kind of peaceful, relaxing activity such as handwork or quiet exercise. Avoid becoming too entrenched in your routines. Don't allow your beliefs to distort your perceptions. A useful technique is to deliberately and consciously attempt to integrate opposites at every opportunity within your own mind. Develop the attitude that your creative work is important even if others do not share your belief; allow such judgmental attitudes to be their problem, not yours. Practice using affirmations and reframing (seeing things from another angle or in another context) to de-program your self critical habits. Creativity is not a gift of some sort, it is a state of being ("un etat d'ame", as they say in French). Learning a creativity- increasing technique of some sort will give you some tools and help you, but will not automatically change your point of view about yourself and your creativity; your belief and value systems about creativity and creativity myths must change as well.

Obstacles to creativity
Being too busy and getting too involved with a problem Having conflicting goals and objectives Not allowing yourself enough time to relax Competition in the present environment can hamper motives for creative output. Concerns with job advancement or opportunities as opposed to job stability or security may affect motives to be creative at work. Also, business corporations have found that the creativeness of their employees are promoted when the structure of their organization is less hierarchical and more democratic and free flowing. The clearest example of environmental influence is when one is creative in virtue of serendipity. These are instances when the environment facilitates creativity by affording stimulating observations. One study suggested that cues in the environment while completing one task can facilitate insight on a later task, without the subject's awareness. Moreover, there has been many historical accounts that claim the Zeitgeist or cohort at a particular point in time have influenced events. Most of the obstacles to creativity can be found within you. Fear of criticism Lack of confidence State of mind/body (for example experiencing negative stress) The main thing that hinders creative thinking is our belief that we are not creative. Look at it this way. If you tell yourself: "I am a creative person", then you have to have beliefs about yourself that support that identity. If you tell yourself, "I am just an ordinary human being", then you will have a different set of beliefs. Once you have a particular identity and set of beliefs about yourself, you will become interested in seeking out the skills needed to express your identity and beliefs. If you believe that you are "uncreative", then there is no need to learn how to become creative. Affirmations can be used to create a suitable self-image. Creativity is hampered by a too-hectic environment that does not provide quiet time for reflection and introspection. It is also hampered by: a sterile environment that does not feed the senses demands for quick production of results. harsh words (from others or from ourselves) by rigid rules and barriers that prevent us from gathering information and/or from connecting with others.

Dehumanizing mass media can contribute to limitations on creativity. Spend less time immersed in popular culture (television or listening to pop music), or take conscious breaks from the everyday world to practice creative thinking. Other factors that limit creative behavior include: Stress. Stress is not only a distraction which drains energy which could otherwise be used creatively, it is bad for one's health. Routines. Routines or set ways of performing tasks have their uses, but allowing them to become too entrenched in one's life causes one to limit the range of responses available and can lead to the development of the anathema of creativity, the "bureaucratic mind". Beliefs. Having a strong belief in something not only limits our response options, but causes us to limit the way in which we perceive and process information from the outside world. We may "filter out" information which contradicts our belief, and end up in our own "reality tunnel", in which we remain blissfully unaware of much that occurs in front of our very eyes. Ego. Having a strong ego identity with a particular belief exacerbates this situation and can lead to us aggressively defending it, to the detriment of ourselves, our creativity, and society. This is not to imply that one must have no beliefs, merely that one needs to be very aware of one's beliefs and consequent limitations. Fear. Fear of self expression and of the judgment of others can severely limit one's creativity. Self criticism. Negative thinking and self criticism are also limiting factors of an individual's creativity.

Coping with Daily Distractions

How can one cope with the distractions of daily life that inhibit or deflect creativity (for example, child care, elderly parents care, dull job, ill health, etc.)? Set aside a special thinking time or thinking place. Maybe a corner of a room at home where you could indulge listening to soothing music, use or buy a flotation tank, go running in the morning, take up yoga, mediation, tai-chi or some similar meditative activity. Get involved with children's activities; you may find that some toys aid the creative thinking process. Jig-saw puzzles (for spatial thinking), building blocks, drawing, role-playing/acting, just talking and asking questions, all contribute to creative thought and practice. Gaming, as a hobby, can improve problem solving and creative skills. There are many types of games that involve intellectual thought and creative solution; investigate miniatures, board games, card games, computer games and simulations, and so forth. Much creative exercise can be found in such activities. Try and use daily distractions to practice being creative. If you can take something dull or monotonous and play with it, it will become more interesting to you. There will be times when you can't make the extra effort, but it is very unlikely that in your entire day you can't find some activity you can make new to yourself. For the specific of child care - encouraging your kids' creativity along with your own would be wonderful. It will help their identity building and self-worth and will be a lot of fun if you let it. Recognize the inherent creativity in children and profit from exposure to their novel solutions to common problems in daily life. The distractions of daily life can be reframed as challenges that require your creative abilities to meet. Your day to day routines afford the most common opportunities for you to be creative. In fact, if you take stock of a typical week, you will find that you have indeed been very creative in solving many of the problems that confront you. Of course, we tend not to notice this. You may even tell yourself that what you do is not creative at all. Be careful what you tell yourself. You may begin believing it. Coping with the distractions and necessities of daily life is a major challenge for most of us. But just as we find the time to eat and sleep, we need to find the time to ignite our creativity. Is it not possible to find one hour per day to spend exploring our talents and finding our creative path? Loosing our creative energies due to the distractions of daily life has a lot to do with focal and conscious attention. In our very stressful society, we do not learn much about focusing attentively and retrospectively onto something, onto what we are doing. Meditation can be a very good way to help to be more attentive and thus creative. I heard a story about a doctor's office that placed large nuts and bolts in their waiting room and found that noone complained about waiting. If you want to relax....go fishing. Learn to incorporate the imagination into every activity, to use your creative talents to improve your daily life.

Develop your imagination by using it

Notes from Michael LeBoeuf's book, Creative Thinking Any primary ability or talent can be developed by training. You can improve your creative ability by exercising it.

Experience
The best creative exercises provide you with mental activity and material out of which you can form ideas. Experience can be firsthand or secondhand, such as reading, listening or watching. But firsthand experience is far superior. A Chinese proverb states:

I hear: I forget I see: I remember I do: I understand

A special type of firsthand experience is...

Travel
There's no better way to broaden and refresh your outlook than travel. It gets you out of an environmental rut and exposes you to new people, customs, ideas and ways of living. One key to creative living is to view life from a frsh perspective, and travel can give you this new outlook - if you will allow it. Every culture provides a unique way of looking at common situations and solving common problems. Take photographs, keep a diary as you travel. Charles Cave writes:

I'm an arm-chair traveller and particularly enjoy television programs about travel. Michael Palin's From Pole to Pole was the story of a wonderful trip starting at the North Pole. I was very inspired seeing such places as Finland, Russia, Estonia, Egypt, Africa and Antarctica. Last week I watched a program about an Englishman who walked from the west coast of France to Istanbul...in eighteen months! Sorrel Wilby's book Across the Top describes a trek across the Himalayas. I have two books about the Ascent of Mt Everest. There's something very motivating about reading books on mountaineering.
A good place for arm-chair travelling and planning your next holiday is the Lonely Planet web-site (as well as reading the books!).

Self-Reliance
The more you depend on your own ability to think, the more proficient you will become at thinking up new ideas. Experts and consultants should be viewed as collaborators, not dictators. If you rely on someone else to solve your problems and tell you what to do, your creative abilities will shrivel rather than flourish for lack of exercise.

Personal Contacts
One way to learn how to think creatively is to associate yourself with creative people. Look for people who are fun to talk to and have a keen sense of interest in life. An individual who can stimulate your thought process is what you're looking for. One special group of easily accessible and highly creative people are...

Children
It has been said that insanity is hereditary; you can get it from your children. Another thing you can get from children is a great deal of exercise. A child's world is filled with fantasy, and yours can be too, if you make the effort to interact with them. Try the association game. You both look at something together and ask the child "What does that look like to you?" or "What does that make you think of?". Playing imagination games with children and creatively interacting with them is one good way to get you back in touch with your imagination. You may want to explore the Children section of the Creativity Web.

Games and Puzzles

Certain games and puzzles can furnish you with plenty of opportunity to flex your creative muscles. The game of chess and checkers are both good games as they force you to map out strategies and make moves that depend on what your opponent does. Similar games of strategy are Shoji (Japanese Chess) and Go. Physical sports such as football, basketball, baseball, tennis, racketball or handball can also provide creative exercise involving strategy. Charades is another games that provides great creative exercise in thinking up novel ways to communicate something. The board game Pictionary is a similar style game. Word puzzles and games are another avenue for creative exercise and Thomas Edison was a great believer in this. Today, newspapers carry puzzles of the crossword and jumbled-word varieties. A great word game, such as Scrabble or Boggle, forces you to think in terms of adding, subtracting and modifying various combinations of letters, all of which helps sharpen and tone your creative ability.

Hobbies
There are hundreds of hobbies and some of them can be real workouts for your imagination. Painting, Drawing or Sculpture can't avoid putting you creative machinery to work. Technical hobbies can also provide creative exercise, eg amateur radio, electronics, home computers. Computers are a hobby with great potential. Think up new uses for computers in the home and write new programs to carry them out. There are several books on the market with titles like 101 Uses for a Home Computer &em; I own one such book!

Reading
Alex Osborn, author of "Applied Imagination" wrote: "Reading supplies bread for imagination to feed on, and bones for it to chew on." But not all reading is good creative exercise. The key to using reading as a creative exercise is to read selectively and actively. Biographies also can be used for creative exercise. Any life worth documenting usually involved some real imagineering on the part of the subject. Perhaps you could profit from their experiences and use their creative ideas as a springboard to launch your own imagination. A good book is Made in Japan, by Akio Morita - the story of Sony. Another way to use reading as a creative exercise is to take a topic of interest and read several different viewpoints. Magazines can also be used for creative exercise. Walt Disney believed in reading Reader's Digest and said:

"Your imagination may be creaky or timid or dwarfed or frozen at points. The Readers Digest can serve as a gymnasium for its training".
One of the best things about the magazine is that it provides a kaleidoscope of topics in every issue. Such diversity can provide great creative fuel. Here is a list of just some of the contents of a 1996 edition of Readers Digest: Short humourous stories "It pays to enrich your word power" - vocabulary development Pertinent quotations

 Quizzes Laughter, the best medicine Stories on places, people, real-life drama, & science Mike Vance talks about the value of reading Mad magazine, describing it as the idiom of our time showing us the direction we are heading. Alfred E. Neuman has big ears for listening and comes out with some fantastic quotations. The stories and cartoons are provocative and satirical. Buy and read a few issues of Mad and have a go at writing some stories and cartoons in the Mad style. It will greatly enhance your powers of perception! Another interest area for stimulating your imagination is to buy a different magazine each month (or borrow from the library). Read something quite different to what you normally read, for example, sports, house and garden, travel, literary, gossip, fashion, comics, motoring, teenage, arts, etc.

Writing
Writing ability is considered to be a basic factor in creative aptitude. The act of writing forces you to utilise all phases of the creative process and come up with a tangible product. For further information, I recommend the following books: Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brande The questions and answers in this section were edited by Linda Schiffer in the USA and a team of contributors.

Action steps for improving creative abilities

Physical Health and Exercise Personal Rituals Music Enhancing creative competency

Physical and Mental Health

Relaxation and good health are important to mental and physical health - essential pre-requisites to creative thinking. I like to go jogging, where I have had the greatest abundance of ideas. During jogging, I have visualised computer programs, story ideas and solutions to different problems. I attribute the value of jogging and other forms of exercise such as walking, cycling, and swimming to the following: Exercise is a form of play, free from restraints. Increased oxygen in the blood is delivered to the brain Release of endorphins into the blood (the runner's high) Meditative rhythm of the running/walking/swimming strokes There are drugs which purport to increase the brain's ability and performance, but I have seen no evidence to prove this. Psychedelic drugs, I am told, produce vivid imagery which the user is never able to capture. Hunter S. Thompson, in his recent book "The Songs of Doomed" writes in the preface about his drug habit and what it does to his writing, but I don't believe drugs can increase creativity. Instead, the body and mind should be operating at peak efficiency through correct diet, exercise, rest and fresh air.

Personal Rituals
Any ritual can help if done with the right frame of mind. Some creative rituals are downright strange. One writer had a particular record of Spanish flamenco music he listened to before he started to write. Mort Walker (the cartoonist) soaks one foot in hot water and the other in cold. John Steinbeck wrote letters to his publisher in a notebook as a warm-up to writing "East of Eden" (These letters make very interesting reading for the creative writer). Douglas Adams (of 'Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy' fame) is very fond of taking baths to get fresh ideas.

The ritual itself is usually not directly related to creative thinking but is a means of focussing the mind on producing ideas and is a very personal thing. What works for one person will probably not work for another. Remember that a ritual is an external method, whereas creativity is personal and individual.

Music
An audio environment can be conducive to new ideas and cutting down mental block. Music can be used to create an environment unique for each individual. Experiment with different musical styles to see what works best. Charles Thompson in his book "What a Great Idea!" recommends music that follows these guidelines: Avoid music with lyrics. Classical, light jazz, electronic and instrumental music of various forms can work well. Avoid music that demands your attention Avoid music with large, sudden changes in amplitude. Use music with sustained tones and subtle variations. Recommendations: Brahms: Concerto in A Minor, Op 102 Chopin: Piano Concerto No.1 in E Minor Op. 11 Beethoven: Sonata No. 14 in C-Sharp Minor Op. 27 Vivaldi: L'Estro Armonico, Op.2; Concerto No. 5 in A Major I am now listening to "Snow Flakes are Dancing" by Tomita, an uplifting electronic interpretation of Debussy Piano Music. This music works for me! Try different works to see what works best. Taking a break and listening to music can uplift your spirits and perhaps forge some new neural pathways to help you in your creativity. Music has the power to make you feel good, providing a good environment for creative thinking.

Enhancing Creative Competency

What do people need to learn (and do) in order to systematically enhance their individual and collective creative competencies? The first step to improving your creativity is understanding and accepting the fact that you are a creative person, and that you are capable of being even more creative -- you can improve your creativity with practise and concentration, but first must come a basic belief in your ability to be creative. Read Affirmations every morning and evening. Second, to become more creative you must nuture and learn to listen to your inner 'voice', your intuition. When involved in a pursuit requiring creative solution, be open to a wide variety of possible solutions. Be aware of your own personality and belief limitations that might blind you to possible solutions; know yourself well. Don't be afraid of failing with any given avenue of exploration; even a negative result from one line of questioning can lead to a new idea or new possiblity. Be open to alternate solutions as they occur Keep a journal of some kind to record ideas as they occur to you. Learn to recognize your own abilities so that you have some sense of the areas of a given problem that may give you difficulty or require more energy to solve. Sometimes tackling the difficult areas first is wise so that your energies are high; other times, leaving the less well understood problems until later in the process can allow your 'backbrain' or subconscious time to gestate solutions. Increasing creative ability also involves practicing both divergent and convergent thinking processes. Learn to discipline your mind to create many possible solutions to a problem at the beginning of your effort -- to brainstorm ideas, to be open to many avenues of solution, to record the distracting sidelines to the process that may occur to you. You must also be aware that at some point in the creative process you must begin to sort through these various ideas, evaluate their utility to the problem at hand, and converge on a solution. Do not be distressed if you must discard what seems to be a good idea or solution due to the constraints of the current problem or project. Save those ideas for another project or later work of art. Creativity is an inner state, but it is also a social aspect of life. We do not create for oneself, otherwise our work will be kept in our mind. Even people that hide their works are socializing it by putting them down on paper, canvas, etc.

It is important to understand the social implications of creativity. It is very interesting to watch pop artists go on stage, music being the most social form of art. There are artists, in front of 2,000 people, that could be performing in their closet and that would give the same result, while some others are "giving" themselves entirely. Some are giving a good technical performance, while some others are not technical but more imaginative. There are dynamics in there that need to be studied. Creativity is socially framed, as much for our individual expression and our social expression of it. A technique is just a technique if it is not understood in the social context which gives meaning to the creative person it has helped. As far as I know, it is very recent that there are researchers that are interested in the social aspect of creativity.

Notes from Ned Herrmann's book, The Creative Brain

Notes on the following topics: Creativity and the Whole Brain What is creativity anyway? Creative People The book has a very useful exercise for defining your goals, and information on a very powerful concept: Islands of Brilliance

The Creative Brain

These notes are from Ned Herrmann's book The Creative Brain

Creativity and the Whole Brain

Prevailing mythology has it that creativity is the exclusive domain of artists, scientists and inventors - a giftedness not available to ordinary people going about the business of daily life. Partly as a result, ordinary people often hold the creative person in awe, finding little gradation in genius. It's either the Sistine Chapel ceiling or nothing. What makes the difference for people who've moved into creative functioning? The keys are these: 12. An understanding of the creative process and its component stages, and how the four modes of knowing come into play at each stage. 13. An understanding of what hinders each mode at each stage 14. A commitment to heightening one's own creative awareness and functioning.

What is creativity, anyway?

Creativity in its fullest sense involves both generating an idea and manifesting it - making something happen as a result. To strengthen creative ability you need to apply the idea in some form that enables both the experience itself and your own reaction and other's to reinforce your performance. As you and others applaud your creative endeavours, you are likely to become more creative. Defining creativity to include application throws the whole subject into a different light, because: 8. While ideas can come in seconds, application can take days, years or even a lifetime to realise. 9. While ideas can come out of only one quadrant, application ultimately calls on specialised mental capabilities in all four quadrants of the brain. 10. While ideas can arrive in a single flash, application necessarily involves a process consisting of several distinct phases. Defying creativity to include application also makes creativity totally applicable in the world of business, when it tends to go under the label of problem-solving.

Creative People
In terms of creative expression, the world, in my opinion, consists of: 1. The already creatives - people who actively exercise their creative gifts for pleasure and profit; 2. The sometimes creatives - people who experience moments of creative brilliance, but only occasionally; 3. those who can be creative, but who have yet to tap into that potential.

An exercise
From Ned Herrmann's book The Creative Brain 1. Imagine you have been given 10 million dollars a year income, tax-free, that no-one knows about, and you are free to do whatever you like with it for the rest of your life. How would you live your life? 2. Imagine that you have a year to live in good health with no money problems. List the things you would do with that time. How does that list compare with how you're spending your time now? 3. Write your epitaph. What does it say? What would you like it to say? What would you have to change in your life in order to make that epitaph true? What would that take? Are you willing to do it? Creative people live as if there were no tomorrow, which is part of what enables them to be passionate about today.

Islands of Brilliance
"No man is an iland, intire of itselfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine...any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee" John Donne
Every person, regardless of personality of occupation, has a brain in which their exists some particular area of optimal functioning - an area that, when accessed in the right situation, can provide the person with an experience of enormously fulfilling, competent, joyful activity. People's talents vary greatly: Someone like Leonardo da Vinci seems to have had a whole continent of brilliance. Others of us have archipelagos. Some of us have gifts in language, mathematics, science, spatial relationships, or music. How great or numerous your talents happen to be isn't the crucial thing. What matters most is that exercising your gifts should feel terrific, provide a vehicle for personal growth, or even form the basis for a career. Why don't we always know about these islands? First, our islands of brilliance or giftedness sometimes come so naturally that we don't even know we have them or that they make us exceptional. The second reason we may not be fully conscious of our islands is that we may not have had sufficient time, opportunity or daring to follow our own inclinations. It's never too late for you to find new islands of brilliance for yourself or your loved ones. All you need is commitment. Every day, you make many small choices that determine how you spend your time; as soon as the commitment is there, you can begin to exercise your will in a new direction. A first step toward developing that commitment is to confirm and accept that you, like every one else, have islands of brilliance and can find them if you are determined to do so.

Introduction to Affirmations
Affirmations are a useful method of "programming" your mind to act in a particular way. These affirmations collected from a number of sources can be printed on 3" x 5" index cards and carried with you during the day. Make it a habit to read them through at least in the morning and evening during a quiet time. Further information on the effectiveness of affirmations as a tool for creativity can be found in Julia Cameron's book The Artist's Way - A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity . This page was updated with some of the affirmations from the earlier part of this book. If you would like your affirmations printed on clear static cling vinyl that can be posted on windows, mirrors, windshields or PC's, visit the Affirmation (Brainstickers (R)) Web Site. Alternatively, contact Ed Thomas by email. Have a look at the products from New Age Affirmation Software here in Australia Affirmations

I am a brilliant and successful artist. I am allowed to nurture my artist I am confident and competent in my creative work. I am tolerant of the ambiguity in problems. I am willing to be of service through my creativity. I am willing to create I am willing to experience my creative energy. I am willing to learn to let myself create I am willing to use my creative talents. I begin every task by thinking of new and better ways to accomplish it. I consider many possible solutions from many diverse sources. I deserve a rewarding creative life. I have a constant flow of new and interesting ideas. I have an adventurous mind and seen new experiences regularly. I have an unusual ability to reach creative decisions and to find creative solutions for problems. I have rich creative talents. I have the courage and self-confidence necessary to put my solutions into practice. I have the strength and persistence necessary to work ideas through to solutions. I maintain a complexity of outlook on life. I play with partial, incomplete and sometimes foolish ideas. I recognise the task of making mistakes but learn from my failures. I spend ten minutes each morning and evening, thinking over problems. I treat each new problem I encounter as a new door to be opened, and an opportunity to be creative. I trust my feelings and unconscious thoughts. My creativity always leads me to truth and love My creativity heals myself and others My creativity leads me to forgiveness and self-forgiveness. Through the use of a few simple tools, my creativity will flourish.

Techniques for Creative Thinking

First of all, you should read the introduction which discusses the question: "What can I do to increase my creativity?" Random Input Problem Reversal Ask Questions Applied Imagination - Question Summary Lateral Thinking Six Thinking Hats The Discontinuity Principle Checklists Brainstorming Forced Relationships/Analogy Attribute Listing Morphological Analysis Imitation Mindmapping Storyboarding Synectics Metaphorical thinking Lotus Blossum Technique In the realm of the senses Use of drawing (from Robert McKim's Experiences in Visual Thinking IdeaToons (by Michael Michalko) New! NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) Techniques Assumption Smashing DO IT! method of Roger Olsen LARC Method Unconscious Problem Solving Simplex - a "complete" process with three stages (finding problems,solving problems, implementing solutions) and eight discrete steps represented as a wheel to reflect the circular, perennial nature of problem solving. The full name is the Basadur Simplex process. Its eight steps include: problem finding, fact finding, problem defining, idea finding, evaluating and selecting, action planning, gaining acceptance, and taking action. The t The TRIZ method of Semyon D. Savransky Fuzzy Thinking Some further examples of creativity techniques and guidelines linked with historical examples. Breakthrough Thinking - The seven steps of uniqueness, purpose, solution after next, systems, needed information collection, people design, and betterment timeline.

Catalogues or Encyclopaedias of Techniques?

You may be wondering if there are books or an encyclopaedia of these techniques to use as a reference. I'm aware of a creativity encyclopaedia being currently developed, but two books containing many techniques are: Michael Michalko's Thinkertoys James Higgin's 101 Creative Problem Solving Techniques I intend to produce a meta-index of the techniques found in the creativity books in my personal library. Write to me for more information.

What can I do to increase my creativity?

The simplest answer of all, based on the power of our subconscious is "Take a walk". How may ideas have you had while you were jogging, walking, gardening, washing the dishes or driving? Our subconscious mind is constantly processing the ideas and stimuli received consciously. A useful technique is to actively work on a problem before going to sleep, allowing the subconscious to take over. Review any ideas when you awake, and make sure you have a pad and pen by your bed to record the ideas. There are no sure-fire ways to guarantee success in creating great ideas. Structure can be good but has a key downfall and is a stumbling block to many. True inspiration is not physically measurable, nor tangible in any concrete way. Specific methods of generating ideas are discussed, but the point remains that these discussions rest on a quality which cannot be measured, though it may be discerned with the attuned mind, ie. any mind that seeks attunement. This is because creativity cannot be limited, and therefore anything which limits cannot contain creativity. For many artists and creators, in our Western society, creativity is viewed as something to do. There is a perception that hard work is required to create the best works. Yet, there are great artists that don't need to overwork to succeed, while others need to work very hard. This belief is deeply ingrained in our society. A person's creativity is often influenced by their viewpoint on creativity. One way to increase creativity is to understand how we view creativity itself and specially how it works for each one of us. We cannot teach creativity to a group of people and expect them to perform similarly. This looks surely so obvious, but creativity is rarely taught in that way. Learning how to be creative is not the same as learning to bake a cake. Eastern philosophies have some components relative to creativity, in particularly, Buddhism (including Zen Buddhism) and Taoism. It is believed that we cannot create adequately from the control and illusion of the mind. One must go beyond it, beyond its power, and just let the mind be free to express anything it want. As soon as we try to create, i.e. "to do it", we start controlling. We have to learn to loosen control, to let the mind be. Instead of forcing anything, we let it come, or more appropriately, we give it a chance to come (although this does not work with everyone). This message is very similar to Timothey Gallwey's book The Inner Game of Tennis and discussed further in the Brain section of the Creativity Web. Creativity is strongly linked to a receptiveness to life and what it has to offer us. It means being open to what is true, about ourselves and about others. Creativity flourishes when the truth about things is admitted to oneself. For instance, it is always true that people are important. If I try to achieve my goals by neglecting the rights/feelings of others, I deceive myself, and my perception of reality is blurred. Since creativity depends on accurate information about one's environment, my lack of concern for others becomes a roadblock to creativity. Another contributor writes:

Another area where honesty with myself allows me to be more creative is in my personal goals and dreams. I have found that the more I think about my goals and evaluate them objectively (as if they were someone else's goals), the more real they become to me; I find that they tend to become feasible as my mind works on creative ways to make them work. In general, I have found that the more I dwell on something, the more my mind works in a creative fashion to make that something come true. The message here is to dwell on things you want, and not on things you don't want. For example, I have found it a tremendous help to learn about the local news by talking to people, not by watching it on TV. Where I live (USA), the news media emphasize the violent aspects of the news, and shamelessly present pictures which my mind cannot forget. Dwelling on such things is fine if such pictures contribute to attainment of my goals, but too often they are situations which I have no control over, and all they do then is divert my creative abilities from where I really need them. Refer to "Psychocybernetics" by Maxwell Maltz for further details.
To strive for originality is counterproductive. Originality springs from the exact opposite of striving. Simply follow the natural way, and originality will result. The natural way does include discipline, the purpose of discipline is to focus energy by avoiding distraction. In this mode, it is a joyous experience, because the benefits are obvious.

Try out the techniques and strive for integration with your thinking style until you are not consciously applying the techniques. Write the technique onto an index card, and carry that card with you for the month (or week) and consciously practicing the technique until it is part of your very being.

Random Input
Creativity Technique
From Teach your child to think - Edward de Bono: The random-word method is a powerful lateral-thinking technique that is very easy to use. It is by far the simplest of all creative techniques and is widely used by people who need to create new ideas (for example, for new products). Chance events allow us to enter the existing patterns of our thinking at a different point. The associations of a word applied to the new out of context situation generates new connections in our mind, often producing an instant Eureka effect, insight or intuition. It is said that Newton got the idea of gravity when he was hit on the head with an apple while sitting under an apple tree. It is not necessary to sit under trees and wait for an apple to fall - we can get up and shake the tree. We can produce our own chance events. Random inputs can be words or images. Some techniques for getting random words (and the words should be nouns) are: Have a bag full of thousands of words written on small pieces of paper, cardboard, poker chips, etc. Close your eyes, put in your hand and pull out a word. Open the dictionary (or newspaper) at a random page and choose a word. Use a computer program to give you a random word. I have a Hypercard program suitable for Apple Macintosh which uses this list of words (236 of them!) Make up your own list of 60 words. Look at your watch and take note of the seconds. Use this number to get the word. It is important to use the first word you find. Once you have chosen the word, list its attributions or associations with the word. Then apply each of the items on your list and see how it applies to the problem at hand. How does it work? Because the brain is a self-organising system, and very good at making conections. Almost any random word will stimulate ideas on the subject. Follow the associations and functions of the stimulus word, as well as using aspects of the word as a metaphor. You may want to mind-map the random word.

Exercise.
1. You are tired of getting unsolicited email and you are searching for a solution. Your random word is BANANA. 2. You need to tell a story to your children at bedtime. Your random word is EGG. Roger von Oech writes in A Kick in the Seat of the Pants: A good way to turn your mental attic of experiences into a treasure room is to use trigger concepts - words that wll spark a fresh association of ideas in your mind. Like pebbles dropping in a pond, they stimulate other associations, some of which may help you find something new. He writes in A Whack on the Side of the Head about various cultures having oracles. The ancient Greeks used the ambigious predictions of the Delphic Oracle, the Chinese used the I Ching, the Egyptians consulted the Tarot, the Scandinavian people used Runes and the North American Indians used Medicine Wheels. The purpose of these oracles was not so much to foretell the future but to help the user delve deeper into their own minds. You can create your own oracle by doing three things: 15. Ask a question. This focuses your thinking. Perhaps you should write your question to focus attention. 16. Generate a random piece of information. Random selection is important, as the unpredictability of this new input will force you to look at the problem in a new way. 17. Interpret the resulting random piece of information as the answer to your question. The important thing is to have an open, receptive mind.

LET A RANDOM PIECE OF INFORMATION STIMULATE YOUR THINKING!

Here is a method I (Charles Cave) have been developing recently: I make my own random picture cards by cutting out pictures from the various pieces of advertising material and magazines that appear in my letter box. A card can be picked at random and used as the random word. Choose pictures without text to allow a more right-brain approach. My cards include pictures of felt pens, furniture, kitchen items, art works, people, buildings, scenes and abstract designs. The cards can be shuffled and a card chosen at random.

Problem Reversal
From "What a Great Idea" by Charles Thompson. The world is full of opposites. Of course, any attribute, concept or idea is meaningless without its opposite. Lao-tzu wrote Tao-te Ching which stresses the need for the successful leader to see opposites all around:

The wise leader knows how to be creative. In order to lead, the leader learns to follow. In order to prosper, the leader learns to live simply. In both cases, it is the interaction that is creative. All behaviour consists of opposites...Learn to see things backwards, inside out, and upside down.

The method
18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. State your problem in reverse. Change a positive statement into a negative one. Try to define what something is not. Figure out what everybody else is not doing. Use the "What If" Compass Change the direction or location of your perspective Flip-flop results Turn defeat into victory or victory into defeat

1. Make the statement negative

For example, if you are dealing with Customer Service issues, list all the ways you could make customer service bad. You will be pleasantly surprised at some of the ideas you will come up with.

2. Doing What Everybody Else Doesn't

For example, Apple Computer did what IBM didn't, Japan made small, fuel-efficient cars.

3. The "What-If Compass"

The author has a list of pairs of opposing actions which can be applied to the problem. Just ask yourself "What if I ........" and plug in each one of the opposites. A small sample: Stretch it/Shrink It Freeze it/Melt it Personalise it/De-personalise it

...

4. Change the direction or location of your perspective

Physical change of perspective, Manage by Walking around, or doing something different.

5. Flip-flop results
If you want to increase sales, think about decreasing them. What would you have to do?

6. Turn defeat into victory or victory into defeat

If something turns out bad, think about the positive aspects of the situation. If I lost all of the files off this computer, what good would come out of it? Maybe I would spend more time with my family?! Who knows!

Ask Questions
I keep six honest serving men They taught me all I knew: Their names are What and Why and When And How and Where and Who

Rudyard Kipling (from "Just So Stories) Click here to read more of this poem
Ask "Why" Five Times
From "What a Great Idea" by Chic Thompson. Ask "Why" a problem is occuring and then ask "Why" four more times. For example...

1. Why has the machine stopped?

A fuse blew because of an overload

2. Why was there an overload

There wasn't enough lubrication for the bearings

3. Why wasn't there enough lubrication?

The pump wasn't pumping enough

4. Why wasn't lubricant being pumped?

The pump shaft was vibrating as a result of abrasion

5. Why was there abrasion?

There was no filter, allowing chips of material into the pump

Installation of a filter solves the problem.

The Six Universal Questions

Idea Generators should be aware of a simple universal truth. There are only six questions that one human can ask another:

What? Where? When? How? Why? Who?

You may want to draw a mind map of the problem with these six words as nodes on the map. What \ \ / Where

/ \ / When -------------- Problem: -------------/ \ / \ / \ Why Who

How

Question Summary
"Applied Imagination"
Alex Osborn - 1957
Make an idea-prompting poster by printing this page and placing it in a prominent position. Put to other uses? New ways to use as is? Other uses if modified? Adapt? What else is like this? What other idea does this suggest? Does the past offer parallel? What could I copy? Whom could I emulate? Modify? New twist? Change meaning, color, motion, sound, odor, form, shape? Other shapes? Magnify? What to add? More time? Greater frequency? Stronger? Higher? Longer?

Minify?

Substitute?

Rearrange?

Reverse?

Combine?

Thicker? Extra Value? Plus ingredient? Duplicate? Multiply? Exaggerate? What to subtract? Smaller? Condensed? Miniature? Lower? Shorter? Lighter? Omit? Streamline? Split up? Understate? Who else instead? What else instead? Other ingredient? Other material? Other process? Other power? Other place? Other approach? Other tone of voice? Interchange components? Other pattern? Other layout? Other sequence? Transpose cause and effect? Change pace? Change schedule? Transpose positive and negative? How about opposites? Turn it backward? Turn it upside down? Reverse roles? Change shoes? Turn tables? Turn other cheek? How about a blend, an alloy, an assortment, an ensemble? Combine units? Combine purposes? Combine appeals? Combine ideas?

Lateral Thinking
Edward de Bono writes in "Serious Creativity", how he became interested in the sort of thinking that computers could not do: creative and perceptual thinking. The entry in the Concise Oxford Dictionary reads: "seeking to solve problems by unorthodox or apparently illogical methods. Lateral thinking is about moving sideways when working on a problem to try different perceptions, different concepts and different points of entry. The term covers a variety of methods including provocations to get us out of

the usual line of thought. Lateral thinking is cutting across patterns in a self-organising system, and has very much to do with perception. For example: Granny is sitting knitting and three year old Susan is upsetting Granny by playing with the wool. One parent suggests putting Susan into the playpen. The other parent suggests it might be a better idea to put Granny in the playpen to protect her from Susan. A lateral answer! The term "Lateral thinking" can be used in two senses: Specific: A set of systematic techniques used for changing concepts and perceptions, and generating new ones. General: Exploring multiple possibilities and approaches instead of pursuing a single approach. Coming soon to this page will be a summary of de Bono's fundamental principles, and a nutshell guide of techniques.

Six Thinking Hats

A summary by Sylvie Labelle
Early in the 1980s Dr. de Bono invented the Six Thinking Hats method. The method is a framework for thinking and can incorporate lateral thinking. Valuable judgmental thinking has its place in the system but is not allowed to dominate as in normal thinking. Dr. de Bono organized a network of authorized trainers to introduce the Six Thinking Hats. Advanced Practical Thinking (APTT), of Des Moines, Iowa USA, licenses the training in all parts of the world except Canada (and now, Europe). APTT organizes the trainers and supplies the only training materials written and authorized by Dr. de Bono. Organizations such as Prudential Insurance, IBM, Federal Express, British Airways, Polaroid, Pepsico, DuPont, and Nippon Telephone and Telegraph, possibly the world's largest company, use Six Thinking Hats. The six hats represent six modes of thinking and are directions to think rather than labels for thinking. That is, the hats are used proactively rather than reactively. The method promotes fuller input from more people. In de Bono's words it "separates ego from performance". Everyone is able to contribute to the exploration without denting egos as they are just using the yellow hat or whatever hat. The six hats system encourages performance rather than ego defense. People can contribute under any hat even though they initially support the opposite view. The key point is that a hat is a direction to think rather than a label for thinking. The key theoretical reasons to use the Six Thinking Hats are to: encourage Parallel Thinking encourage full-spectrum thinking separate ego from performance The published book Six Thinking Hats (de Bono, 1985) is readily available and explains the system, although there have been some additions and changes to the execution of the method. The following is an excerpt from John Culvenor and Dennis Else Engineering Creative Design, 1995)

White Hat on the Hats

There are six metaphorical hats and the thinker can put on or take off one of these hats to indicate the type of thinking being used. This putting on and taking off is essential. The hats must never be used to categorize individuals, even though their behavior may seem to invite this. When done in group, everybody wear the same hat at the same time.

White Hat thinking

This covers facts, figures, information needs and gaps. "I think we need some white hat thinking at this point..." means Let's drop the arguments and proposals, and look at the data base."

Red Hat thinking This covers intuition, feelings and emotions. The red hat allows the thinker to put forward an intuition without any ned to justify it. "Putting on my red hat, I think this is a terrible proposal." Ususally feelings and intuition can only be introduced into a discussion if they are supported by logic. Usually the feeling is genuine but the logic is spurious.The red hat gives full permission to a thinker to put forward his or her feelings on the subject at the moment.

Black Hat thinking This is the hat of judgment and caution. It is a most valuable hat. It is not in any sense an inferior or negative hat. The rior or negative hat. The black hat is used to point out why a suggestion does not fit the facts, the available experience, the system in use, or the policy that is being followed. The black hat must always be logical.

Yellow Hat thinking This is the logical positive. Why something will work and why it will offer benefits. It can be used in looking forward to the results of some proposed action, but can also be used to find something of value in what has already happened.

Green Hat thinking This is the hat of creativity, alternatives, proposals, what is interesting, provocations and changes.

Blue Hat thinking This is the overview or process control hat. It looks not at the subject itself but at the 'thinking' about the subject. "Putting on my blue hat, I feel we should do some more green hat thinking at this point." In technical terms, the blue hat is concerned with meta-cognition. This was an excerpt from Edward de Bono's "Why Do Quality Efforts Lose Their Fizz?" Quality is No Longer Enough, The Journal for Quality and Participation, September 1991

This page supplied by Sylvie Labelle who can be contacted at labellsy@ERE.UMontreal.CA

The Discontinuity Principle

The more you are used to something, the less stimulating it is for our thinking. When you disrupt your thought patterns, those ideas that create the greatest stimulus to our thinking do so because they force us to make new connections in order to comprehend the situation. Roger van Oech calls this a "Whack on the Side of the Head", and Edward de Bono coined a new word, PO, which stands for "Provocative Operation". Try programming interruptions into your day. Change working hours, get to work a different way, listen to a different radio station, read some magazines or books you wouldn't normally read, try a different recipe, watch a TV program or film you wouldn't normally watch. Provocative ideas are often stepping stones that get us thinking about other ideas. Abutting ideas next to each other, such that their friction creates new thought-paths a technique that flourishes in the east (haiku poetry and Zen koans) but causes discomfort in Western thinking.

Checklists
Alex Osborn in his pioneering book Applied Imagination talks about "Questions as spurs to ideation", and outlines about 75 idea-spurring questions in his book. The simplest set of questions comes from the six basic questions described in the Ask Questions section of the Creativity Web. 25. Why is it necessary? 26. Where should it be done? 27. When should it be done? 28. Who should do it? 29. What should be done? 30. How should it be done? The What other uses? is a good question for by adding uses we can often add value. By piling up alternatives by way of other uses, a still better use is likely to come to light. Osborn went on with the following questions: Adapt? Modify? Substitute? Magnify/Maximise? Minimise/Eliminate? Rearrange? Reversal? Combine?

Thinkertoys
Michael Michalko, in his book Thinkertoys describes the rearrangement of the above questions (by Bob Eberle) into the mnemonic SCAMPER (Substitute, Combine Adapt, Modify, Put to other uses, Eliminate, Reverse). Start applying these questions to your problems and see what ideas come forth.

Brainstorming
The term Brainstorming has become a commonly used word in the English language as a generic term for creative thinking. The basis of brainstorming is a generating ideas in a group situation based on the principle of suspending

judgment - a principle which scientific research has proved to be highly productive in individual effort as well as group effort. The generation phase is separate from the judgment phase of thinking. The term was invented by Alex Osborn and described in his book "Applied Imagination". Other authors have explained brainstorming, and I quote from Michael Morgan's book Creative Workforce Innovation to give the following guidelines: Brainstorming is a process that works best with a group of people when you follow the following four rules. 31. Have a well-defined and clearly stated problem 32. Have someone assigned to write down all the ideas as they occur 33. Have the right number of people in the group 34. Have someone in charge to help enforce the following guidelines: Suspend judgment Every idea is accepted and recorded Encourage people to build on the ideas of others Encourage way-out and odd ideas In Serious Creativity, Edward de Bono describes brainstorming as a traditional approach to do deliberate creative thinking with the consequence that people think creative thinking can only be done in groups. The whole idea of brainstorming is that other people's remarks would act to stimulate your own ideas in a sort of chain reaction of ideas. Groups are not at all necessary for deliberate creative thinking, and Serious Creativity describes techniques for individuals to use to produce ideas. In a group you have to listen to others and you may spend time repeating your own ideas so they get sufficient attention. Thinking as a group using brainstorming can certainly produce ideas, but individual thinking using techniques such as those described by de Bono should be employed. de Bono believes that individuals are much better at generating ideas and fresh directions. Once the idea has been born then a group may be better able to develop the idea and take it in more directions than can the originator.

Forced Analogy
Forced analogy is a very useful and fun-filled method of generating ideas. The idea is to compare the problem with something else that has little or nothing in common and gaining new insights as a result. You can force a relationship between almost anything, and get new insights - companies and whales, management systems and telephone networks, or your relationship and a pencil. Forcing relationships is one of the most powerful ways to develop ways to develop new insights and new solutions. A useful way of developing the relationships is to have a selection of objects or cards with pictures to help you generate ideas. Choose an object or card at random and see what relationships you can force. Use mind-mapping or a matrix to record the attributes and then explore aspects of the problem at hand.

Corporation as a matchbox

Robert Olson in his book The Art of Creative Thinking describes the problem of examining a corporate organisation structure by comparing it to a matchbox. Matchbox Attributes Corporation Striking surface on two sides The protection an organisation needs against strikes Six Sides Six essential organisational divisions Sliding centre section The heart of the organisation should be slidable or flexible Made of cardboard Inexpensive method of structure - disposable

Marriage as a pencil

Betty Edwards in her book Drawing on the Artist Within shows the example of a pencil used to examine aspects of a marriage. Pencil Marriage Gold Ring Remember promises Blue Ring Clean the tub. I share depression too often with family Yellow Too timid. Harold needs to know my true feelings Flat side Dull daily routine. Change activities 6 things to do: Budget, Take a class, Improve discipline, be more assertive, start now!, improve Six sides communications Eraser Rub him out! Forgive and forget past mistakes Money Spend too much. Need a budget. Take a job Superior I feel inferior to my husband Wood Feel closed in. Need other interests. Am I getting shafted? shaft Lead Get the lead out! Do It! if I press any harder I will break. Write Send a note telling Harold that I love him.

Attribute Listing
Notes from "Creating Workforce Innovation" by Michael Morgan - published by Business and Professional Pubolshing 1993 Attribute listing is a great technique for ensuring all possible aspects of a problem have been examined. Attribute listing is breaking the problem down into smaller and smaller bits and seeing what you discover when you do. Let's say you are in the business of making torches. You are under pressure from your competition and need to improve the quality of your product. By breaking the torch down into its component parts - casing, switch, battery, bulb and the weight - the attributes of each one - you can develop a list of ideas to improve each one. Attribute Listing - Improving a torch Feature Attribute Ideas Casing Plastic Metal Switch On/Off On/Off low beam Battery Power Rechargable Bulb Blass Plastic Weight Heavy Light Attribute listing is a very useful technique for quality improvement of complicated products, procedures for services. It is a good technique to use in conjunction with some other creative techniques, especially idea-generating ones like brainstorming. This allows you to focus on one specific part of a product or process before generating a whole lot of ideas. A related technique is that of morphological analysis.

Morphological Forced Connections

This application of attribute listing is contained in The Universal Traveler which authors Koberg and Bagnall call "Morphological Forced Connections". They give the following rules for their "foolproof invention-finding scheme" along with an example showing how their scheme works. Here it is: 35. List the attributes of the situation. 36. Below each attribute, place as many alternates as you can think of 37. When completed, make many random runs through the alternates, picking up a different one from each column and assembling the combinations into entirely new forms of your original subject. After all, inventions are often new ways of combining old bits and pieces. Example: Improve a ball-point pen Cylindrical Material Cap Ink source Faceted Metal Attached Cap No Cartridge Square Glass No Cap Permanent Beaded Wood Retracts Paper Cartridge Sculptured Paper Cleaning Cap Cartridge Made of Ink Invention: A Cube Pen; once corner writes, leaving six faces for ads, calendars, photos, etc. Another use of attribute listing, credited to Fritz Zwicky, is called Morphological Analysis and is an automatic method of combining parameters into new combinations for the later review of the problem solver. A selection of parameters or attributes is chosen and combinations explored. You could imagine three attributes as X, Y and Z axes. An excellent way of implementing this method is with a computer program to enumerate the combinations and prompt the user with random combinations. Often the combinations are useful idea prompters and stepping stones to other solutions. I have such a program written in Hypercard, but the technique is not difficult. Of additional value is to have a collection of attribute lists for plugging into your morphological analysis. Here are some of mine: Human Baby, Toddler, Pre-Schooler, Child, Adolescent, Adult, Retired Ages Milli-seconds, Seconds, Minutes, Hours, Morning/Afternoon/Evening, Days, Weeks, Fortnight, Month, Time Units Quarters, Years, Decades, Century Colours Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet, Black, White, Brown, Pink, Crimson Meals Breakfast, Snack, Lunch, Dinner, Supper, Snack Six Who, What, When, Where, How, Why Questions Think of the very popular books produced by Rick Smolan (photographer) which included A Day in the Life of Australia and his more recent A Day in the Life of Cyberspace. My using morphological analysis, you could replace A Day with the list of time units, Life could be replaced with Birth/Death/Growth/Decay and the last word could be replaced with a list of your areas of interest, eg My Family, My Country, My Dog. As you evaluate the combinations, you will encounter such combinations as: "A Year in the Death of my employer" which could prompt you to examine the decline of your employer following your retrenchment. (I speak from experience!).

Imitation
How many ideas are really original? It is quite valid to imitate other ideas as a preparatory step to original thinking. Try what all the "great" creators have done: imitate, imitate, imitate. After you have imitated enough, you will find your preferences shape what you are doing into a distinct style. Originality is a natural result of sincere creative pursuit. Isaac Newton said:

"If I have seen farther it is by standing on the shoulder of giants".

Just as the Beatles started out playing cover tunes, J.S. Bach went blind in his old age copying scores of other musicians (for personal study), Beethoven played on the themes of his time, and Jazz musicians insert popular melodies into the middle of bizarre atonal solos. Ideas are constantly on the move, much to the annoyance of patent & copyright lawyers! Certainly, ideas may be exploited by the materially minded, just like anything else. But if you truly comprehend an idea, it is yours. Dean Willian R. Inge said:

"What is originality? Undetected plagiarism."

T. S. Eliot said:

The immature poet imitates; the mature poet plagiarizes.