Creativity and Entrepreneurship
Tools and You
Jonah Lehrer
Various creativities and ways to
leverage them.
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB100014240529702033706045772656
32205015846#articleTabs=video
–RELAX
•moments of insight
–(out of mind/focus & a feeling
of certainty)
Jonah Lehrer
Various creativities and ways to
leverage them.
• WORK
–feelings of knowing
• (keep working until the answer
comes to you)
Cautions about Lehrer
• He cheated (some bad quotations, citations,
recollections) so has been discredited. The
book (Imagine) remains interesting and much
of its contents are good journalism.
Jonah Lehrer
10 Creativity Hacks
1. Color Me Blue
2. Get Groggy
3. Daydream Away
4. Think Like A Child
5. Laugh It Up
6. Imagine That You Are Far Away
7. Keep It Generic
8. Work Outside the Box
9. See the World
10. Move to a Metropolis
10 Quick Creativity Hacks
1. Color Me Blue
A 2009 study found that subjects solved twice as many insight puzzles when
surrounded by the color blue, since it leads to more relaxed and associative thinking.
Red, on other hand, makes people more alert and aware, so it is a better backdrop for
solving analytic problems.
2. Get Groggy
According to a study published last month, people at their least alert time of day—
think of a night person early in the morning—performed far better on various
creative puzzles, sometimes improving their success rate by 50%. Grogginess has
creative perks.
3. Daydream Away
Research led by Jonathan Schooler at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has
found that people who daydream more score higher on various tests of creativity.
4. Think Like A Child
When subjects are told to imagine themselves as 7-year-olds, they score significantly
higher on tests of divergent thinking, such as trying to invent alternative uses for an
old car tire.
.
5. Laugh It Up
When people are exposed to a short video of stand-up comedy, they solve about 20%
more insight puzzles.
6. Imagine That You Are Far Away
Research conducted at Indiana University found that people were much better at solving
insight puzzles when they were told that the puzzles came from Greece or California, and
not from a local lab.
7. Keep It Generic
One way to increase problem-solving ability is to change the verbs used to describe the
problem. When the verbs are extremely specific, people think in narrow terms. In
contrast, the use of more generic verbs—say, "moving" instead of "driving"—can lead to
dramatic increases in the number of problems solved.
8. Work Outside the Box
According to new study, volunteers performed significantly better on a standard test of
creativity when they were seated outside a 5-foot-square workspace, perhaps because
they internalized the metaphor of thinking outside the box. The lesson? Your cubicle is
holding you back.
9. See the World
According to research led by Adam Galinsky, students who have lived abroad were much
more likely to solve a classic insight puzzle. Their experience of another culture endowed
them with a valuable open-mindedness. This effect also applies to professionals: Fashionhouse directors who have lived in many countries produce clothing that their peers rate as
far more creative.
10. Move to a Metropolis
Physicists at the Santa Fe Institute have found that moving from a small city to one that is
twice as large leads inventors to produce, on average, about 15% more patents
Julia Cameron
Tools from Artist's Way and Vein of Gold
• Morning Pages
–Three pages of longhand
writing, daily. Streams of
consciousness captured via
written language.
Julia Cameron
Tools from Artist's Way and Vein of Gold
• Artist Date
–Once a week, solitary
expedition to new, interesting,
expansive territory. Undertaken
alone; don't have to be about
art or invention.
Julia Cameron
Tools from Artist's Way and Vein of Gold
• Connect with a creative champion
–Regularly connect with someone
who contributes positive support
to you and your work. Someone
you respect, who sends you/your
work positive energies.
Julia Cameron
Tools from Artist's Way and Vein of Gold
• Identify your expansion music
–Collect the piece(s) that really
lift you.
Julia Cameron
Tools from Artist's Way and Vein of Gold
• Identify your safety music
–Collect the piece(s) that shelter
you from the storm.
Julia Cameron
Tools from Artist's Way and Vein of Gold
• Write your narrative timeline
–Hand written stream of
consciousness autobiography that
tells your story. Discovers you from
you, not you from others.
Julia Cameron
Tools from Artist's Way and Vein of Gold
• Avoid Poisonous playmates
–Avoid negative energy suckers.
Julia Cameron
Tools from Artist's Way and Vein of Gold
• Media deprivation
–Take a day . . . better, a week.
We soak ourselves in the
creative work of others. Stop
for a time. Soak in you instead.
Julia Cameron
Tools from Artist's Way and Vein of Gold
• Identify the secret self in you
that is a kill-joy.
– Recognize when you are
listening to your self-limiting
voice so that you can shut it off
as often as possible.
Julia Cameron
Tools from Artist's Way and Vein of Gold
• The Shadow Artist uses his/her
creativity to further the art of
others, parallel to your dreams.
–Not necessarily bad. But might
be blocking you.
Julia Cameron
Tools from Artist's Way and Vein of Gold
• Vein of Gold
–The area in which you are truly
yourself and from which your
gifts and interests mesh
smoothly and powerfully. [think
yo yo ma and his cello]
–Go there as often as possible.
Emma Seppälä on
spacing out and goofing off
• “unfocus” for heightened creativity
– Diversify your activities
• disengage through unfocused tasks
– Make time for stillness and silence
– Invite fun back into your life
A Stanford psychologist explains why spacing out
and goofing off is so good for you
Not Creative? Believe You Can Be
Mona Patel
• Believe you can or, if needed, get unstuck.
– If you believe that you are creative, good. You’re going to need
that creativity, so just trust yourself. If you don’t, trust in a process
that begins with “Why?” If you’re stuck in doubt and “I can’t,”
then attack it with “Why do I feel stuck?” It’s a great device for
questioning and can help you understand the root cause of an
issue. “Why?” sheds light on a usually irrational belief of “I can’t”
and begins to liberate your mindset. The factor causing self-doubt
gets put into perspective, enabling you to move on.
• Shift the way you see “The Problem.”
– The shift is deceptively simple and is similar to how we can get
unstuck. Problems are usually perceived to be much bigger than
they really are, causing intimidation and avoidance. Be sensitive to
this intimidation, and train yourself: rather than allowing anxiety
to take root, allow yourself to see problems as an invitation, or
challenge, to keep asking questions. See problems as an
opportunity to change your mind about what you think is
possible.
• Ask, “What if?”
– There is a technique to “What if?” Creativity is like a muscle. A welldesigned workout matters. So we created one to help people access
and strengthen their creativity muscle. Think of this workout as high
intensity interval training. Is it the only way to access the muscle? Of
course not. But it works. The workout starts with a silent warm-up
ideation round of three minutes, followed by a sharing round with a
team, repeated three times. In the silent ideation, you write down as
many “What if?” or open questions as possible. Participants come up
with ideas at the same time and write them down, so louder and more
vocal people don’t have an advantage. A necessary general guideline in
this sharing process is positivity – show support for good ideas or voice
that you have a similar one in mind, and keep the vibe open and
friendly with other positive language.
• Manage the creative momentum.
– While collective brainstorming and discussion can be fun while yielding
group bonding, the more important takeaway is that the process has
helped participants get out of their own way to grab and distill the best
ideas that are out there. Having too many ideas can be its own
problem, so it’s important to deduce and connect the best ones.
Paper 1: Your creativity cycle, esp.,
blocks and facilitators. Due Feb 17.
• First, not “in the ideal.” What actually happens,
what do you actually do (or not do)
–
–
–
–
What happens, when, how?
What goes right?
What goes wrong?
Enhancers AND blockers
• Second, you may write, briefly, about what you’d
like to change, how you can improve.
• Keep this focused on creativity NOT merely on
production or plans.