Oct 262013
 

Unleash your Raw creativity


raw creativity of children

Credits: http://bit.ly/XgMtDN

Michael Michalko’s book: Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative-Thinking Techniques is so chock full of ideas on creativity, that once again, today’s post on “raw creativity” is inspired by the book.

Read this paragraph and unless you have done this experiment before, prepared to be astonished:

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and

you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

This shows that we all have a raw natural talent to interpret the essences of things. We make sense out of these jumbled letters because we immediately see the essence. This raw talent is why we are all creative as children. A box could be a fort, a car, a house, something to draw on and even a spaceship. When we are kids , our imaginations is not structured or restrained by rules, constraints of logic or risk of embarrassment. We did not strive to eliminate possibilities – we strove to expand them.

As we grow older and start making sense of the world that surrounds us or become expert in our fields, our brains become a blessing and a curse. A blessing because we can quickly grasp the complexity of our surroundings, understand how things connect together logically, and become adept at sensing and trimming the nonsensical ideas. Yet, it’s a curse because, by piling up constraints/structures and filtering out early ideas for the reason that they don’t directly abide by some logical rules, we end up with non-innovative ideas/solutions whose best redeeming value is that they conform to the mold that we wanted to escape.

Raw creative-thinking techniques are designed to remove the constraints of logic and free your imagination to be creative again. Pablo Picasso famously said, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.”. The value of learning “raw” creative techniques is to do just that – to learn how to think like a child again.

 


My favorite exercise to flex your raw creativity: synthesis


The book then goes on to describe 12+ exercises to help free imaginations to create innovative ideas. However, it would take too long to summarize all of them here. Here’s one of my favorite exercises called one + one = one(synthesis):

When one drop of water is added to another drop, they make only one drop not two. That’s how 2 completely different concepts can collide to form a brand new one. Consider the following examples: “home page”, “conference call”, and “race card”.

 

Much of creative thinking involves combining previously unrelated ideas, goods or services and turning them into something new. The process of combining ideas or elements or part of ideas is called synthesis.

The author coined the evocative “ideas having sex” phrase to describe this activity

For this exercise ask participants to think of a name of an object that begins with the same letter as their last name. Write the name on a sticky note and post it on their forehand  and have the participants mingle around the room and combine their object with someone else’s in the room to create something new. For example:

  • Deck + Legos:  A put-in-together adjustable wooden deck that can be dismantled and stored
  • Desk + Treadmill: A treadmill desk. You can walk at one-mph pace while you work at your computer, guaranteeing weight loss without dieting. BTW, the concept has been implemented successfully
  • Stove + Bicycle:  Portable kitchen. While in France this year, I saw a cooking TV show whose premise is to approach shoppers coming out of Parisian marchés (open-air markets) and offer them to prepare a great meal with whatever they were carrying in their grocery bags. The cooking was done on, you guessed it, a basic 2-burner stove, setup on tricycle. The show is aptly named: Street Cuisine.
  • Tape + Glue: Scotch Tape (a true inventor classic)
  • Ballot + Lottery: Encourage people to vote by having a lottery for voters. This too was implemented
  • Shark + Spaceship: The movie Alien as suggested in the recent post: Metaphorical Thinking
  • Etc…

For more exercise, do buy/read the book.

If you have young kids, watch them playing or better yet play alongside with them.

They might teach you a few things you forgot about the powers and pleasures of raw creativity!

Jun 052013
 

drill sergeant poetry

(This is the first installment of my “Unconventional  Innovation Boot Camp” series)

YOU MAGGOTS! I’m going to make innovators out of you! Grab a pad of paper, a pencil, and start writing POETRY!

Ugh?? Read on…

There’s no denying that to become an innovator one has to think outside the proverbial box, see what others have failed to see or discover the missing link between two unlikely ideas.

Sure, the execution of innovative ideas will certainly rely on a well thought-out process, maybe some engineering, a healthy dose of marketing, a sound infrastructure, a seasoned management team, etc… but before all that you need to come up with THE idea and whether you like it or not, the birth of that idea falls into the realm of creativity.

How does one develop creative aptitudes? Some will contend that you are born with them. Born with the typical skills associated with creativity: musical skills, a talent for painting or the gift of writing.

But studies have shown (including this one) that creativity can in fact be taught.

As 40-something man, trained as a Software Engineer, with zero talent for creating music or painting, I have nevertheless always considered myself creative, but I was never able to express that creativity through traditional means. Even though I would claim that being a Software Engineer and being able to create products or services out of nothingness requires for a fair amount of creativity, it is also restrictive and only appreciated by fellow nerds.

That’s until one day, a friend of mine suggested that I use poetry.


You have no creative skills? Think again. Enter poetry!


Why?

If you read these words then I will assume that you have some familiarity with the English language (not my mother tongue, BTW). That’s the good news since the same way that a painter has his palette of paint, various brushes and canvas, all you need to write poetry is a sheet of paper, a pen and the words in your vocabulary, and no prior skills required!

I’m no expert but to me, poetry is playing with words in order to express ideas. You can think of it as brainstorming on your own.


How does poetry cultivate creativity?


The way we typically think imposes (often self-imposed) thematic boundaries and logical frameworks within which ideas are allowed to develop. Poetry frees you of such limitations. You can be as silly and as illogical as you want. It’s all about playing with words and ideas and breaking out of the proverbial box.

By freely juxtaposing or clashing ideas together you invite the mind to generate even more ideas and go down innovative avenues that wouldn’t have been visible otherwise.


How do you get started?


They are many sites that will help you with getting started with writing poetry, including this simple how-to primer.

My only one piece of advice as a beginner is: don’t feel like you have to use rhymes, or specific forms or metre.  Use prose and keep it simple.

After getting the aforementioned paper-and-pencil (some people prefer to use MS Word or their mobile phone or tablet), look around you or within you, reflect on some past memories and start writing what comes to mind.

Force yourself to write for 10 minutes where you are not allowed to stop even if your words on paper might look like a stream of consciousness at first. You can then extract the ideas or sentences that stand out and that you would like to explore further.

If you can’t find the right time to do it, check out this blog post.


Poetry as creative tool for innovation


If you want to use poetry as a tool to develop ideas around a product or service that you have in mind, feel free to do so using these guidelines:

  • Use flowery, over-the-top language to describe your service
  • Write a love poem to your product
  • Explain your service in a poetic way to someone who just stepped out of a time-machine from 2000 years ago.

Do this often enough that you might become your company’s own “artiste in assignment“.

Finally, instead throwing away your art, type it up and save it somewhere. Better yet, share it as part of a blog to reread later and observe your progress. I just created a tumblr account for myself where I marry my pictures and (lame) poetry for that purpose alone.

Practice enough and who knows you might even be able to add “poet” to your business card…. Engineer, innovator and poet.  How cool is that?

May 282013
 

MBTI wheel

 

The reputable MBTI personality test to help you know yourself and others

 

 

 

Blurred signature

 

If you have ever received a work email from me, I’m wondering if you have ever noticed the last line of my signature? It looks like this:

It’s two URLs (highlighted in yellow here) and if you were to click on them you would find out that I’m an INTP-type person according to the well-known and respected Myers-Briggs test (based on the theories of Carl Jung).

The history behind this is that many years ago, my company invested money and effort to get a lot of people through the Myers & Briggs test and training.The rationale of knowing that type in the workplace were manifold but mainly:

(inspired by http://www.myersbriggs.org/type-use-for-everyday-life/mbti-type-at-work/)


The rationale behind the MBTI® personality test


 

  • Know thyself:

When you understand your type preferences, you can approach your own work in a manner that best suits your style, including how you manage your time, problem solving, best approaches to decision making, and dealing with stress. Knowledge of type can help you deal with the culture of the place you work, the development of new skills, understanding your participation on teams, and coping with change in the workplace. If your work involves selling, knowledge of type can be helpful in understanding what clients need from you, especially how they best like to learn about products and services and how they like to interact during the process of gathering information and making decisions.

  • support many different functions and situations including managing others, development of leadership skills, organizing tasks, creation and management of teams, training for management and staff, conflict resolution, motivation, executive coaching, diversity, recognition and rewards, and change management.

The rationale then is still very valid now.
The reason I’m bringing this up is that recently while researching my son’s type in order to help find a future college major (he’s 16), I found a website that allows you to take the test, for FREE. I took it and it arrived at the same conclusion that the professional tester did when she administered the test to me…. Minus the $$$ my company spent.


Take the test


I would encourage anyone to take the FREE (yet pretty thorough) test at http://www.mypersonality.info/basic-vs-pro/personality-type-test (it requires you to create a login but they have a “zero spam policy”).
If enough people take it and are interested in sharing their test, I think it would be pretty cool to create, in your organization, a wiki/SharePoint page listing everyone and their associated personality type.

If you do take the test, the website will produce a nice summary chart like this one:

INTP chart for me

If you end up being INTP, I’m sure that you’ll agree that INTPs rock!
Take it and let me know…

And for those who know me and thought that I was an extrovert, you’ll come to the realization that I’m a good faker. 🙂

May 122013
 

how creative are you

So, you think you are really creative and can rock any brainstorming session like no one else!

But how creative are you? Can creativity be measured and evaluated? This blog post offers some answers and 3 ways to test your creativity.

As creativity’s role is becoming more and more essential in people’s life both at home, in school and at work, scientists are increasingly paying attention. In fact, the “science of creativity” has developed into a popular field of research.

 

1. Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT)

The truth is that even though the interest has grown exponentially recently, research on the topic is not new. In fact, as early as the 1940s, E. Paul Torrance, nicknamed “the father of creativity”, began researching creativity in order to improve American education. The problem is that, as any good scientist, Torrance first needed to be able to quantify, measure and analyze creativity.

That’s how he came up in the 60’s with the set of tests named  Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (or TTCT) where Torrance claims to be able to measure what he calls “divergent thinking“: the characteristic of coming up with more answers, or more original answers, rather than deriving a single best answer.

One of the most iconic elements of the TTCT was the Incomplete Figure test; the drawing equivalent of exquisite corpse. Here are 2 examples of incomplete drawings :

ttct_1

followed by 2 drawings inspired by them

ttct_2(image credits and for more drawings: http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/galleries/2010/07/10/creativity-test.html#slide1)

Give it a try: download the template here (or this one, and this one) and let your creativity do the drawing.

 

2. Remote Associates Tests (RAT)

Remote Associates Tests are my favorite because they are more like puzzles instead of open-ended tests which are difficult to gauge.  The concept is simple: you are given 3 seemingly unrelated words, such as “falling , actor , dust”, and you are asked to come up with a fourth word that connects all 3 words. In this example, the answer is “star” for “falling star”, “movie star (actor)” and “stardust”.

Finding the 4th word is not always easy especially when trying a methodical approach or brute force.  The answer often comes as a flash of insight (almost out of nowhere). Relaxing your mind, and letting it wander, instead of applying the typical “think! think! think!” approach works much better. Supposedly being sleepy and drunk helps too.

Give it a try: here’s my personal favorite web page to test your RAT skills: http://www.remote-associates-test.com/. It’s addictive, so use responsibly.

 

3. Alternative Uses Task

Developed by J.P. Guilford in 1967, the Alternative Uses Task tests evaluate creativity by having you think of as many possible uses for a common house hold item (such as a brick, paperclip, or newspaper)

Example: name all the uses for a brick:

  1. A paperweight
  2. A doorstop
  3. A mock coffin at a Barbie funeral
  4. To throw through a window
  5. To use as a weapon
  6. To hit my sister on the head with

The test also measures divergent thinking and scoring is comprised of 4 components:

  1. Originality – how common is the use (vs. other people’s responses). For brick: “doorstop” (common) vs. ” A mock coffin at a Barbie funeral” (disturbingly original?)
  2. Fluency – total number of uses found
  3. Flexibility – or different categories. In this case there are five different categories (weapon and hit sister are from the same general idea of weapon)
  4. Elaboration – amount of detail (e.g. “a doorstop” vs.  “a door stop to prevent a door slamming shut in a strong wind”

Give it a try:  look around for a common house object, say a vase, how many uses can you think of for that vase.

For many more interesting tests, check out this fantastic resource page.

This post was partly inspired by this Studio 360 podcast.

 

May 072013
 

Socrates can still teach us a thing or two about idea sharing

Socrates re: idea sharing

This LBB is once again inspired by Michael Michalko‘s brilliant book: Thinkertoys: A Handbook of Creative-Thinking techniques.

In ancient Greece, Socrates and his friends spent years freely meeting and conversing with each other, having dialogues that helped shape Western civilization. They exchanged ideas without trying to change the other’s mind and without bitter argument. They felt free to propose whatever was on their mind. They always paid attention to each other’s views and established an extraordinary fellowship. Socrates and his friends bound themselves by principles of discussion to maintain a sense of collegiality. These principles were known as “Koinonia,” which means “spirit of fellowship” (no religious connotation here).

The principles they devised were to establish dialogue, be collegial (thinking of others as equals), clarify your thinking, and be honest


Socrates’s 4 principles on how to share ideas


I) Establish dialogue. In Greek, the word dialogue means a “talking through.” The Greeks believed that the key to establishing dialogue is to exchange ideas without trying to change someone’s mind. This is not the same as discussion, which from its Latin root means to “dash to pieces.” The basic rules of dialogue for the Greeks were: “don’t argue,” “don’t interrupt,” and “listen carefully.”

II) Be collegial (thinking of others as equals). All participants must regard each another as equal colleagues, even if they have nothing in common.

It is important because thought is participative. Any controlling authority, no matter how carefully presented, will tend to inhibit the free play of thought. If one person is used to having his view prevail because she is the most senior person present, then she must surrender that privilege. If one person is used to being silent because he is more junior, then he must surrender the security of keeping quiet.

III) Clarify your thinking. To clarify your thinking, you must suspend all assumptions. Free thought is blocked if our thoughts and opinions are based on assumptions. For instance, if you believe certain people are not creative, you’re not likely to give their ideas fair consideration. Check you assumptions about everything and maintain an unbiased view.

IV) Be honest. Say what you think. Socrates and his followers believed Koinonia allowed a group to access a larger pool of common thoughts that could not be accessed individually. Through Koinonia, a new kind of thinking starts to come into being, based on the development of common thoughts. People are no longer in opposition but are participants in a pool of common ideas that are capable of constant development and change.

 

So, even though your goal might not be to reshape Western civilization, the next time you are in a ideation/brainstorming session, try to keep those guidelines in mind.

It worked for Socrates.

[Photo credit:  http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ASocrates_Louvre.jpg]

Apr 282013
 

Physical arousal linked to increased sharing


arousal eyeThe answer to the question “What do you do when physically aroused?” is that you probably share.

By sharing, I mean the stories, news and information that people share with others around them.

According to this fascinating article published in Psychological Science:

We forward online articles to our friends, share stories with our co-workers at the water cooler, and pass along rumors to our neighbors. Such social transmission has been going on for thousands of years, and the advent of social technologies like texting, Facebook, and other social media sites has only made it faster and easier to share content with others. But why is certain content shared more than others and what drives people to share?

Jonah Berger, the author of the study:

The sharing of stories or information may be driven in part by arousal. When people are physiologically aroused, whether due to emotional stimuli or otherwise, the autonomic nervous is activated, which then boosts social transmission. Simply put, evoking certain emotions can help increase the chance a message is shared.

Jonah Berger is also the author of the captivating book Contagious: Why Things Catch On and that’s how I heard of his theory. In both the book and the article he explains how his study was conducted. He and his team of researchers looked at a large number of New York Times articles and whether they made the “most emailed” list, which is a good measurement of the article virality.

What they found is that while article evoking positive emotion were typically more viral, some negative emotions like anxiety and anger actually increased transmission while other like sadness decreased it. Berger posits that fear, anger or amusement leads people to share new and information more. These emotions are linked to higher level of arousal and action vs. emotions like sadness or contentment which lead to low arousal and inaction. If something makes you angry (vs. sad) you are more likely to share it with your friends and family because you are “fired up”.

With the emergence and the importance of social media these days, companies and organizations must understand why people talk about and share certain things.

Berger and his team conducted two experiments to confirm their theory. In one experiment they asked students to watch videos that made them either anxious or amused  (high arousal), or sad or content (low arousal). The results demonstrated that students who felt high arousal emotions were much more likely to share with others.

In the second experiment, students were asked to sit still or to jog for about a minute – a task proven to increase arousal. Then, they were shown a neutral online new article and told they could email it to anyone. The experiment showed that the students who jogged in place were more likely to share.


Why should companies/associations care about that research?


Berger states that the implications of his study are quite broad:

People’s behavior is heavily influenced by what others say and do. Whether you are a company trying to get people to talk more about your brand, or a public health organization trying to get people to spread your healthy eating message, these results provide insight into how to design more effective messages and communication strategies.

We knew about “don’t drink and drive”, and now we should probably be cognizant of “don’t jog and share”.

Practice safe sharing!

[Photo Credit: close-up photo of my wife‘s beautiful left eye]

Apr 212013
 

Muscle Confusion -> Mental Confusion


mental confusion brain

If you have been to the gym or involved in any fitness for the past few years, you certainly run into the concept of “muscle confusion“.

The idea behind the concept is that muscles accommodate to a specific type of stress/exercise when the same stress is continually applied to the muscles over time. We become very proficient at doing that same exercise but we eventually reach a plateau, where we get stuck.

The solution:  mix up your exercise routines. You are a jogger? Try some strength training. Yoga is your passion? Give swimming a chance, every so often. A mix of different exercises was the novel ingredient to the incredibly successful P90X

When it comes to our daily job, we also become very proficient at it over time. Our brains develop routines and we stick to them because they work. That said, by not challenging the way we do things we invariably plateau and reach a state of pleasant comfort, sometime without even realizing it. However, there is nothing more dangerous in life than comfort because it can quietly kill your creativity, desire to innovate and aspiration for a better tomorrow.

If you have reached that dangerous level of comfort or don’t want to get even near it, let me offer a solution: Mental Confusion.

I do realize that “train your brain as if it was  a muscle” metaphor has been overused but in this case it seems very apropos.


2 ways to stimulate Mental Confusion


How do you go about creating “mental confusion”?  My suggestions are simple:

  • do something unrelated to your day job
  • do whatever makes you (somewhat) uncomfortable

Say, you are a software engineer, programming all day. Why not pick up a book about doing simple sketching. Check out Mark Kistler‘s books. That new skill will help you express your software design to non-engineers.

You are a finance guy, and although no one can rock a spreadsheet like you do, writing has never been your forte. Why not start a blog on a topic you cherish? It can be finance related or not.

You are a math teacher and you nailed your lesson plan… 10 years ago and you can now do it with your eyes closed. How about looking into the ways Khan Academy has successfully harnessed the elements of gamification into their own lessons plans? How? Take this excellent Coursera course on the topic.

You are a magazine editor with a successful personal blog on the side about fashion and have always wanted to customize the look-and-feel of your WordPress blog. Why not take a class on HTML5/PHP/CSS? They are so many good  resources (videos, classes, etc…) on those topics that it’s a shame not to take advantage of them.

I could go on but I’m sure you get the idea.


Benefits of Mental Confusion


Outside the obvious  advantages of broadening your mental horizon. The new skills will make you more creative overall, more able to be innovative and find better ways of excelling at your trade.

It is no surprise that successful entrepreneurs these days no longer look for talents in a narrow field. Instead they seek well-rounded, dual (T-shaped) or even multidisciplinarity individuals who can contribute at many levels and bring both left and right brains at the table. Companies like IDEO have long preached the gospels of having employees being skillful  in more than one field. Practicing “mental confusion” will lead you to become one of those creative innovators.

Universities have also noticed the trend with schools like the Stanford D-school  offering a degree in design, combining traditional design teaching with finance/entrepreneurship  acumen. Even, bastion of technical/scientific knowledge like Caltech now offers the very popular class PA 16… on Cooking Basics and other typically right-brain topics.

Innovation often emerges at the intersection of 2 disciplines or when 2 experts in their respective domains have a chance encounter. Imagine what you will be able to achieve once various areas of your brain have been sufficiently cultivated .

Ready to get “mentally confused”?  Don’t wait, get out of your comfort zone.

If you still need some extra motivation, check out Seth Godin‘s excellent blog post “the simple power of one a day”.

[Image credit: lightwise / 123RF Stock Photo]

Apr 172013
 

Procrastination be gone! Use written goals.


goals settings

Source: http://www.briantracy.com/

You’ve decided to be more creative, and you want to do something about it; maybe read more books on a variety of topic unknown to you in order to broaden your horizons. Or maybe it’s to travel more, learn how to sketch, pick up a new language (human or programming), etc… Whatever your goals are, you are very motivated to achieve them… the first day or maybe the first week and then procrastination sets in.

According to Brian Tracy in his best-selling book Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time, you need written goals.

Brian Tracy claims that only about 3 percent of adults have clear, written goals. These people accomplish five or ten times as much as people of equal or better education and ability but who, for whatever reason, have never taken the time to write out exactly what they want.

There is a powerful formula for setting and achieving goals that you can use for the rest of your life. It consists of seven simple steps. Any one of these steps can double and triple your productivity if you are not currently using it.

 


7 steps of the formula


 

  1. Decide exactly what you want. Either decide for yourself or sit down with your boss and discuss your goals and objectives until you are crystal clear about what is expected of you and in what order of priority.
  2. Write it down. Think on paper. When you write down a goal, you crystallize it and give it tangible form. You create something that you can touch and see. On the other hand, a goal or objective that is not in writing is merely a wish or a fantasy. It has no energy behind it.
  3. Set a deadline on your goal; set sub deadlines if necessary. A goal or decision without a deadline has no urgency. It has no real beginning or end. Without a definite deadline, you will naturally procrastinate and get very little done.
  4. Make a list of everything that you can think of that you are going to have to do to achieve your goal. As you think of new activities, add them to your list. Keep building your list until it is complete. A list gives you a visual picture of the larger task or objective. It gives you a track to run on.
  5. Organize the list into a plan. Organize your list by priority and sequence. Take a few minutes to decide what you need to do first and what you can do later. With a written goal and an organized plan of action, you will be far more productive and efficient than people who are carrying their goals around in their minds.
  6. Take action on your plan immediately. Do something. Do anything. An average plan vigorously executed is far better than a brilliant plan on which nothing is done.
  7. Resolve to do something every single day that moves you toward your major goal. Build this activity into your daily schedule. You may decide to read a specific number of pages on a key subject. You may call on a specific number of prospects or customers. You may engage in a specific period of physical exercise. Whatever it is, you must never miss a day.

Keep pushing forward. Once you start moving, keep moving. Don’t stop. This decision, this discipline alone, can dramatically increase your speed of goal accomplishment and boost your personal productivity.

 

Apr 142013
 

Your brainstorming sessions are going nowhere?
Try these improv techniques


Improv techniques

Source: http://bit.ly/10VOBQc

First of all, I should say that those improv techniques don’t involve having you stand up in front of an audience with a mic in hand and a stool at your side. It’s much less involving than that. In fact, they are extremely simple and yet incredibly effective. Read on to find out more.

We’ve all been in those meetings either at work, in the classroom, in a family gathering deciding on a vacation together, or in a community group where we need to generate new ideas and come up with an agreement on those ideas. Very often, we witness some brave souls offering their ideas, to have them rebuked with a harsh “NO!” or its sneaky cousin “yes, BUT…”.

At that point, whatever creativity flow was in the room screeches to a dead stop or is replaced by a confrontational back-and-forth where all parties hunker down and are dead set on defending their ideas and ignoring any other ideas. In the end, the strong personalities end up imposing their ideas. The end result: very few ideas are generated, egos get hurt and everyone comes out frustrated.

What if there is a better way that would remove the risk of  strong personalities or personal glory getting in the way of the creative process? A way where everyone has to actually listen to the members of the group’s ideas and be willing to embrace them for at least a little bit? A way where everyone involved ends up looking good?


3 simple improv techniques


Those techniques come from the world of improvisation where creativity and flow of ideas is paramount. They have been taught for decades to aspiring comedians (think Steve Colbert) and recently to a much more diverse audience ranging from adventurous business leaders, to nerds, to husband/wife in couple therapy.

The techniques (actually more they are more like guidelines) are incredibly simple:

  1. Use “yes, AND…” (vs. “no!” and “yes, BUT…”) because it forces you to listen to the other person’s ideas and to accept their idea (even if it’s just for a bit) in order to allow you to build on it. It’s about acceptance. Knowing that everyone will have to accept your idea as part of the exercise will embolden you to offer more creative ideas instead of sticking to safe suggestions.
  2. Accept every offer. That’s one of the cardinal rule of improvisation. Go with the flow and never antagonize the person who suggested the idea.
  3. Make the others look good. This gets your ego out of the way. Establish the rule to make your counterpart look good and shed some positive light on their best ideas.

Don’t be fooled by the simplicity of those improv techniques. They do work and not solely on the stage of comedy clubs.

So, the next time you are in a group setting, seeking to generate ideas, offer those 3 guidelines at the beginning of meeting and witness how the dynamics of the group will radically improve. You will be surprised by how well the techniques work.

Have you have ever tried those techniques?  Will you try them in the future and share the outcome? I’d love to hear your feedback ! Use the comment section below.

Apr 072013
 

The modern man doesn’t know how to use his memory


memorization technique, memory palace

Credit: http://bit.ly/10uAGCa

I recently finished listening Moonwalking with EinsteinJoshua Foer’s fascinating book about his yearlong quest to become a top “mental athlete”. His journey is really about how our mind’s memory developed and works from an evolutionary and historical perspective.

My reference to Gutenberg is of course about his introduction of movable type printing to Europe and how it revolutionized the inexpensive printing of books. Believe it or not, for hundreds of years prior, going back to Ancient Greece, learned people actually memorized tons of things because there was no book and written materials were very rare and confined to far-away libraries. Anecdotes of ancient and medieval people who were able to commit to memory huge amount of written material abound. It was told that an Ancient Greek named Charmadas could recite the contents of any volumes in libraries as if he were reading them.

And it wasn’t only about memorizing or recalling books; Seneca the Elder could repeat two thousand names in the order they’d been given to him. Think about that the next time you struggle to remember someone’s name at a cocktail/birthday party.


Incredibly effective memorization technique: Memory Palace


How did they do it? They used memorization techniques such the poetically named “memory palace”. They were so commonly known back then that very few written records of those techniques were found.

The memory palace mnemonic device relies on the fact that millions of years of evolution didn’t do such a good job at helping us memorizing people’s name, words, phone numbers, etc…, i.e. the important things in modern life.  Instead, our hunter’s brain was shaped to memorize physical locations in order to go hunting (and gathering), remembering the good and dangerous spots and taking us safely back to camp: I left my cave, crossed the river by the big fallen tree, went left at the large boulder, etc…

The mnemonic technique is about associating the things you want to remember (your grocery list) with known locations (the rooms in your house for example). Check out this wikihow article for more details on how to use the technique. Try it! It works amazingly well.


The strong link between memorization and creativity


Now you might ask: what’s the connection between memorization techniques and creativity/innovation which is the driving  topic of this blog?  The answer comes fromTony Buzan (a proponent of mental literacy and inventor of Mind Mapping. Also see my recent blog post on Mind Mapping) who’s quoted in the book as follows:

In our gross misunderstanding of the function of memory, we thought that memory was  operated primarily by rote. In other words, you rammed it in until your head was stuffed with facts. What was not realized is that memory is primarily an imaginative process. In fact, learning, memory, and creativity are the same fundamental process directed with a different focus.

The art and science of memory is about developing the capacity to quickly create images that link disparate ideas. Creativity is the ability to form similar connections between disparate images and to create something new and hurl it into the future so it becomes a poem, or a building, or a dance, or a novel. Creativity is, in a sense, future memory.

If the essence of creativity is linking disparate facts and ideas, then the more facility you have making associations, and the more facts and ideas you have at your disposal, the better you’ll be at coming up with new ideas.

Also, as Buzan likes to point out, Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory, was the mother of the Muses.

 

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