Mind Gym (28 page)

By the end of this exercise, the group feels they have been rather creative. Who would have thought of opening a tourist attraction only for the breakfast hours? There’s nothing wrong with the group’s list, but it doesn’t exactly sparkle with originality. Why? Because all these ideas are based around typical hours of operation.

So, what would happen if they dismissed all their knowledge about what opening and closing times usually look like and thought about alternative times to operate the attraction? The next list looks very different. Here is an example of truly creative thinking:

Of course, some of these ideas wouldn’t work. Nevertheless, the list sparkles with new ideas. Operating the attraction when the moon is full prompted an offer of a surfing competition held at night under the full moon. They could call it Night Surfari. And the idea of being open only for the first fifteen minutes of every hour might help with congestion, thereby allowing an effective flow of people through the attraction.

By letting go of the reality you’re used to, the ideas you generate are likely to be more quirky, different, and engaging.

Sometimes your knowledge or expertise can get in the way of seeing different solutions or cause you to make assumptions about a particular problem.

A group of expert magicians was asked to watch one of their fellow illusionists perform a trick in which the ace card appears from the middle of a shuffled deck. A group of novices was also asked to observe the same trick. When asked what technique the magician had used to get the ace to appear, the experts gave long, convoluted explanations that involved complex and skillful sleight of hand. The novices simply said that the pack contained only aces. In this instance, the novices were right—the expertise of the magicians hindered their ability to think creatively.

Maybe you’ve heard the tale of older boys in a school teasing a younger boy by offering him a nickel and a dime and telling him he could have whichever coin he picked. The younger boy chose the nickel “because it’s bigger.” The older boys gave him the coin and laughed at him for being so stupid. The older boys played the game again and again, and each time the younger boy chose the nickel.

A kind teacher noticed the game the boys were playing and, feeling sorry for the younger boy, asked him, “Do you know that a dime is worth more than a nickel?”

“Of course,” said the young boy.

“So, why do you keep picking the nickel?” asked the teacher.

“Because if I took the dime, they’d stop offering me the money.”

The older boys and the teacher had their
I am an expert
filters on. They knew that a dime is worth more than a nickel. But the younger boy had removed his filter—he’d stopped thinking about whether the dime is worth more money than the nickel and instead considered the best possible way to get the boys to give him the largest amount of money. Picking the nickel proved to be the creative solution to the problem at hand.

The
I am an expert
filter dulls your creative ability when you assume you have special knowledge and can see something better than people who don’t possess your knowledge.

Take a look at the following picture. What do you see?

Some people say “a triangle, a shaded square, and a circle with lines in it” or “three geometric images.” Others say “a tractor on a sunny morning,” “a set of children’s building blocks,” or “a clown’s face.”

When it comes to thinking creatively, being too literal doesn’t pay. Don’t worry if you still can’t see a clown’s face in the picture; that isn’t really the point. Creativity is not about being right or wrong; it’s about seeing things differently. Looking at a picture and imagining what it could be, as opposed to what it actually is, can release a fresh train of thought.

Children often exhibit this kind of “could be” creativity. They are uninhibited by assumptions about what is or a concern about getting things wrong (there is no “wrong”). A twig becomes an airplane, the water from a hose is a mountain stream, a hole in a wall is a dark and dangerous cave, and the petals from a flower are the hidden treasure.

You can gain creative insight by becoming uninhibited as well. Richard James was a naval engineer who was working on tension springs to support equipment on battleships. When one of the springs accidentally fell to the ground and kept on moving, Richard had a thought:
This tension spring could be a children’s toy
. The result? The invention of the Slinky and one rich naval engineer.
¹

Pick up an object in front of you. What is it? What could it be?

With your filters removed, creativity can flourish. Well, at least that’s how it would seem. You might be wondering how, then, without filters (which act as constraints or guidelines to show us how
not
to think), do you generate creative ideas from a blank slate? Here are six guidelines that, when followed, will inspire you to create faster, fresher, more innovative ideas:
²

Aimless creativity is usually just that. A sense of purpose, or a problem to solve, greatly increases the odds of coming up with something that is not only original but also worthwhile.

Too much pressure makes people panic, but some pressure often helps you perform better (see chapter 18). Maybe tell yourself that you need to create a list of ninety ideas in fifteen minutes.

According to two-time Nobel Prize–winner Linus Pauling, the best way to have good ideas is “to have a lot of ideas and throw away the bad ones.” When it comes to creativity, more is better, partly because you never know when you are going to discover something great and partly because, by going for volume, you force yourself to think without restrictions.

This is the hardest rule to stick to. How often have you had a zany idea and instantly dismissed it as absurd? All ideas are good ideas because at the moment you have them you don’t know where they might lead. If you catch yourself evaluating an idea, give yourself a penalty—like having to generate three more ideas in the next thirty seconds. After generating several ideas, set a period of time during which you don’t allow yourself to assess them.

If you don’t, you might end up spending all your time trying to remember them. Plus, an idea that won’t work now may be the springboard for an amazing idea later.

Your moment of genius may come from letting an earlier thought that you liked (but weren’t quite sure why) gestate. Ambiguity is great. Don’t dismiss partial solutions, because they can often lead to the complete answer.

Once you know your filters and how they affect the way you think, it will become relatively easy to remove them. The challenge is noticing those rose-colored glasses in the first place.

Sometimes just noticing a filter is enough to remove it. Nevertheless, for the times when noticing isn’t enough, here are four techniques to help you both spot the filter and turn it off.

Imagine, for example, explaining a problem out loud to someone who doesn’t speak very good English. As you do so, look for the assumptions you are making that may not be true (not about their English but about the problem). By using simpler language to restate your problem, you may notice the filter that’s stopping you from being creative. Or by restating the problem, you might spur an idea that removes the filter; your filter may have simply been the language you commonly use to explain the problem.

Once you can see why the ideas you are generating aren’t solving your problem, you may start to see a new set of problems. Don’t be discouraged by these new problems. They will typically expose your filter and give you a fresh path of thinking differently.

Making a list of your assumptions is a good place to start because it helps you search for assumptions (“A man is driving a black car on a blackened road” doesn’t express that his headlights were on or that he could even see at all—he might be blind). Probe further, examining the definition of each word of a problem or any alternative meanings. This may help you spot your filters by forcing you to cull through your assumptions and remove those that are retraining your creative thinking.

How would a doctor look at this challenge? What about a police officer? Or a third-grader? How would someone who has never seen anything like this before think about it? By using your imagination to shift perspectives, you adopt a different way of looking at the world. This, in turn, leads to fresh and different ideas.

The following two chapters are packed with more complex techniques that can help you think differently by removing or changing your filters.

GIVE YOUR MIND A WORKOUT

Can you spot the filters that the following brainteasers are encouraging you to put on? Can you take them off and solve these problems?

1. Which three numbers are next in the sequence 1 0 1 1 1 2 1 2 ?

2. There are three lightbulbs in a room and three separate light switches on the other side of a solid wooden door. You cannot see any of the lightbulbs from the light switches. You are on one side of the door and can go into the room only once and cannot come back. How will you find out which switch is for which lightbulb in one go?

3. A woman has five children and half of them are male. Is this possible? If so, how?

4. A woman with no driver’s license goes the wrong way down a one-way street and turns left at a corner with a no-left-turn sign. A policeman sees her but does nothing. Why?

5. What’s the next letter in this sequence: W, T, N, L, I, T?

6. There is a barrel with no lid and some wine in it. Without any measuring tools and without removing any wine from the barrel, how can you easily decide whether it is more or less than half full?

    Find the answers on the next page.

1. Divide a piece of paper into four rectangular boxes.

2. Draw a random squiggle or shape in each box without any thought for what you are drawing.

3. Then turn each squiggle or shape into a picture of something. Don’t settle for a smiley face or a house; use your imagination and make something unique.

4. For an extra challenge, see if you can connect all four drawings into a scene. Don’t worry if it’s bizarre and doesn’t make sense—that’s the point.

1. 3, 4, 5 (Imagine a clock counting from 10, 11, 12, 1, 2)

2. Turn on the first two switches and leave them on for five minutes. Then turn off the second switch and leave on the first switch. So, you have one switch turned on, one that was recently turned off, and one that was never turned on. Then go into the room and feel the two bulbs that are not turned on. The hot one is the one that was recently turned off, the one that is cool was never turned on, and the one that is bright is the switch that is still on.

3. All of them are male.

4. She is walking.

5.
S
(“what’s the next letter in this
S
equence”)

6. Tilt it sideways. If the wine is aligned with the top inner edge of the barrel while not spilling out, it is exactly half full.

A
m I creative?” asked Marty. “No, I’m not creative at all. I’m a guy who likes facts and numbers.”

“Am I logical?” asked Melanie. “No, I’m not very organized. I’m a free thinker. I like to be expressive and artistic.”

When it comes to creativity, there are no rules. You don’t have to be a certain type of person. You don’t have to look a certain part. You don’t have to like poetry or theatre. You can be a mathematical genius. You can love organization and structure. You don’t have to wear outrageous clothing or have strange “Einstein” hair.

The good news about creative people is that they look and behave like anyone else. They can be both logical and free thinkers. They can be expressive, outrageous, and artistic, or reserved and refined. Creativity is achieved not by the way your brain operates or the way you present yourself to the world as much as by the tools and processes you use to overcome challenges.

This chapter explores creativity tools that, when used properly, will engage any person in the creative process. People who struggle with idea generation will discover new insights. People who are already creative will experience enhanced creativity.