An Easy Way to Increase Creativity Creativity is commonly thought of as a personality trait that resides within the individual. We count on creative people to produce the songs, movies, and books we love; to invent the new gadgets that can change our lives; and to discover the new scientific theories and philosophies that can change the way we view the world. Over the past several years, however, social psychologists have discovered that creativity is not only a characteristic of the individual, but may also change depending on the situation and context. The question, of course, is what those situations are: what makes us more creative at times and less creative at others? One answer is psychological distance. Why does psychological distance increase creativity? In this most recent set of studies, Jia and colleagues examined the effect of spatial distance on creativity. Similar results were obtained in the second study, in which performance on three insight problems was gauged. Are you a scientist?
How to Exercise an Open Mind Edit Article Edited by Sam Rawlins, Krystle C., Richd, Erika Altek and 105 others One hour of increased brain activity via innovative thinking or experiencing new stimuli can make you smarter, more energetic, more creative, more sociable, and more open to new experiences and ways of thinking. The key ingredients are to be open to new experiences and to make changes in previous ways of thinking about these experiences. Here are some of the endless numbers of activities that can stimulate your brain. Ad Steps 1Don’t allow yourself any dead time. 20Browse something that you are not familiar with the internet. Tips Become more like an inquisitive child. Warnings Exercising an "open" mind and "stimulating" your mind are different.
Graphic Organizers May I love using graphic organizers in the classroom to teach and evaluate students understanding of a topic or concept. I’ve written about them and before. Even my most reluctant and/or struggling students find graphic organizers engaging. A few days ago I came across a site that has wonderful graphic organizers. share share share share Use Animoto, a Web 2.0 application, to add an edge to your presentations that your students or any other audience will find engaging. I’ve been wanting to create a multi media presentation for my Learning Strategies Class that would review all the different types of graphic organizers that I encourage the students to use to help them organize their thoughts when doing various assignments. Surprisingly, sometimes when I talk about graphic organizers my students’ eyes glaze over. What do my students think about Animoto? Check out what I’ve done. This Monday I’m giving a workshop at school to show my colleagues how easy it is to use. Apr Feb Next Page →
6 Ways My Brain Stops Me From Creating – And How I'm Fighting Back I have a lot of ideas in my head. And for the most part, that’s where they used to stay. In my head. Sure, I’ve created some. Because the riskiest, most dangerous and potentially most interesting ideas are the easiest to hold back. And while it might feel creative to think of these ideas, they were dying a lonely death when I wasn’t doing anything with them. I lost out, too, with this arrangement. It wasn’t the best life I could give my ideas—or myself. So I decided to change. 1. The No. 1 thing that keeps me from creating is that the idea doesn’t feel complete yet. A former editor of mine called these “glimmers”—a little spark of an idea, not fully formed but on the cusp of being something. The main thing is that idea glimmers need nurturing, which can be hard to do. How to fix it: It may seem counterintuitive, but I’ve learned that this is the time to talk about ideas most, so they can grow from a glimmer to a real idea. 2. And sometimes I don’t want a struggle. How to fix it: 3. 4. 5.
8 Steps to Creativity | Care2 Healthy & Green Living Whether you are creating an original work of art, a new piece of music, a unique software program, or a healing response to an illness, creativity requires a leap in awareness. If you are improving on something that already exists, that is innovation. Creativity brings something into existence that has never been there before. There are eight basic steps to the creative response. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Adapted from Grow Younger, Live Longer by Deepak Chopra, M.D.
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CreativityRulz: Brainstorming Rules: What TO DO and What NOT TO DO... These two short videos are priceless! They were created by students at the Stanford Design Institute. The first one shows how NOT to brainstorm and the second one shows HOW to do it effectively. They picked a fanciful problem to solve - saving your chewing gum when you go to class. The worst case example happens all the time. Here is a video summary of what NOT to do: Here is a video summary of what TO DO: - Defer judgment- Capture all the ideas- Encourage wild ideas- One conversation at a time- Build on other people's ideas- Be visual - use words and pictures- Use headlines to summarize ideas- Go for volume - the more ideas the better!
Overcome Resistance and Get Out of Your Own Way The three dumbest guys I can think of: Charles Lindbergh, Steve Jobs, Winston Churchill. Why? Because any smart person who understood how impossibly arduous were the tasks they had set themselves would have pulled the plug before he even began. Ignorance and arrogance are the artist and entrepreneur’s indispensable allies. She must be clueless enough to have no idea how difficult her enterprise is going to be—and cocky enough to believe she can pull it off anyway.How do we achieve this state of mind? By staying stupid. A child has no trouble believing the unbelievable, nor does the genius or the madman. Don’t think. We can always revise and revisit once we’ve acted. Be Stubborn Once we commit to action, the worst thing we can do is to stop.What will keep us from stopping? We’re in till the finish. We will sink our junkyard-dog teeth into Resistance’s ass and not let go, no matter how hard he kicks. Blind Faith Is there a spiritual element to creativity? Ask me my religion. Passion
Can You Teach Yourself to Be Creative? I pour a cup of coffee, sharpen my pencil, and get ready to create. I’ve dusted off a half-conceived novel outline I abandoned three years ago, but this time I’m not waiting for my muse to intervene. Instead I hit the play button on the Creative Thinker’s Toolkit, an audio lecture series from The Great Courses that I’ve downloaded on my computer. Gerard Puccio, a psychologist who heads the International Center for Studies in Creativity at SUNY Buffalo State, and the voice of the toolkit, tells me to engage in “forced relationships.” Choose a random object, he instructs. I’m intrigued. After all, creativity may be the key to Homo sapiens’ success. Creativity is certainly a buzzword these days. “We’ve moved beyond the industrial economy and the knowledge economy. But can you really teach yourself to be creative? Some of the earliest scientific studies of creativity focused on personality. Above all, though, two personality traits tend to show up again and again among innovative thinkers.
Developing Your Creative Practice: Tips from Brian Eno Current neuroscience research confirms what creatives intuitively know about being innovative: that it usually happens in the shower. After focusing intently on a project or problem, the brain needs to fully disengage and relax in order for a “Eureka!” moment to arise. It’s often the mundane activities like taking a shower, driving, or taking a walk that lure great ideas to the surface. Science journalist Jonah Lehrer, referencing a landmark neuroscience study on brain activity during innovation, writes: “The relaxation phase is crucial. The ebb and flow of concentrated focus and total disengagement has been a subject of particular interest to the composer, musician, and producer Brian Eno (U2, Talking Heads, Roxy Music). …a practice of some kind … It quite frequently happens that you’re just treading water for quite a long time. There’s no point in saying, ‘I don’t have an idea today, so I’ll just smoke some drugs.’ 1. Grab from a range of sources without editorializing. 2. 3. 4. 5.