Creativity isn't just for artists, musicians, writers, and designers. We all have the ability to be excellent creative thinkers. - https://www.milestechnologies.com
How To Be
MORE CREATIVE
@JoeZeoliSenior Website & Graphic Designer
Miles Technologies
Who can be creative?
Creativity is not just for artists, musicians, writers, and designers. We
are all creative, but the people who are known for it have spent time
cultivating it, failing at it, and working at it
Creativity
The ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships,
or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods,
interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination
http://dictionary.reference.com/
Why do we have these preconceptions?
Do we really need them?
I don’t wanna grow up!
How can we keep our child-like creativity?
● Our ideas about our surrounding become
set in stone in our early adult life
● Kids are relatively unbiased; they don’t
carry around many of the pre-conceptions
that adults do
● They’re generally much less afraid to be
embarrassed by their ideas
That A HA! Moment.
Our best ideas come in, what seems like a flash of inspiration
What makes a good idea?
Great ideas are built out of a collection of existing parts
Practicing Divergent Thinking
Lateral Thinking Puzzles
Acting on an anonymous phone call, the police raid a house to arrest a suspected murderer.
They don't know what he looks like but they know his name is John and that he is inside the
house. The police bust in on a carpenter, a truck driver, a mechanic and a fireman all playing
poker. Without hesitation or communication of any kind, they immediately arrest the
fireman. How do they know they've got their man?
“The idea is that your creativity acts like a tortoise—poking its head out nervously
to see if the environment is safe before it fully emerges. Thus, you need to create a
tortoise enclosure—an oasis amongst the craziness of modern life—to be a safe
haven where your creativity can emerge.”
-John Cleese
Have a ton of terrible ideas.
The more ideas you can think of, the better chance you’ll have a good one.
Have a ton of terrible ideas.
The more ideas you can think of, the better chance you’ll have a good one.
The White Hat
Only The Facts
● What do you know about
● What are the facts
● What do you need or want to know
● Where would you go to find out this
information
The Red Hat
Our Feelings
● What are you feeling now
● Which solution is best based on your
feelings
● What prejudices are present
● Do you have a gut feeling
● What does your intuition tell you
The Black Hat
The Devil’s Advocate
● What should you be cautious about
● Of what should you be careful
● What are the difficulties
● Why won’t this work
● What are the risks
The Yellow Hat
The Glass Half Full
● What is good about this
● What would be a positive outcome
● Can this be made to work
● What do you like about this
● What can be the value of this
The Green Hat
New Ideas
● Can you create another way to do this
● How would you solve this problem
● What other possibilities are there
● What are some other approaches to this issue?
● Can this be done in a more simple way?
The Blue Hat
The Process
● Summary of everything
● What’s next
● What is the action plan
● Outcome of the meeting
● Are we asking the right questions
"left-brained" is often said to be more logical, analytical, and objective, while a person who is "right-brained" is said to be more intuitive, thoughtful, and subjective.
Roger W Sperry. - Came from a study about epileptics that had their brains split to relieve seizures
New studies show now that analytical subjects, such as mathematics, are strongest when both sides are working together. corpus callosum
Everyone is inherently creative, even subconsciously.
"left-brained" is often said to be more logical, analytical, and objective, while a person who is "right-brained" is said to be more intuitive, thoughtful, and subjective.
Roger W Sperry. - Came from a study about epileptics that had their brains split to relieve seizures
New studies show now that analytical subjects, such as mathematics, are strongest when both sides are working together. corpus callosum
Everyone is inherently creative, even subconsciously.
Brian Bates out of sussex
He did a very simple test. He asked various architects to name who, in their opinion, were the most creative architects in the field. He then asked those creative architects to tell him what they do from the moment they wake up to the moment they go to bed. He then went to the uncreative architects—without perhaps explaining that’s why he was talking to them—and asked them the same thing. Then he compared the two. He discovered two differences, and neither was to do with intelligence.
Creative -knew how to play (child-like traits) & deferred decisions
UNeasy feeling when a problem is unresolved.
Table example
Creative people know how to mute the volume on the frontal lobes (the buttoned-up, analytical portion of the brain), freeing the rest of the brain to make unexpected connections.
Creative breakthroughs are often reported to emerge spontaneously, when the mind is distracted and not focusing on the problem at hand.
Two different ways of looking at the world
Set number of answers
Evidence suggests mental stimulation improves brain function and reduces the risk of cognitive decline and related diseases
Being in the right mindset changes everything for these
Being in the right mindset changes everything for these
Being in the right mindset changes everything for these
Share your mistakes with your team
Share your mistakes with your team
Alice M. Isen
Alice M. Isen
Alice M. Isen
1. Set a timer
2. Commit to just a small task (that contributes to a larger goal)
The white hat is neutral and objective - it’s only concerned with the facts
Info can range from hard facts and figures to reporting how others feel about the topic (your feelings are red hat)
Usually toward the beginning, not really for generating ideas
Red suggests anger. It’s all about the emotional view
Emotions give relevance to our thinking and fit that thinking into our needs and the context of the moment
A hunch is a hypothesis based on intuition. Successful people usually have a feel for the situation.
Red hat gives these feelings legitimacy
Black is somber and serious. This hat is cautious and careful. Points out weaknesses
Basis of critical thinking, what may be wrong or what might not fit
Can question the strength of evidence
Yellow is sunny and positive. It’s optimistic and covers hope
Sometimes people don’t see the value in their own ideas, or value may get over looked.
Something that didn’t seem interesting all of a sudden is very exciting.
Need some sort of background or logic for positiveness.
Green is for the growth of new ideas. energy
Lay out alternatives and options
Lateral thinking, divergent thinking
Movement instead of judgement
Blue sky above, overview
Good to determine times to switch hats
Not about the problem, but about the process