How To Be More Creative?

Creativity is part of our mind, our meaning, and our personal dynamics. Creativity is what we need, if we are to flourish in our well- being, including physical, environmental, mental, emotional, spiritual and social health. It’s a way to find meaning in all what we do, how we live and where we go.         

By Olena Denysyuk

  I think it is a well-known statement that creativity combined with rationalization and reasoning, adds more value to everything. It is a way for a product to stand out in a crowded market. Be it design, a story, a play. Be it something that provokes feelings. Be it something unique and beautiful, but meaningful. And for creativity to give meaning, it should be enhanced by rationalization and reasoning. Does it give meaning? If not- it doesn’t matter- creativity doesn’t always make sense. But actually, how do you find logic in creativity?

For many years I crafted my logical and analytical abilities, the left side of the brain, but not the right one. But actually, as long as I progress these analytical (L-sided abilities), I am becoming better and better in my creative (R-sided) abilities as well. What are the reasons?

Can creativity be synthesized? Or explained logically, and can it be learned at all? Where do creative ideas come from? What I have noticed, is that my good ideas to my creative hobbies (design, photography) come when I am relaxed; when I am very much motivated; when I notice details and its “new connections”; when I push myself into creative thinking; and when I have a dream. But I am sure there is more to the story.

 According to the Economist, in the past 30 years, archeologists have begun to re-examine the ethnographic collections for clues as to how creativity works. The articrafts point to the fact that our creativity, (like all other body organs and cognitive abilities) was the object of natural evolution.  It started from the ice age: people changed from hunter-gatherers to skilled artisans, they spend hours to carve and draw. What were their motives to change the utility process/product into meaning of beauty? Did they make this transformation in order to attract the opposite sex, reproduce and survive? Did then make it for an exchange of goods? Or were they just bored?

I think that the art objects of ancient times point to the fact that creativity is an instinctive pursuit. As long as there were people, there was creativity. Also look at kids: the very first skill they develop is the creativity in play. My very first Christmas gift from my daughter was a painting. The first years of their lives they are creative because it’s very natural for them- they don’t need any training, guidelines to provoke their interest towards creativity. It is my subjective opinion, but think that’s a good reason to believe that creativity is being aroused by our instincts.

From another side, by the creativity (art, play, game, and music) the emotions are being evoked. Thus, creativity is being created by our instincts, and for our instincts. And, like with all other instincts, we need it. Subsequently, creativity is part of our mind, our meaning, and our personal dynamics. Creativity is what we need, if we are to flourish in our well- being, including physical, environmental, mental, emotional, spiritual and social health. It’s a way to find meaning in all what we do, how we live and where we go.

Creativity or creative thinking also stimulates and develops our prefrontal cortex, which is responsible of brain’s advanced functions.  With creative thinking you perceive things holistically.

Needless to say that creativity also revolutionizes and shapes products and processes. It can generate a new demand; new markets, new directions. It’s  an important predisposition for our economy growth and development; health and wealth, innovations and transformations. This is the basis for seeing interesting correlations and a whole picture.

Having said that, I would love to take an opportunity to recommend a book by Daniel H. Pink “A Whole New Mind: Why Right- Brainers will Rule the Future”, where the author discusses the six senses, which are going to make the transition from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age, from the world, crafted by left-brain thinkers to the world, with necessary contribution from the left-brain thinkers; a contribution from art and heart to logic and analysis.

Basically, the main point in the book is that “We’ve progressed from a society of farmers to a society of factory workers to a society of knowledge workers. And know we’re progressing yet again – to a society of creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers and meaning makers”.  According to the author, we will evidence this transformation as a result of Abundance, Asia and Automation.

In the age of Abundance: “after decades of pursuing riches, materialism seems less interesting. In a time of abundance, many of us are freer to seek a deeper understanding of ourselves and our purpose. Therefore, the stuff we buy should not only satisfy our needs, but also they should boost the significance of beauty and emotion, “accelerating individuals search for meaning”.            

In the age of Asia (outsourcing): Asia is now performing large amounts of routine, white-color, L-Directed work. Therefore, we have to master skills that can’t be shipped overseas.

In the age of Automation: computers, software, applications have overtaken our jobs and hobbies. And they do the job better, faster and cheaper.

Actually, it’s the L-Directed thinkers, who ruled the world so far. They have well-structured and rationalized society, excelled at banking, engineering and technology. It’s the left- directed thinkers, who have moved the world to the age of Abundance, Asia and Automation.

From another side, “ as individuals get richer, as technologies become more powerful, and the world grow more connected, individuals would need to protect their skills and be prepared for already loomed change.” Therefore, we have to exercise our R-Directed thinking. And this is the key for our professional achievement and personal satisfaction. So, literally and consciously we ought to subordinate our two minds at once.

So what are those two minds he is talking about?

As logic and reasoning are to L-Directed thinkers, so aesthetic, emotional and spiritual senses are to R-Directed thinkers. Traditionally, these two mind-sets were seen separated: “the left hemisphere reasoned sequentially, excelled at analysis, and handled words”. The right hemisphere” reasoned holistically, recognized patterns, and interpreted emotions and nonverbal expressions”. Therefore, logic and reasoning developed high-tech concepts (the world of technology); emotionality and beauty created high concept and high touch (art, design, empathy).

Let’s focus on latter. “High concept involves the ability to create artistic and emotional beauty, to detect patterns and opportunity, to craft a satisfying narrative, and to combine seemingly unrelated ideas into a novel invention. High touch involves the ability to emphasize, to understand the subtleties of human interaction, to find joy in one’s self and to elicit it in others, and to stretch beyond the quotidian, in pursuit of purpose and meaning”.

So, it is very likely that high concept and high touch is a tipping point in search of meaning, happiness, well-being, including physical, environmental, mental, emotional, spiritual and social health in this transformation age we are living in.

To move beyond the high concept and high touch, we will need to complement our L-Directed with R-Directed thinking.

According to Daniel H. Pink, you can do it by mastering six essential aptitudes: design, story, empathy symphony, play, and meaning, as these aptitudes are becoming more and more essential in this new era, which is yet to dramatically re-shape our lives.

These are fundamentally human abilities that everyone can master. Here are only some of the strategies, proposed by the author.  If you seriously would like to train you creative thinking, I would really recommend the book. Here I also found some interesting ideas and pattern thinking when training my daughter’s creative abilities.

Design

Design in its simplest form is the activity of creating solutions. Design is something that everyone does every day. It’s difficult to outsource design, therefore it would be a good investment to see and train a designer in you.

Design’s most potent economic effects is this capacity to create new markets’ – whether for ring tones, photovoltaic cells, or medical devices. The forces of Abundance, Asia and Automation turn goods and service is by constantly developing new innovations, inventing new categories, and giving the world something it didn’t know it was missing.

“Similar potential exist in bringing a new design sensibility to settings where beauty has long taken a backseat”.  So, for the sake of exercise, at home, choose a household item that annoys you in any way. Take a pan. Re-design the product. Send the idea to the manufacturer. You never know what might happen. Train a designer in you- bring the beauty to the surface.

Story

Story is one of the integral to the human experience as design.

“Our brains have an internal “story grammar” that help us understand the world not as a set of logical propositions but as a pattern of experiences. Stories, not the facts and data help us to understand the world”.

According to the author, successful businesspeople must be able to syndicate the science of facts and logic (data, finance, and accounting) with the art of story.” “It’s the ability to place these facts in context and to deliver then with emotional impact.” You won’t remember facts, but you will remember the story.

Also, “story is high concept because it sharpens our understanding of one thing by showing it in the context of something else.” It’s supplements analytical thinking by enabling us to imagine new perspectives and new words. Stories, not facts, provoke feelings, which also are the driving force for any action (donations, volunteer work, ets).

So, storytelling is becoming an important skill, not only on the professional level, but also on the individual level.

So, for the sake of exercise, get one story. Every day read a story. One story. From a book, your life, a movie. (please visit http://www.one-story.com/).

 Or instead of using words, turn to pictures for story inspiration. Select a picture and fashion a tale about what is happening in the picture. Challenge yourself; tell the “back-stage” story as well. I believe it’s a powerful tool at training creating thinking in kids as well.

Symphony

Symphony is the ability to put together the pieces: “it is the capacity to synthesize rather than to analyze; to see relationships between seemingly unrelated fields; to detect broad patterns rather than to deliver specific answers; and to invent something new by combining elements nobody else thought to pair”.

Symphony is also the attribute of the brain’s right hemisphere. While the left side see the facts, the right side organizes them in order. It helps to understand the application of these facts to a right content. In autistic children, for example, this ability is weakened, which explains their challenge to read other people’s emotions, read between the lines. So, the stronger the connection between the left and the right sides of the brain , the stronger we are in achieving, innovating , creating.

From another side, sometimes we need “to relax” our left side: “the goal is to trick the left hemisphere and clear the way for the right. When the left brain doesn’t know what the right brain is doing, the mind is free to see relationships and to integrate those relationships into a whole. “

So, we must know and understand different and seemingly separate disciplines. We must know how to link apparently unconnected elements to create something new.” Sometimes the most powerful inventions came from simply combining the two separate ideas nobody else bothered to unite. The “Aha!” moments, which can be explained by a large burst of neural activity in the brian’s right hemisphere. Unfortunately, when we work our problems in a more methodical L-Directed way, this creative center remains quite. The routine kills your ability to see the world holistically. I also think that is one of the reasons why some people are less happy than they could be.

Therefore, you need to activate you right side of the brain. It will help to develop innate passion for seeing things whole (and be happy). Pattern recognition is also a cognitive ability that distinguishes a star performer from an average. It’s a skill that helps you to pick up a meaningful trend from  information, change direction and act, while seeing the whole picture.

For the sake of exercise, write down compelling and surprising metaphors you meet. Then the world will be seen richer. It will inspire you to create your own metaphors in writing, thought, or other parts of your life.

Also, for the sake of exercise, look for solutions in search of problems. Ask questions, such as “Where else would it work?”, “Would flipping it work?”. Maybe one day it will bring you to Aha! Moment.

Empathy

“Empathy is not a stand- along aptitude. Empathy is an essential part of Design, because designers put themselves in the mind of whoever is going to experience the product or service they’re designing.”

“Empathy is also related to Symphony- because empathic people understand the importance of context. They see the whole person much as symphonic thinkers see the whole picture. “

Empathy supplements objective knowledge, and the use of technology, and other tools for making accurate diagnoses.

Empathy can be powerful force in medicine, in healing areas. Only empathy, not the machine will calm down a sick person, will give hope and help for a recovery.

Those are the reasons why empathy is a powerful exercise for your R-directed thinking.

So for the sake of exercise, empathize on the job. Do you know what work is really like for your colleagues? Try to understand the personal stories- ask questions “how did they get there?”

Another great way to sharpen your empathic powers is to volunteer somewhere in your community that serves people whose experiences are far different from your own.

Play/Humor

“Humor embodies many of the right hemisphere’s most powerful attributes – the ability to place situations on context, to glimpse the big picture and to combine differing perspectives into new alignments. It reduces hostility, deflects criticism, relieves tension, improves morale, and helps communicate difficult messages. “

“…it is clear that in the age of abundance, laughter provides something that left bran cannot. More broadly, today a play ethic can strengthen and ennoble the work ethic. Games are teaching a variety of whole-minded lessons to a new generation of workers and have given rise to an industry that demands several of the key skills of the Conceptual Ag. Humor represents many aspects of the sophisticated thinking required in automated and outsourced times”.

Just be it a plain, or sincere laughter, so can it lead to joyfulness, which in turn can lead to greater creativity, productivity and collaboration. And meaning and happiness.

Meaning

And finally, meaning.

So, as I started, creativity is an instinctive pursuit. Being creative is not only being able to create something. Being creative is also being able to understand somebody else, read someone expressions and mind. It’s finding the balance in our personal dynamics and use it in the most meaningful way. So creativity is about finding meaning.

Likewise, life is like a labyrinth, or more life is like walking a labyrinth, where the purpose is the journey itself. So I was thinking, how do you find the meaning in your walk then?

The author, for example, will challenge you her, for a moment, on seeing you as you 90. Do you live your life, as you will have wished when you are 90?

And, for the sake of exercise, walk into a labyrinth. As you step into the labyrinth, you begin to see your whole life. You will “shift consciousness from the linear to the non-linear” and bring on the surface “the deep, intuitive, pattern part of ourselves”.

Conclusions

From time to time, there were rediscovered to have been an unleashed wave of creativity- the unleashed wave of study and creativity that spread across politics, art, architecture, literature and philosophy. Today it has become a byword for renewal, not only for product and process, but also our minds.

And creativity has many grasps to go around: innovations, play, design, and story.

I wrote this article, because, I think that creativity is hardly perceived as an instinctive pursuit. It is being suppressed, with each step, as we age.

Most books about economics and finance rarely take the creativity as its starting point. Rarely do we study creativity at Economics Universities. Actually, when taking my degree, I had one subject, “Managing in a Creative Economy”, but only as an elective. The subject was mainly focusing on innovation part of economics, change leadership and “out of the box” thinking. Unfortunately, the majority of students were from marketing, communication and design lines. I don’t recall other students from finance and economics lines.

Why does creativity as such so underestimated in “hard-core” business areas, policies, and reforms? It’s like a separate island in the economic ocean, populated only by creative people, who lives in their own civilization, driven by their own ideology, culture and norms, pragmatism, and it’s their own enthusiasm about trends, which can be even judged from the outsider. Unfortunately, this island is very fragile in times on economic storms: it’s the first to be devastated by financial catastrophes.   

I believe, society can learn a lot from creative people. So do I. I hope I succeeded in mentioning how creativity benefits the economy, as well as our personal, spiritual and cultural development.  

Personally, I do my best in “training” creativity in my child, because I believe, our future is beyond there. But we are just not aware yet how to bring it on surface.