This
Month's Mind Flexors
Mind Flexors are concise exercises to practice
the six characteristics listed below. If you put on
ice skates and skate a little bit each day for the next year, you will
definitely be better on ice at year's end. Research and common sense tells
us that regular flexing of your creativity capacity will make it easier
for you to be creative on demand.
Mind Flexors are designed to be fun and to exercise your mind. You
don't have to do all of them to increase your creativity, but practice
never hurts! Some people who have attended TMI's Unbind Your Mind creativity
class share ideas across e-mail or do the exercises with colleagues or
family.
There are no correct answers to the Mind Flexors. Give yourself permission
to think of as unusual answers as possible.
 Write as many words as you can think of
in two minutes beginning with "pro."
Devise three improvements on television
sets.
Imagine you have to clean the room you are
currently in. Think of three ways to do it creatively.
Think of ten things you would automate in
your house, so all you have to do is call from a phone and these auto functions
would begin.
You work with a very noncreative person
(a boss or colleague). Think of five things you could do to get this person
to be more creative.
Draw a picture of "Let Your Imagination
Run Free."
A "Hauza" is a body gland just discovered.
Describe it, name its location and tell what it does.
Unbind
Your Mind - Six Characteristics
People who rank high in the following six characteristics
tend to be more creative:
Fluency of ideas: The more creative you
are, the more ideas you can produce in a given time. If your brain can
rapidly produce 30 ideas, it does not matter if most of them are of little
value. You say that one good idea is better than 30 bad or mediocre
ideas, but it can take 30 ideas to produce one good idea. Most people do
not produce their best ideas until their brain has sorted through some
average ideas. It is almost as if the brain needs to get warmed up in the
same way athletes put their bodies through warm-up periods before competition
or training.
Withholding of judgment: If you delay your
judgments, you will get more high quality ideas when you are brainstorming.
When you judge, you are looking for what does not work or fit, rather than
possibilities. It is within possibilities that creativity sits.
Tolerance of ambiguity: Tolerance of ambiguity
is the ability to live in a universe where there are no right or wrong
answers, where ideas or thoughts are vague and yet unformed. There are
two sides to this ability: willingness to see both sides of the same coin,
and willingness to stay in the questioning phase before rushing to an answer.
Flexibility and imagination: Creativity
demands flexible thinking, almost a childlike attitude of wonderment. To
be creative, you must operate as if the world can be as you create it.
Concentration: This is the ability to stay
focused on a subject, even while you feel frustrated or bored. It is the
ability to ignore distractions while trying to solve problems or accomplish
something. Concentration and determination are critical aspects of creativity.
Preference for disorder: Creative people
tend to like disorder. This does not necessarily mean mess. One of the
stereotypes of creative people is that of the messy inventor or writer
with piles of paper everywhere. Mess has little to do with creativity.
Disorder is something else. Preference for disorder refers to asymmetry
in design, nonlinear thinking, or shaking up the normal order.
Previous
"Mind Flexor" selections:
#1 , #2
, #3
| TMI, USA has a complete book of
365 Mind Flexors exercises available. It is authored by Janelle Barlow,
Ph.D. and is titled, Mind Flexors. We will
also publish here new (never before seen!) Mind Flexors--seven at a time
each month. We invite our readers to add their own creativity to this list,
and we'll credit you with your contribution. We'll also list your creative
answers on this page if you send them to us. |
Creativity
Training Program
Unbind
Your Mind & Mind Flexors
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