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.   

• There is a little boy who occasionally says, "Cheese and crackers," under his breath. Why does he do this? 
• If apple pie ala mode had a song written for it, what instrument would be the dominant instrument? 
• What products would be best advertised using a blind actor? 
• Your job at an advertising agency is to come up with a slogan to promote white bread. What is it? 
• List five famous people who would be good spokespeople for white bread. Say why you choose these particular people. 
• The U.S. government has just announced the "real" killer of John F. Kennedy, and that this person is now deceased. Who was it, why did they kill him, and why did the governmenso long to announce tt wait his information? 
• Your team is in the Super Bowl. It is midway through the fourth quarter. Your team is behind by 42 points and you are happy about this. Explain why. (Note: It is not because you have bet money on the opposing team.)

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.  
 

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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 Publications 

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