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.
 

• Elmhurst and Alexander are two intersecting streets. Make up a story to explain why these names were chosen to be placed next to each other. It wasn't an accident!

• Bank of the West is in New York City on the East Coast. Bank of the East is located in California on the West Coast. What's the logic behind this?

• Finish this rhyme. Try several different endings until you come up with one that you really like.

 Girls jump up and down.
 Boys run around the town.
 A boy named Sue
 ______________________.

• Some leaves on certain trees turn blue and turquoise in the fall. Give three plausible explanations for this that a 10 year old would accept.

• Zinfandel Crackers is a new children's toy. Describe it and say why it's the most popular toy of the season. Tell your answer to a child and see what they say. Do they want your toy?

• Mr. Turnbull is the meanest man in town. Still, they named a park after him. Can you explain this?

• A school of peanuts were crossing the road. Describe what was happening.
 

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 

tel: 702 939-1800

fax: 702 939-1804

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