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.
 

• You meet an extraterrestrial. It has never seen a candle. You attempt to describe the role of candles in your society. What are three of the most important things you have to say about candles?

• What if the American President were a woman and she got pregnant while serving as President? What are three ways in which she would be a stronger President and three ways in which she would be weaker as President?

• You meet a group of people with no rings or finger adornments. Three of these people tell you different reasons why they do this. What does each person say?

• List as many words as you can think of in 90 seconds that begin with "con."

• You have 500,000 acres of land. You want to make sure it is put to good use. You decide to donate it to one group. What group would you give the land to, and would you put any restrictions on it?

• You invent the perfect food to make people feel comfortable when they eat it. It is very pleasurable to eat this food. Describe it, and name it.

• You enter a room. It has a distinctive odor. You have never smelled this odor before. Describe it as clearly as you can.

You are free to use these Mind Flexors for your personal use. With any publication or duplication in a document, electronic or otherwise, full credit must be given to Janelle Barlow, TMI, and permission must be obtained.

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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