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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.
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Everywhere you find yourself
today, choose one item from what you can see that you would save. Everything
else gets destroyed. See if you can get to the point that at the end of
the day, you make your decisions rapidly, and you have no second thoughts
about your choices.
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You are a psychologist
working with a famous TV anchor named Sam Thomas. Sam is very good at what
he does, but he has several huge problems because of his success. What
are Sam’s problems?
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Whenever you wave at
someone today, use your opposite hand. Notice what that feels like.
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Listen to a piece of
instrumental music today and write five titles for the music.
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Give yourself 90 seconds
to write donw as many words beginning with the letter “a” as you can. Do
not use plurals.
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It used to be a common
practice to slap a new born infants’ buttocks to get them breathing. Imagine
that this slap significantly affects humans in their later development.
List five things that are positive about this slap in terms of future development,
and five things that are negative.
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Take a comb, put a piece
of paper over it, put it to your lips, and play the “comb” instrument for
five minutes.
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.
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:
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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 |
