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.
-
“Humans are as humans
die.” What does this phrase mean?
-
What if humans had to
destroy some small object that they interacted with during the day?
This is not something that humans want to get rid of. It is a deeply spiritual
event. What would you destroy and why?
-
The economy of your country
has sunk deeper into recession. You are a spokesperson for the government
and have to explain this bad news in a positive way.
-
Make up a list of as
many words as you can that begin with the letter “m.” Don’t worry about
correct spelling, but also don’t use plurals. Give yourself 90 seconds
to do this Mind Flexor.
-
Identify one assumption
you make up about a specific person you know, and spend today acting as
if the reverse were true.
-
Write a four line rhyming
poem about your computer.
-
Imagine you are on another
planet in a grocery store. There are food objects you have never seen.
Pick one of them up, describe it, explain what it tastes like, and give
it a name.
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 |
