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.
“Logic makes people think. Emotion makes people act.” Think of examples
of how this is true throughout the day.
Put an adjective in front of the color “blue,” to make up 20 new colors of
blue. For example, “crystal blue.”
Write as many sentences as you can using the letters WRAE as the beginning
letters for your words. You can place the letters in any order you wish.
Make up a singles ad for a very demanding person. For example: SWF seeking
SWM who speaks fluent Swahili, enjoys decoding DNA, and loves Irish folk
dancing, to lift weights together and enjoys romantic evenings fly-fishing.
Frizzle and Frazzle are two new cartoon characters. Describe them.
“Snip and Sip” is the name of a new business establishment where you can
get your haircut and have a latte at the same time. Come up with similar
ideas, for example “Bank and Burger”.
Choose a topic that you think of as boring or have no interest in. Go to
the web and find10 fascinating things about this topic. Engage in a conversation
today with 3 people in which you mention one of these interesting facts.
Janelle Barlow, Author
Mind Flexors, I
and II
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
|
