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.
- You have more work to
be done than you or your current team can handle. Brainstorm all the possible
ways of dealing with this situation, and then choose your three most reasonable
answers. One solution cannot to be to hire more people.
- List all the benefits
for giving everyone a year-end monthly bonus. Then list all the disadvantages.
- Which tiny animal do
you think would be the most dangerous if it were the size of an elephant?
- You have a magical dog.
That dog can now miraculously talk. What are the first three sentences out
of its mouth?
- Everyone has taste buds
in their fingertips. What things would you want to change at your office
as a result of this. Think of all the things you touch with your fingertips
during the day.
- It is now possible to
get portraits that move and speak. Which portraits do you want to have hanging
in your business office, and what do these portraits say?
- Which wild animal would
you like to have as a pet—if it were tamed and miniaturized? Why?
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
|
