by Naomi | Oct 10, 2016 | Creative Life
How often do you think about your thinking?
Thinking patterns are largely invisible. For efficiency’s sake, our brains learn the steps of various thinking tasks and run them on autopilot. For instance, if you tried to describe the steps involved in making a decision, you might find yourself at a loss. Well … I just choose. And the process feels like that, too. One minute you don’t know what you’ll eat for lunch and the next, you’re tossing together a Caprese salad.
Here’s what happened behind the scenes. You’ve identified a problem: you’re hungry. You’ve considered criteria: I’m trying to eat whole, healthy food. You’ve brainstormed options: I have tomatoes, arugula, mozzarella, bread … what can I make? You’ve evaluated options: I feel like something cool because it’s hot out today … a salad sounds better than a toasted sandwich. And then, based on all of this thinking, you chose. Collapsing all of that thinking into a second or two is an amazing, highly productive function of our brains. However, the same functions that speed up our thinking can cause us to become set in our ways. Worse, sometimes the split-second thinking breaks down. What if we go through the process, arrive at the Caprese salad solution, and then think … meh? If we don’t know what steps brought us to this decision, we struggle to rewind, revise, and come to a new solution. So, a block––small or large––sets in.
The Ways We Block Ourselves
Picture a classroom of third graders. Today, their teacher has posed a challenge. In groups of four, the students must come up with a product they can create and sell. Imagine that in one group, the teacher has placed the most extreme big-idea thinker in class alongside the most practical thinker. The conversation might go:
Theo: I have the best idea. We can sell magic beans.
Jessica: There’s no such thing as magic beans.
Theo: Ooh! We can put them into bags and make people think they’re magic.
Jessica: People won’t think they’re magic.
Theo: But we can put on a magic show and convince them.
Jessica: (raising a doubtful eyebrow) That won’t work.
Theo: Okay, then, let’s sell a potion that cures hiccups.
Jessica: There’s no such thing.
And round and round, the conversation goes.
The thing is, both Jessica and Theo are right. Each of Theo’s products have the potential to turn a profit. On the other hand, Jessica is pointing out important holes in Theo’s plans with her objections. When Jessica and Theo are both working full-steam simultaneously, no progress can be made. Further, both students are becoming more frustrated by the minute. Soon, they’ll be too emotional to discuss the problem at all.
The Dreamer and the Critic
We each have a Theo and a Jessica living in our minds. When we let them both loose on a problem at the same time, we dig ourselves deeper and deeper into a creative ditch. In a situation such as our Caprese salad conundrum, when our natural decision making process doesn’t provide a useful solution, often Theo and Jessica both leap into action. Turkey sandwich! Too dry! Yogurt and granola! That’s breakfast! Chipolte! I don’t have time to go out!
Research is now showing that the way our brains function in the right and left hemispheres isn’t as cut and dried as we once thought. That said, we do know that the two modes of thinking need breathing room. When we’re trying to dream big, we must learn to pause our inner critic. When we’re analyzing and refining a solution, we need our inner dreamer to stop offering new ideas.
Structuring our Thinking
Most situations don’t call for structured thinking. We can rely on our brains and their efficient ability to shortcut our decision-making process. However, when we find ourselves feeling stuck, structured thinking can be highly useful. We may need to be intentional about leaving Jessica in another room in order to let Theo dream freely. Then, we can ask Theo to exit, and rely on Jessica to evaluate the ideas and craft a practical course of action.
Most people have more creative ideas than they give themselves credit for having. The issue is not that they don’t have ideas, but that they dismiss them too quickly. Other people are overwhelmed with unusable ideas because they don’t know how to sort, organize and develop their piles of thoughts. We need Theo AND Jessica. We need to give them both room to shine.
The Dot Exercise
Here’s a quick thinking tool for you. Start with a large piece of paper and a pen. Title your page with a problem you’re working to solve. Then, give youself full permission to write any possible solution that pops to mind. If any “but” thinking shows up, gently lead Jessica back out of the room. Take at least three minutes to brainstorm. Next, take out colored dot stickers. Place dots next to any ideas that seem plausible. Then, place a second colored dot next to ideas that you’d be excited to try. The goal of the Dot Exercise is to first come up with a set of ideas, and then funnel them down to a workable set of options. Last week, I wrote about the POINT process, which is a fantastic next step for exploring a few ideas deeply in order to make a final decision.
Which of the two voices is louder in your mind––Jessica or Theo? How might you split up tasks to utilize each of their strengths? I’d love to hear about what you’re discovering. Share below, share on Facebook or Twitter, share in any way you like. I love hearing from you.
by Naomi | Oct 5, 2016 | Tools & Apps
My playlist is an eclectic collection of tools that help me approach my work as play. My hope is that they’ll do the same for you.
Object: Making practical creative decisions.
What Didn’t Work: Trying to jump from a general discussion about ideas to an immediate choice.
My Aha! Moment: I’ve been exploring some new creative thinking tools after taking a course called “Creative Thinker’s Toolkit” that’s offered on Great Courses Plus. One of those tools is called POINT, a step-by-step tool to help thinkers develop novel ideas into something workable.
Most have had the experience of reaching for ideas during a brainstorming session, only to later toss out the “wild” ideas as unusable. When we don’t know how to make an idea work, and it doesn’t fit our normal patterns, we reject it. What would happen if we asked ourselves: How might this idea work?
One of my students was starting a new novel. She was at that moment we often reach when solving a creative puzzle. We have a few ideas and we know the next step is a decision. Sometimes we instinctively know which choice is right. Many times, though, if we’re honest with ourselves, we feel less than clear.
Fortunately, at that moment, I remembered the POINT tool. “Don’t choose!” I said, and then asked if she’d like to try a new approach. She was game, so we went through a structured evaluation of her ideas using POINT. By the time she made her choice, she had clarity and confidence and a plan to take forward.
POINT works for making decisions about writing projects, but also for making any decision that has more than one possible solution. Here’s how it can work.
How POINT works:
- P stands for “positives.” What makes this idea appealing?
- O stands for “opportunities.” What options will this idea make possible?
- I stands for “issues.” What challenges might this idea bring?
- NT stands for “new thinking.” What new ideas arise as you consider this idea in more depth?
Player’s Notes:
- POINT offers a method for considering a more unusual idea. When you feel yourself resisting an option because of the unknowns, try focusing on one POINT question at a time. You don’t have to see the end result to consider the possibility.
- Once you’ve evaluated each option, take time to look over the full list before making a final decision. New options you hadn’t considered may arise. Might two of your options combine? Might your ideas lead to a new option that has yet to come up?
Take it to the Next Level:
- Not every problem requires creative problem solving, but if we approached more problems with this kind of thinking, we may find more novel solutions. Take a moment to brainstorm the general challenges, small and large, you face in your life. What problem may benefit from brainstorming and POINT thinking?
Would you like a shortcut for structuring your POINT thinking? I’ve created a template, which you can download here
I am not sure to whom to give primary credit for the POINT tool, but I discovered it while taking the Creative Thinker’s Toolkit course on The Great Courses Plus, delivered by Professor Gerard Puccio. Thank you to Professor Puccio and The Great Courses Plus for sharing this fantastic tool, and for providing an overall well-developed course. I highly recommend the course for anyone who is interested in developing his or her creative thinking skills.
by Naomi | Oct 3, 2016 | Creative Life
I used to think that in order to do improv you had to be funny.
By funny, I meant witty. I meant the kind of person who tosses off one-liners on Twitter that make people fall off their chairs laughing.
Then, I studied improv. I was shocked to learn that the wittiest actors had a more difficult time learning to improvise than most. Why? Because the foundational skill of improv is listening. Once they’ve truly listened, improvisers are taught to say, “Yes, and …”
Time after time, I watched the funniest actors either say, “No, but listen to my hilarious idea,” or struggle to speak at all, too caught up with their own plans to be present in the scene. When we say “yes, and ….” we have immediate momentum. Many of us have heard this phrase so often that it’s easy to miss its subtle power. But for a moment, stop to consider a challenging situation in your life.
What if rather than struggling along, you could have immediate momentum?
Let’s put “yes, and …” into context.
Say you’ve been wanting to organize your garage for quite some time. In fact, it’s become such a jungle you think small creatures may be hiding out there. What would happen if the next time you think (or your spouse says) “You know, we really should clean the garage,” you said, “You’re right. I’ll take a few minutes right now to straighten the shoes.” Once you’re out there, straightening the shoes, how likely is it that you’ll think of three or four other small tasks that you can do without too much effort? Each task moves you closer to your goal: a clean garage. Presto! Instant momentum. That’s what you normally say and do, right? Of course not. What you do is think something along the lines of “I know, but it’s such a mess and I have no idea where to start, and what difference will it make anyway? It will just get messy all over again.”
“Yes, but …” or worse, “No” stop us in our tracks. Every time we say these things, we might as well be pulling out a shovel and digging ourselves deeper into a trench. We are literally becoming entrenched.
“Yes, and …” is deceptively simple. But, mastering this phrase can transform your life.
Say Yes
The next time you’re with your daughter or niece and she tells you, “There’s a dragon in the living room,” try saying, “Seriously? Let’s go sneak up on it!”
The next time someone invites you to try something new and you’re not sure if you’ll fall flat on your face, try saying, “I’d love to try. Can you show me how?”
Should We Always Say Yes?
Sometimes we need to establish boundaries. We can’t say yes to every coffee invitation, every work project, or every cupcake offered. On stage, sometimes actors throw out a wild, impossible suggestion. “Let’s use our wings and fly!” In these cases, both actors have to think, “How might I say yes? How might I move the scene forward?”
What we’re aiming to avoid is the knee-jerk no. It’s the no that leaps from our lips the minute we face the unknown or unexpected. The knee-jerk no is powerful, and much more present in our lives than we realize. What would happen if for one day, you banned the word no? What if every time you were about to say, “no,” you asked yourself, “How might I say yes?” If nothing else, you might have to say, “Maybe. I’ll get back to you tomorrow.” But for one day, what if your knee-jerk answer was yes?
Add And
Surprisingly, as hard as “yes” can be, the part that’s even more difficult for many actors is “and.” One actor says, “Watch out! It’s an alligator.” The second actor jumps back, turns to the first actor and asks, “What do we do?” Now the first actor has all the responsibility to continue building the scene, while the other actor passively comes along for the ride. What if the second actor said, “I have a lasso!” Suddenly, the scene has become a lot more interesting, and it’s probably headed in a direction the first actor didn’t expect. Most of the time, diversity of thought makes for more layered and unexpected ideas.
This kind of situation happens in real life, too. A coworker or boss tells us, “We don’t have enough people attending our event to break even with our budget,” and we reply, “What can I do to help?” What if, instead, we said, “Do you have a minute to brainstorm? One idea might be …” “Yes, and…” is the equivalent of reaching out to offer a hand when someone is struggling to carry an awkward box. The point is not to make every problem our problem, or to tell other people “You know what you should do …” but rather to notice opportunities to not only offer support, but to collaboratively transform the moment into a possibility neither person expected.
My question to you is—What would happen if for one day, you intentionally said “Yes, and …” to the world around you?
Have fun experimenting, and let me know how it goes!
by Naomi | Sep 29, 2016 | Tools & Apps
My playlist is an eclectic collection of tools that help me approach my work as play. My hope is that they’ll do the same for you.
Object: Bringing the spark and energy of improvisation into everyday work sessions
What Didn’t Work: Trying to improvise on my own.
My Aha! Moment: Joyce Piven is one of the mentors who has been most significant in my creative life. In my Writerly Play work with students, I’ve sought to achieve the spontaneity and creative energy she taught me to stretch toward in story theatre classes at Piven Theatre Workshop. There’s something indefinable—and yes, a little magical—that happens when a group of improvisers play together.
Since then, I’ve researched the science of play, searched for cold, hard facts to define what play is and why it works, and read hundreds of articles on the topic. However, when push comes to shove, whenever anyone asks me why I believe in play, I show them a group of people playing together. When you see the magic for yourself—or even better, experience it—you know it works.
I’ve often told the story of my graduate school advisor asking me whether I play in my own creative process. She challenged me to find a way to do so. Honestly, I’ve struggled with this journey. Playing alone, while effective, isn’t the same as playing in a group. My own brain doesn’t naturally toss out ideas that disrupt my thinking process and keep me off balance. However, that state of unpredictability, of being ready for anything, is one of the most valuable parts of play. That’s why any tool that provides creative disruption can be extremely valuable. Brainsparker is one of those tools. It’s an iOS app, but the developers are also working on an Android version. Also, you can sign up for creative sparks via email as an alternative.
How I Play:
- Brainsparker is a simple, colorful app, with animated card decks.
- To play, you open the app, scroll through the cards, and click on one.
- The card flips over to reveal words, a question or an image.
- I take a moment to mentally list any ideas the card brings to mind.
- Then, I turn over a new card and repeat.
Player’s Notes:
- One of the best things about improv is that every game can be applied to different purposes. Your can use a game to move into a state of play, to work on a specific project, or to solve a creative problem. So, before I start a Brainsparker session, I come up with a quick objective, so I know the parameters for my play.
- The Brainsparker card decks are organized by purpose, so you can choose the ones that fit your parameters quickly.
- Sometimes I need to capture my thinking, in which case I make sure to have pen and paper (or iPad and Apple Pencil).
- Sometimes I don’t need to capture my thinking, so I let myself play fast and don’t slow myself down with the note-taking process.
Take it to the Next Level:
- You can stretch your thinking by forcing yourself to make associations between unrelated items. If you’re trying to push yourself toward truly novel ideas, try a session where you consider how each of the cards offers new perspective on your creative challenge. Ask: How could this relate to x?
by Naomi | Sep 26, 2016 | Creative Life
Last week, I challenged my team of Inklings mentors to each invent his or her ideal creating space. I gave the group five minutes, and asked them to use one side of their paper to document their problem solving, and the other side to capture their actual idea.
If you have five minutes to spare, try this challenge yourself. If you don’t have time, think of a recent problem you solved. Try to remember beyond the solution to the actual thinking process involved.
Let’s Examine your Process
- How much time did you spend clarifying the challenge? Did you explore what “ideal space” meant before generating ideas?
- How much time did you spend brainstorming or exploring options? Did you stretch for unusual ideas?
- How much time did you spend reviewing your ideas and developing the ones that fit best?
- As part of formalizing your idea, did you create any sort of an action plan?
Give yourself a 1-5 score in these four stages of the problem solving process. Choose one if you hardly considered (or struggled with) the stage, and five if you handled the stage smoothly.
Stages of the Creative Process
- The first stage is Clarification. Here, we ask questions and explore current reality. We narrow our focus to make sure the idea-generation points in the right direction.
- The second stage is Ideation. Here, we generate ideas. The ability to brainstorm an abundance of ideas leads to novel solutions.
- The third stage is Development. Here, we identify promising ideas and refine them into truly workable solutions.
- The fourth stage is Implementation. Here, we create an action plan and get to work. Sometimes during Implementation, we discover another problem, which sends us back to the clarification stage.
Play to your Strengths
If you’ve been poking around this site, you may have seen and/or taken the Creativity Styles quiz. You likely know I’m passionate about helping people play to their strengths. So, you might be surprised when I say this: I believe that effective creative people develop skills in each of these stages, particularly in the ones that are most difficult for them.
It’s true that you’ll have more aptitude for certain stages depending on your creative style, but that doesn’t mean you get a pass on the others. Mastery comes from figuring out how to play to your strengths AND succeed in all four of these stages.
Do Your Blind Spots Help or Hinder You?
Where are your strengths? Do you have any blind spots? Write down what you notice. All of this thinking leads to this question: How might you boost your weaker problem solving skills in a way that appeals to your creative style?
You may be wondering: How does the creative problem solving process fit into the Writerly Play rooms? Great question! Each time you enter a room, you’ll likely circle through these stages at least once before you’re ready to move on to another room. Where you may bounce from room to room, the creative problem solving stages are generally tackled in order.
I’d love to hear your thoughts. When our Inklings mentors unpacked this experience, it was fascinating to witness firsthand how different we all are in our thinking processes. I gained particularly helpful insights from the mentors whose thinking was most opposite to my own. So, share away!
