10 Mental Blocks of
Creative Thinking
1. Trying to Find the
“Right” Answer
One of
the worst aspects of formal education is the focus on the correct answer to a
particular question or problem. While this approach helps us function in
society, it hurts creative thinking because real-life issues are ambiguous.
There’s often more than one “correct” answer, and the second one you come up
with might be better than the first.
Many
of the following mental blocks can be turned around to reveal ways to find more
than one answer to any given problem. Try reframing the issue in several different
ways in order to prompt different answers, and embrace answering inherently
ambiguous questions in several different ways.
2. Logical Thinking
Not
only is real life ambiguous, it’s often illogical to the point of madness.
While critical thinking skills based on logic are one of our main strengths in
evaluating the feasibility of a creative idea, it’s often the enemy of truly
innovative thoughts in the first place.
One of
the best ways to escape the constraints of your own logical mind is to think
metaphorically. One of the reasons why metaphors work so well in communications
is that we accept them as true without thinking about it. When you realize that
“truth” is often symbolic, you’ll often find that you are actually free to come
up with alternatives.
3. Following Rules
One
way to view creative thinking is to look at it as a destructive force. You’re
tearing away the often arbitrary rules that others have set for you, and asking
either “why” or “why not” whenever confronted with the way “everyone” does
things.
This
is easier said than done, since people will often defend the rules they follow
even in theface of evidence that the rule doesn’t work. People love to
celebrate rebels like Richard Branson, but few seem brave enough to emulate
him. Quit worshipping rule breakers and start breaking some rules.
4. Being Practical
Like
logic, practicality is hugely important when it comes to execution, but often
stifles innovative ideas before they can properly blossom. Don’t allow the
editor into the same room with your inner artist.
Try
not to evaluate the actual feasibility of an approach until you’ve allowed it
to exist on its own for a bit. Spend time asking “what if” as often as
possible, and simply allow your imagination to go where it wants. You might just
find yourself discovering a crazy idea that’s so insanely practical that no
one’s thought of it before.
5. Play is Not Work
Allowing
your mind to be at play is perhaps the most effective way to stimulate creative
thinking, and yet many people disassociate play from work. These days, the
people who can come up with great ideas and solutions are the most economically
rewarded, while worker bees are often employed for the benefit of the creative
thinkers.
You’ve
heard the expression “work hard and play hard.” All you have to realize is that
they’re the same thing to a creative thinker.
6. That’s Not My Job
In an
era of hyper-specialization, it’s those who happily explore completely
unrelated areas of life and knowledge who best see that everything is related.
This goes back to what ad man Carl Ally said about creative persons—they want
to be know-it-alls.
Sure,
you’ve got to know the specialized stuff in your field, but if you view
yourself as an explorer rather than a highly-specialized cog in the machine,
you’ll run circles around the technical master in the success department.
7. Being a “Serious” Person
Most
of what keeps us civilized boils down to conformity, consistency, shared
values, and yes, thinking about things the same way everyone else does. There’s
nothing wrong with that necessarily, but if you can mentally accept that it’s
actually nothing more than groupthink that helps a society function, you can
then give yourself permission to turn everything that’s accepted upside down
and shake out the illusions.
Leaders
from Egyptian pharaohs to Chinese emperors and European royalty have consulted
with fools, or court jesters, when faced with tough problems. The persona of
the fool allowed the truth to be told, without the usual ramifications that might
come with speaking blasphemy or challenging ingrained social conventions. Give
yourself permission to be a fool and see things for what they really are.
8. Avoiding Ambiguity
We
rationally realize that most every situation is ambiguous to some degree. And
although dividing complex situations into black and white boxes can lead to
disaster, we still do it. It’s an innate characteristic of human psychology to
desire certainty, but it’s the creative thinker who rejects the false comfort
of clarity when it’s not really appropriate.
Ambiguity
is your friend if you’re looking to innovate. The fact that most people are
uncomfortable exploring uncertainty gives you an advantage, as long as you can
embrace ambiguity rather than run from it.
9. Being Wrong is Bad
We
hate being wrong, and yet mistakes often teach us the most. Thomas Edison was
wrong 1,800 times before getting the light bulb right. Edison’s greatest
strength was that he was not afraid to be wrong.
The
best thing we do is learn from our mistakes, but we have to free ourselves to
make mistakes in the first place. Just try out your ideas and see what happens,
take what you learn, and try something else. Ask yourself, what’s the worst
that can happen if I’m wrong? You’ll often find the benefits of being wrong
greatly outweigh the ramifications.
10. I’m Not Creative
Denying
your own creativity is like denying you’re a human being. We’re all limitlessly
creative, but only to the extent that we realize that we create our own limits
with the way we think. If you tell yourself you’re not creative, it becomes
true. Stop that.
In
that sense, awakening your own creativity is similar to the path reported by
those who seek spiritual enlightenment. You’re already enlightened, just like
you’re already creative, but you have to strip away all of your delusions
before you can see it. Acknowledge that you’re inherently creative, and then
start tearing down the other barriers you’ve allowed to be created in your
mind.
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