Imagine. Elastic thinking and creativity
If you’ve been working your way conscientiously section by section through this website, or if you happen to have already stumbled across the other stuff on mentalising skills, or if you know what it’s like living with BPD or if you’re just a very well-informed and clever person, then you’ll know that it takes enormous mental acrobatics to get on top of the chaos experienced when we’re in the Red Zone. (If none of the above apply to you and you’re vaguely curious, please nip over to the feature on Extreme Mentalising.)
As well as having to summon up quite extraordinary energy from a temporarily depleted cache, it helps to have some creativity skills easily accessible. There’s a popular misconception with creativity that (like banoffee pie), you’ve either got it or you haven’t. There are of course some people who do seem to be effortlessly, spontaneously, consistently creative. But for the rest of us who aren’t casually churning out bestsellers or revolutionary biscuit tins, there are loads of different techniques to enable us to think and produce creatively.
Contents:
1. What the experts advise
2. Assumptions
3. Scamper
4. Turnaround techniques
5. Creativity resources
1. What the experts advise
· take it seriously (and humorously) and practice it
· use ‘lateral thinking’ and other creativity techniques. Hard to beat the classic Edward de Bono techniques
· disrupt routines
· seek stimulation
· get relaxed - or go into over-drive (best to stop before becoming manic, I've found)
· make connections
· start with the comfortable and familiar
· learn photography
· break down the task
· use categories to come up with more specific examples: eg people, places, times
· keep ideas’ files
· use joke-writing (and cartoon ideas) techniques:
· juxtaposition of the incongruous
· observation and exaggeration
· reversal of common situations
2. Assumptions
Having assumptions about the issue, problem or ‘thing’ are often the main barrier to being able to adopt a fresh perspective. But precisely because they are underlying assumptions and seem inherent, they are generally invisible to us and therefore tricky to identify and challenge.
A few ways of unearthing assumptions about the issue or thing are:
· imagine describing it to a 6 year old, or to an alien, or to a 6 year old alien
· still with the kiddies…. Use their why, why, why technique. Take one apparently essential aspect of it and ask why? Why is it x? Why does it have y? etc. Then challenge the answer with another Why? And another. And, yes – another and another.
· write the essential features that would need to be included in a drawing of it
· imagine it is something that a wartime enemy is desperate to get their hands on. Write down the top 5 features that could be taken away from it in order to disguise it
· imagine you’re an opponent of it or of its use. What arguments would you use against it? Some of these may identify underlying assumptions
· if you were commissioning someone to create the classic version of it, what features would you tell them it had to include?
3. SCAMPER
This popular technique combines many of the key concepts of ‘lateral thinking’ and ideas generation, with a handy mnemonic. Each lettered sub-technique enables us to investigate or construct the situation from a different angle. Just like when taking a photograph we can look at the scene from dozens of different perspectives.
S - Substitute - components, materials, people
C - Combine - mix, combine with other elements, integrate
A - Adapt - alter, change function, use part of another element
M - Modify – make bigger or smaller, change its shape, modify features
P - Put to another use
E - Eliminate - remove elements, simplify, reduce to its basics
R - Reverse - turn inside out or upside down
4. Turnaround techniques
The following are rather more elaborate versions of SCAMPER-type lateral thinking techniques. If you usually come up with the Perfect Idea swiftly and first time round, you’ll never, ever need this bunch of ideas. But if you’re more normal, you’ll need to work very hard to generate dozens of ideas in order to come up with a few really strong ones. And the best hard work is generally achieved out and about in the loveliest of settings, not sitting in the dullest of offices. Most of the environments and triggers for stimulating fresh thinking are based on doing things that contrast. This may be by reversing your immediate environment or your expectations.
These ideas are inspired from various expert sources, ranging from websites written by people who coping with are in extreme mental distress, to books on creative thinking for entrepreneurs. The principle is always similar: how to shift from one fixed set of views or feelings in order to come up with fresh perspectives and improved solutions.
a. Thinking
Always available: playing with thoughts, games and fantasies can be a great way of changing places while staying put.
· Do that Parisian boulevard, sitting outside a café, thing - people watching. Watch them wherever you happen to be – at a bus stop, walking down the high street, sitting in a PTA meeting .… Think about what they’re wearing (is it like so last season?), how they’re walking (not surprising with shoes/jeans/a dog like that), what their job might be (tattoo artist? croupier? embalmer?)
· Choose an object in the room. Examine it carefully and then write as detailed a description of it as you can, as if you were describing it to a blind person. Include everything: size, weight, texture, shape, colour, possible uses, feel, how light falls on it etc.
· Pick an object, like a glass or a tube of toothpaste, and try to list 20 different uses for it.
· Escape! Wherever you want to go, it’s only a second away when it’s in your imagination – the Costa Rican rainforest, a Zen retreat, anywhere at all in Las Vegas, a Jamaican beach. Or escape upwards by paragliding, curling up in a treehouse, hot air ballooning…
b. Sensing
Touchy feely, smelly, yummy, noisy or pretty – all stimulating experiences.
· For a totally sensational work-out, and a handy way to add a few inches to your and others’ waistlines, cook something quin-sensory. How about making chocolate pastry? You’ll obviously get the joys of touch, sight and smell, plus sound (OK, a bit of a stretch this one, but imagine the sound of pastry ricocheting off the sides of the bowl) and of course taste.
· Go into your food cupboard or fridge and smell lots of different foods. Things like vanilla, chocolate, coffee, herbs, and lemon are particularly fab.
· Rummage through your clothes, or clothes in a shop, with your hands rather than your eyes, feeling the difference between cotton, wool, silk, leather….
· Instead of window-shopping, go nasal shopping in these sorts of stores:
o Asian, Greek, Chinese and other great-smelling food shops
o body pampering stores (Body Shop etc)
o pet stores (possibly a more mixed olfactory experience, especially if you get too close to some of the reptiles. Or hamsters.)
· If it’s hard to shake off the smell of iguana, try buying a delicious bunch of mimosa and (unlike Bill Clinton) inhale
· Take a hot bath – and ratchet the sensory experience up to all 5 senses if you nibble while you soak
· Really notice everything you can see around you, as if you were going to draw it. (Even better, whip out a pencil and paper and draw it!) Describe in your mind, or on paper, features like colour, the effect of light and dark, textures, shapes, contrast, people’s interesting physical characteristics etc
c. Reading and writing
We’re not talking about ploughing through Sartre or attempting to write a blockbuster novel, but mellow dipping into some reading treats and scribbling down whatever pops into your head. Buy a gorgeous journal, like the ones Paperchase sells, hand-made in Nepal and put in things like:
· Jokes
· Quotes
· Anecdotes
· Wild ideas
· Dull ideas
· Fascinating people, places, products
· Read about something you know nothing about. Browsing magazines in a newsagents can reveal whole new worlds, from body-building to train-spotting.
· Open the dictionary in random places and learn new words.
· Spend a few hours gazing through catalogues of your favourite retail fantasy. Ours include stationery (little more satisfying in life than a slow browse through the Viking catalogue) and cabin baggage.
· Dip into really easy, funny, quirky books which look at life from a very different perspective. We’d recommend:
o 101 Unuseless Japanese Inventions – Kenji Kawakami
o Really Important Stuff My Kids Have Taught Me – Cynthia Copeland Lewis
d. Playing
Playing is arguably the most effective, as well as enjoyable, stimulus to creativity . There’s a bit of an overlap with Thinking, but getting into play mode can also involve a trip to the shopping mall, the back of the kids’ toy cupboards or (best of all), a leisurely spree on the websites of Hawkins Bazaar and its sister company Tobar. Equip yourself with:
· word game books
· hand-held puzzles like Rubik’s cube and that little plastic thing where one tile is missing and you shuffle the others around to spell out the first line of Hard Times or to reconfigure a nuclear power station
· ridiculous desk games like:
o micro-croquet
o tiddlywinks
o 10 pin bowling
· a ball to bounce – or 3 to juggle
· a dart board – perhaps one of those nice safe magnetic or Velcro ones if there are kids, pets or colleagues at risk from rogue throws
And if funds allow, everything people say about Nintendo Wii and most other electronic games is incredibly true. Handheld (i.e. fully portable) versions are invaluable, whether games machines or phones with games built-in and/or downloadable.
e. Clicking
This deserves a website, a gallery, a city all of its own. But in the meantime, here are some obvious and a few slightly more obscure ideas.
· Fun websites – ones that are funny, surprising, and especially those that are interactive – i.e. visitors have to get actively involved with them, eg because there are games, quizzes etc.
· Facebook etc
· Super-surf – wander aimlessly from site to site using links, links from links, links from links from etc etc. Or wander slightly less aimlessly by specific topics, perhaps inspired by things on your desk – wood, files, pictures, half-munched bars of chocolate…
f. Creating
There are so many lovely things that we can fiddle with, sculpt, draw, paint and generally make a mess with. And making things is of course inherently creative. How about:
· Getting stuck into kids’ things like Wikkistix (sticky pipecleaner type things), Play-doh or even better, the edible version – sugar paste
· activities you might normally dismiss as too naff but which can be deeply engrossing:
o sewing
o knitting (suddenly become very retro-chic, with stitch’n’bitch knitting circles springing, or purling, up all over the place
o origami
· painting, drawing – even colouring in
· playing some kind of musical instrument. Even if you don't really know how to play, picking out tunes is a way to shift into a different set of thoughts and feelings
· taking photographs. Absolutely don’t worry about the end result, and play around with taking photos of:
o small parts of objects (eg of street furniture, flowers, clothes, luggage….)
o light and shade
o splashes of colour
o the shapes that groups of people make
· and then… sorting photos, into albums, shoe boxes, sides of sofas etc
· and if that’s too daunting, dust off the old albums and have a nostalgic hour or two with them
g. Eating
Gaze at it, feel it, sniff it, stroke it, buy it, draw it, photograph it, talk about it, write about it. Oh, and eat it. No big surprises in this list
· Recipe books
· Cooking
· Shops
· Foody mags, TV progs, websites (the BBC sweeps up most of these genres, and adds radio and even extravaganzas in exhibition centres to the mix)
h. Connecting
If you’re old enough to remember the TV series Thirtysomething, (being over 30 would give you a good head-start with the recall) you may still have vivid memories of those brainstorming sessions the ads lads had together to stimulate new concepts. When being creative by yourself isn’t working for you, or you feel like it would be even more inspiring being with others, get connecting – by email, phone or even that good old method of being in a room with others.
i. Chilling
Whether to stimulate or get a breather from creativity, chilling out has shifted from being the monopoly of mountain-dwelling gurus to being as mainstream as the Simpsons. Even Homer might have tried one of these:
· Day dreaming
· Visualising
· Deep breathing
· Meditating
· Yoga
j. Moving
Personally I’ve found that little beats stretching out with a few select pralines and a Curb Your Enthusiasm DVD. But the official line is that it’s highly physically, emotionally and creatively beneficial to try exercising. With so many options, it’s hard to find creative excuses not to do one of these, although this is a challenge which I seem to achieve most days:
· aerobics
· badminton
· basketball
· cricket
· cycling
· dance
· fencing
· football
· hockey
· martial arts
· netball
· running
· squash
· swimming
· table tennis
· tennis
· volleyball
· walking
· yoga
You can even enjoy most of these from the comfort of your armchair, thanks to Wii Fit. Completely brilliant. Even harder to find excuses to avoid, although again I seem to manage.
k. Laughing
Five A Day applies not only to fruit and veg but to the absolute requirement of 5 lots of convulsive laughter a day. Any of the following ideas should help, although a good schmooze with friends will generally do the trick.
· Going to a comedy club, funny film, funny play, funny musical
· Lovely potentially everyday funny experiences – sit coms, favourite DVDs, websites, cartoon strips in the newspaper. A delightful, often insightful, daily cartoon can be delivered straight to your e-intray from Harold’s Planet (www.haroldsplanet.com)
· Funny books
5. Resources
· Aha! by Jordan Ayan
· The Creative Manager’s Pocketbook – John Townsend and Jacques Favier
· Almost anything by Edward de Bono, but the classic Lateral Thinking is a pretty essential starting point
· http://creatingminds.org/ A comprehensive, and generous, website which includes many of the key techniques and other resources.
As well as having to summon up quite extraordinary energy from a temporarily depleted cache, it helps to have some creativity skills easily accessible. There’s a popular misconception with creativity that (like banoffee pie), you’ve either got it or you haven’t. There are of course some people who do seem to be effortlessly, spontaneously, consistently creative. But for the rest of us who aren’t casually churning out bestsellers or revolutionary biscuit tins, there are loads of different techniques to enable us to think and produce creatively.
Contents:
1. What the experts advise
2. Assumptions
3. Scamper
4. Turnaround techniques
5. Creativity resources
1. What the experts advise
· take it seriously (and humorously) and practice it
· use ‘lateral thinking’ and other creativity techniques. Hard to beat the classic Edward de Bono techniques
· disrupt routines
· seek stimulation
· get relaxed - or go into over-drive (best to stop before becoming manic, I've found)
· make connections
· start with the comfortable and familiar
· learn photography
· break down the task
· use categories to come up with more specific examples: eg people, places, times
· keep ideas’ files
· use joke-writing (and cartoon ideas) techniques:
· juxtaposition of the incongruous
· observation and exaggeration
· reversal of common situations
2. Assumptions
Having assumptions about the issue, problem or ‘thing’ are often the main barrier to being able to adopt a fresh perspective. But precisely because they are underlying assumptions and seem inherent, they are generally invisible to us and therefore tricky to identify and challenge.
A few ways of unearthing assumptions about the issue or thing are:
· imagine describing it to a 6 year old, or to an alien, or to a 6 year old alien
· still with the kiddies…. Use their why, why, why technique. Take one apparently essential aspect of it and ask why? Why is it x? Why does it have y? etc. Then challenge the answer with another Why? And another. And, yes – another and another.
· write the essential features that would need to be included in a drawing of it
· imagine it is something that a wartime enemy is desperate to get their hands on. Write down the top 5 features that could be taken away from it in order to disguise it
· imagine you’re an opponent of it or of its use. What arguments would you use against it? Some of these may identify underlying assumptions
· if you were commissioning someone to create the classic version of it, what features would you tell them it had to include?
3. SCAMPER
This popular technique combines many of the key concepts of ‘lateral thinking’ and ideas generation, with a handy mnemonic. Each lettered sub-technique enables us to investigate or construct the situation from a different angle. Just like when taking a photograph we can look at the scene from dozens of different perspectives.
S - Substitute - components, materials, people
C - Combine - mix, combine with other elements, integrate
A - Adapt - alter, change function, use part of another element
M - Modify – make bigger or smaller, change its shape, modify features
P - Put to another use
E - Eliminate - remove elements, simplify, reduce to its basics
R - Reverse - turn inside out or upside down
4. Turnaround techniques
The following are rather more elaborate versions of SCAMPER-type lateral thinking techniques. If you usually come up with the Perfect Idea swiftly and first time round, you’ll never, ever need this bunch of ideas. But if you’re more normal, you’ll need to work very hard to generate dozens of ideas in order to come up with a few really strong ones. And the best hard work is generally achieved out and about in the loveliest of settings, not sitting in the dullest of offices. Most of the environments and triggers for stimulating fresh thinking are based on doing things that contrast. This may be by reversing your immediate environment or your expectations.
These ideas are inspired from various expert sources, ranging from websites written by people who coping with are in extreme mental distress, to books on creative thinking for entrepreneurs. The principle is always similar: how to shift from one fixed set of views or feelings in order to come up with fresh perspectives and improved solutions.
a. Thinking
Always available: playing with thoughts, games and fantasies can be a great way of changing places while staying put.
· Do that Parisian boulevard, sitting outside a café, thing - people watching. Watch them wherever you happen to be – at a bus stop, walking down the high street, sitting in a PTA meeting .… Think about what they’re wearing (is it like so last season?), how they’re walking (not surprising with shoes/jeans/a dog like that), what their job might be (tattoo artist? croupier? embalmer?)
· Choose an object in the room. Examine it carefully and then write as detailed a description of it as you can, as if you were describing it to a blind person. Include everything: size, weight, texture, shape, colour, possible uses, feel, how light falls on it etc.
· Pick an object, like a glass or a tube of toothpaste, and try to list 20 different uses for it.
· Escape! Wherever you want to go, it’s only a second away when it’s in your imagination – the Costa Rican rainforest, a Zen retreat, anywhere at all in Las Vegas, a Jamaican beach. Or escape upwards by paragliding, curling up in a treehouse, hot air ballooning…
b. Sensing
Touchy feely, smelly, yummy, noisy or pretty – all stimulating experiences.
· For a totally sensational work-out, and a handy way to add a few inches to your and others’ waistlines, cook something quin-sensory. How about making chocolate pastry? You’ll obviously get the joys of touch, sight and smell, plus sound (OK, a bit of a stretch this one, but imagine the sound of pastry ricocheting off the sides of the bowl) and of course taste.
· Go into your food cupboard or fridge and smell lots of different foods. Things like vanilla, chocolate, coffee, herbs, and lemon are particularly fab.
· Rummage through your clothes, or clothes in a shop, with your hands rather than your eyes, feeling the difference between cotton, wool, silk, leather….
· Instead of window-shopping, go nasal shopping in these sorts of stores:
o Asian, Greek, Chinese and other great-smelling food shops
o body pampering stores (Body Shop etc)
o pet stores (possibly a more mixed olfactory experience, especially if you get too close to some of the reptiles. Or hamsters.)
· If it’s hard to shake off the smell of iguana, try buying a delicious bunch of mimosa and (unlike Bill Clinton) inhale
· Take a hot bath – and ratchet the sensory experience up to all 5 senses if you nibble while you soak
· Really notice everything you can see around you, as if you were going to draw it. (Even better, whip out a pencil and paper and draw it!) Describe in your mind, or on paper, features like colour, the effect of light and dark, textures, shapes, contrast, people’s interesting physical characteristics etc
c. Reading and writing
We’re not talking about ploughing through Sartre or attempting to write a blockbuster novel, but mellow dipping into some reading treats and scribbling down whatever pops into your head. Buy a gorgeous journal, like the ones Paperchase sells, hand-made in Nepal and put in things like:
· Jokes
· Quotes
· Anecdotes
· Wild ideas
· Dull ideas
· Fascinating people, places, products
· Read about something you know nothing about. Browsing magazines in a newsagents can reveal whole new worlds, from body-building to train-spotting.
· Open the dictionary in random places and learn new words.
· Spend a few hours gazing through catalogues of your favourite retail fantasy. Ours include stationery (little more satisfying in life than a slow browse through the Viking catalogue) and cabin baggage.
· Dip into really easy, funny, quirky books which look at life from a very different perspective. We’d recommend:
o 101 Unuseless Japanese Inventions – Kenji Kawakami
o Really Important Stuff My Kids Have Taught Me – Cynthia Copeland Lewis
d. Playing
Playing is arguably the most effective, as well as enjoyable, stimulus to creativity . There’s a bit of an overlap with Thinking, but getting into play mode can also involve a trip to the shopping mall, the back of the kids’ toy cupboards or (best of all), a leisurely spree on the websites of Hawkins Bazaar and its sister company Tobar. Equip yourself with:
· word game books
· hand-held puzzles like Rubik’s cube and that little plastic thing where one tile is missing and you shuffle the others around to spell out the first line of Hard Times or to reconfigure a nuclear power station
· ridiculous desk games like:
o micro-croquet
o tiddlywinks
o 10 pin bowling
· a ball to bounce – or 3 to juggle
· a dart board – perhaps one of those nice safe magnetic or Velcro ones if there are kids, pets or colleagues at risk from rogue throws
And if funds allow, everything people say about Nintendo Wii and most other electronic games is incredibly true. Handheld (i.e. fully portable) versions are invaluable, whether games machines or phones with games built-in and/or downloadable.
e. Clicking
This deserves a website, a gallery, a city all of its own. But in the meantime, here are some obvious and a few slightly more obscure ideas.
· Fun websites – ones that are funny, surprising, and especially those that are interactive – i.e. visitors have to get actively involved with them, eg because there are games, quizzes etc.
· Facebook etc
· Super-surf – wander aimlessly from site to site using links, links from links, links from links from etc etc. Or wander slightly less aimlessly by specific topics, perhaps inspired by things on your desk – wood, files, pictures, half-munched bars of chocolate…
f. Creating
There are so many lovely things that we can fiddle with, sculpt, draw, paint and generally make a mess with. And making things is of course inherently creative. How about:
· Getting stuck into kids’ things like Wikkistix (sticky pipecleaner type things), Play-doh or even better, the edible version – sugar paste
· activities you might normally dismiss as too naff but which can be deeply engrossing:
o sewing
o knitting (suddenly become very retro-chic, with stitch’n’bitch knitting circles springing, or purling, up all over the place
o origami
· painting, drawing – even colouring in
· playing some kind of musical instrument. Even if you don't really know how to play, picking out tunes is a way to shift into a different set of thoughts and feelings
· taking photographs. Absolutely don’t worry about the end result, and play around with taking photos of:
o small parts of objects (eg of street furniture, flowers, clothes, luggage….)
o light and shade
o splashes of colour
o the shapes that groups of people make
· and then… sorting photos, into albums, shoe boxes, sides of sofas etc
· and if that’s too daunting, dust off the old albums and have a nostalgic hour or two with them
g. Eating
Gaze at it, feel it, sniff it, stroke it, buy it, draw it, photograph it, talk about it, write about it. Oh, and eat it. No big surprises in this list
· Recipe books
· Cooking
· Shops
· Foody mags, TV progs, websites (the BBC sweeps up most of these genres, and adds radio and even extravaganzas in exhibition centres to the mix)
h. Connecting
If you’re old enough to remember the TV series Thirtysomething, (being over 30 would give you a good head-start with the recall) you may still have vivid memories of those brainstorming sessions the ads lads had together to stimulate new concepts. When being creative by yourself isn’t working for you, or you feel like it would be even more inspiring being with others, get connecting – by email, phone or even that good old method of being in a room with others.
i. Chilling
Whether to stimulate or get a breather from creativity, chilling out has shifted from being the monopoly of mountain-dwelling gurus to being as mainstream as the Simpsons. Even Homer might have tried one of these:
· Day dreaming
· Visualising
· Deep breathing
· Meditating
· Yoga
j. Moving
Personally I’ve found that little beats stretching out with a few select pralines and a Curb Your Enthusiasm DVD. But the official line is that it’s highly physically, emotionally and creatively beneficial to try exercising. With so many options, it’s hard to find creative excuses not to do one of these, although this is a challenge which I seem to achieve most days:
· aerobics
· badminton
· basketball
· cricket
· cycling
· dance
· fencing
· football
· hockey
· martial arts
· netball
· running
· squash
· swimming
· table tennis
· tennis
· volleyball
· walking
· yoga
You can even enjoy most of these from the comfort of your armchair, thanks to Wii Fit. Completely brilliant. Even harder to find excuses to avoid, although again I seem to manage.
k. Laughing
Five A Day applies not only to fruit and veg but to the absolute requirement of 5 lots of convulsive laughter a day. Any of the following ideas should help, although a good schmooze with friends will generally do the trick.
· Going to a comedy club, funny film, funny play, funny musical
· Lovely potentially everyday funny experiences – sit coms, favourite DVDs, websites, cartoon strips in the newspaper. A delightful, often insightful, daily cartoon can be delivered straight to your e-intray from Harold’s Planet (www.haroldsplanet.com)
· Funny books
5. Resources
· Aha! by Jordan Ayan
· The Creative Manager’s Pocketbook – John Townsend and Jacques Favier
· Almost anything by Edward de Bono, but the classic Lateral Thinking is a pretty essential starting point
· http://creatingminds.org/ A comprehensive, and generous, website which includes many of the key techniques and other resources.
