YOU ARE CREATIVE: LET YOUR CREATIVITY BLOOM
by Dr.YKK (Yew Kam Keong, PhD)
Smashwords Edition
ISBN: 978-1-4660-0680-5
Copyright © 2012 Yew Kam Keong
Publisher:
Mindbloom Consulting
16, Jalan Helang Hindik (Jln 117)
Kaw Perindustrian Kepong Baru
Kepong Baru
52100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Email: DrYKK@mindbloom.net
Illustrations by: Goh Cheng Oon. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any format by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher, except for the inclusion of quotations in a review.
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Impact of This Book on Readers
Bloom 2 || WHAT IS CREATIVITY?
Bloom 3 || NON-CREATIVE BEHAVIOUR IS LEARNED
Bloom 4 || FIVE STEPS TO CREATIVITY
Bloom 5 || PRIMARY CREATIVITY TECHNIQUES
Bloom 6 || CREATIVITY TECHNIQUE 1: BRAINSTORMING
Bloom 7 || CREATIVITY TECHNIQUE 2: FORCING NEW CONNECTIONS
Bloom 8 || CREATIVITY TECHNIQUE 3: BREAKING THE RULES
Bloom 9 || BRINGING UP CREATIVE CHILDREN
Bloom 10 || NURTURING YOUR OWN CREATIVITY
Bloom 11 || BUILDING A CORPORATE CREATIVITY CULTURE
SUGGESTED READING ON CREATIVITY
RECOMMENDED READING FOR MANAGERS AND BUSINESS EXECUTIVES
RECOMMENDED CREATIVITY WEBSITES
Global Endorsements
I first came across Dr.YKK’s book at the Malaysian Embassy in Zagreb, Croatia. The book was so absorbing that I just couldn’t put it down. It was so mind-opening and insightful, making a tremendous impact on me. After reading the book, I resolved to meet the author. I travelled all the way from Zagreb to Kuala Lumpur to meet him.
My conversation with him was absolutely scintillating. Knowing that the book will benefit the people of my country, Croatia. I managed to convince him to publish his book in Croatia. I offered to translate the book for him as well as to get a publisher for his book in both Croatia and Slovenia. My efforts paid off. Today, I’m glad to report that Dr.YKK’s book has been published both in Croatian and Slovenian languages.
Branka Lucaric
English –to-Croatian Translator
Croatia
“YKK’s book is great for Creative Intelligence. Creative thinking complements and enhances IQ. I would strongly recommend this book to all Mensa members as an essential tool to take their already high IQ and couple it to a greater level of creativity.”
Dave Remine
Mensa International Chairman, UK
“The insights in here will wow and expand your creativity.”
Mark Victor Hansen
Best-selling co-author of the
Chicken Soup for the Soul series of books, USA
“Yew Kam Keong’s book is practical wisdom from the East. It’ll show you how to move ahead and create endless possibilities!”
Dr. Robert Schuller
Best-selling author of: “Move Ahead with Possibility Thinking”, USA
“To be a great salesperson you need great ideas. This is a great book for getting great ideas.”
Joe Girard Greatest Retail Salesman in the World, USA
(Certified by The Guinness Book of World Records)
“The book bubbles with contagious enthusiasm and will inspire many people to reach new heights in the way that they approach their studies or work………We will be offering the book to students who undertake such projects with CSIRO Education Programs and members of CSIRO’s Double Helix Science Club.”
Ross Kingsland Manager, Education Programs CSIRO Australia
“YOU ARE CREATIVE” challenges us to dare to think the unthinkable. Only then can we help our companies, schools and communities to grow and prosper.
Prof. Fred M.B. Amram
University of Minnesota, U.S.A
“Read this book and risk awakening the awesome creativity giant within you. A must-read book for individuals who attend any of my seminars - people who are highly motivated for success.”
Gerry Robert International best-selling Author, Canada
“Creativity is about life. This is a book of life.”
Pete Crofts
Founder of Humourversity, Australia
Human creativity is the foundation of all human progress. This book stimulates creativity in people of all ages and backgrounds.
Dr. Niels Wiedenhof Research Scientist, Netherlands
A truly inspirational book on innovation and creativity…A single idea from this book could revolutionize your life.
Xenophon Angelelides International Motivational Speaker, Greece
YOU ARE CREATIVE challenges readers to shake off stale thinking habits… Office supervisors ought to be made to study this book before they start to exercise their authority. If they absorb its wisdom, they will avoid acquiring the habit of snubbing staff who proffer fresh ideas.
Penelope MacLachlan
Editor, Mensa International Journal, UK
YKK reminds us of the fundamental truth - that all progress comes from, a playful and inventive state of mind - the true nature and brilliance of a little child. In a conforming world, where we often face fatalism and despair, the greatest need is for new and different solutions, for joy and optimism. YKK embodies this in himself, and in his intelligent and eclectic writings, making creativity part of everyday life. With his help, we can help our children keep and increase their natural creativity. We also benefit ourselves.
Steve Biddulph Psychologist and best-selling Author, Australia
Creativity to our human beings is just like having wings to birds. In a simple and entertaining way, YOU ARE CREATIVE dramatically makes you build creativity in yourself which can make your life more exciting and meaningful. Read this book; you will find a whole new world inside and outside yourself.
Liu Feng
Educationist, People’s Republic of China
I read the book with great interest and my feelings are that people can really learn to put themselves in a mode where they can be more creative than normally by reading your book.
Asger Hoeg Director, Experimentarium, Denmark
YKK’s book is an inspiration to all of us whether young or old. Using basic tools he stirs our curiosity and documents the immense creative abilities of the human mind - resources which are so necessary when facing today’s and tomorrow’s challenges including the diplomatic world.
Lasse Reimann Ambassador, Royal Danish Embassy, Malaysia
It amazed me to realize that I was not exerting myself to my full potential. After reading your book I realized that I had skills that I never dream that I ever had. This leads to my discovery of my own creativity and innovativeness.
Much has been written about the Knowledge Society. But success in the future will depend not on knowledge alone, but on creativity. This book can help you prepare for the new Creative Society.
Prof. Mitchel Resnick, Media Laboratory
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
This book is a practical guide to expanding personal awareness of the power of creativity. It allows the reader to understand and gain the skills required to expand creative activity and enriching life.
Dr. Stevanne Auerbach
International Toy Expert, USA
YKK has designed a beautiful spark plug for igniting the intellect. May the ensuing creative combustion propel humankind towards the attainment of true genius - our birthright!
Dilip Mukerjea , Best-selling author of Superbrain, Brainfinity &
Braindancing, Singapore
A leader needs to keep an open mind and be receptive to new ideas… This is true leadership. This book is a great mind- opener and I strongly recommend leaders and aspiring leaders to read it.
Gregory P. Smith
Author: The New Leader: Bringing Creativity or Innovation to the
Workplace, USA
YKK’s book, YOU ARE CREATIVE is a very fun, useful and creative book. It provides immediately useful tools and techniques in a highly creative and practical way. By reading, re-reading and using it in your daily work or personal life you can expand your creativeness and creative thinking skills.
Dr. Robert Alan Black International Creativity Speaker,
Trainer & Consultant, USA
The book is filled with good ideas to help nurture creativity in children.. These are practical, easy suggestions that parents and teachers can use with their children to help them expand their minds. The games, puzzles, and exercises are fun for children and adults too.. I am going to use some with my own grandchildren.
Prof Dorothy Singer
Professor, Psychology and Child Study Center;
Co-Director Yale Family Television Research
& Consultation Center, USA
“YOU ARE CREATIVE” is a collection of positive ideas, with the implicit intention of reminding us about the great importance of creativity in human sustainable development.
Eleonora Badilla Saxe
University Of Costa Rica, Costa Rica
It stimulates, it provokes and it entertains. It’s great. Highly recommended.
Tan Sri Abdul Rahman Arshad Chairman, Institut Teknologi Mara/
Chairman, Bank Industri Malaysia
This book resembles a treasure chest. There is something for almost every reader, irrespective of whether the reader is a student, a teacher, a grown- up or a parent.
Prof. Chiam Heng Keng
University of Malaya, Malaysia
This book opens our eyes to the world of creativity in a fun and enjoyable way. The vivid and light narration makes the book enjoyable for all levels of society especially students.
Loh Chang Ching, student, Malaysia
“This author, Yew Kam Keong presents a practical proven approach of easy- to-do and yet challenging exercises to unlock our reservoir of intuitive and creative capabilities. Strongly recommended to everyone who aspires to make a difference to the world.”
Dato’ Lawrence Chan Kum Peng Executive Chairman, Personal
Development Leadership Management Corporation, Malaysia
This is a fantastic book! YKK makes us realize that we have a valuable treasure within our own mind. It is now up to us to unlock it! Great work YKK!
Peggy Wong, Global Entrepreneur President/CEO Partners Worldwide
Group of Companies, Malaysia
This book should be on every family’s reading list. It stimulates creativity, fun, entertaining, enhance your everyday life, and best of all will strengthen your family bonds. I have benefitted a lot from it and so will the reader.
Kieran Revell
Best-selling author of “Awakening the Unbstoppable Power Within”
Australia
My head is pounding Myriad of thoughts Flashing and whirring
My brain a mechanical instrument
Of Torture!
I cannot bear it,
I groan with frustration.
Like I know the explosion is about to come, Yet the more I focus on it,
The more I delay it.
I let go.
Surrender to the experience of the
moment. Enjoy all life’s blessings.
I embrace the sun
Warmth penetrating my
being, I whisper to the trees
Caressed by the gentle breeze
Delighting in nature’s playground.
And at that moment
Of least expectation,
Flashes of lightning,
Creativity explodes!
Note: My special thanks to the late Shantelle Gold, a writer, trainer and educator from Australia for dedicating this poem to me.
30 April 2000
Shantelle Gold
Impact of This Book on Readers
“My twenty year old son is cured of his drug addiction,” a professional woman in her late forties told me over the phone. I felt happy for her and told her so. But I was totally unprepared for her next words, “It is all because of your book.”
I never could have imagined that the first edition of this book had such a tremendous impact and touched so many lives.
The grateful mother explained to me that her son was hopelessly hooked on drugs. They have checked him into rehabilitation centers and have even engaged traditional and spiritual healers but none of them worked. The family had done all it could but still failed to wean him from this destructive habit. Then, one day the mother got hold of a copy of my book and shared it with her son. Based on the concepts from my book, mother and son used the techniques to generate ideas for business. The son is now highly motivated and manages the business they set up together. His drug habit is effectively cured and he is now thinking of going back to his studies.
Parents have found my book interesting and useful. They passed it to their children to read. Teachers enjoyed reading my book and have used my Mindxercises in their classroom teachings. Businessmen have applied some of the techniques in my book and attracted free publicity for their business. Several budding writers were motivated by my book’s success and finally found the courage to complete and to publish their own books.
Many companies have also made my book as essential reading for their staff. One example is Texas Instruments:
“Our company has bought 100 copies of the book “YOU ARE CREATIVE- Let Your Creativity Bloom” as essential reading for our senior executives as a follow-up to the creativity workshop that YKK has conducted for our organization. His book and his workshop have helped to open up the creative potential of our people's minds."
Mr. Mohd. Azmi Abdullah, Manager Training And Organization
Effectiveness Texas Instruments (Malaysia) Limited
This book has continued to touch lives and to equip readers with creative thinking skills.
I’m therefore motivated to develop even more resources for my treasured readers, such as audio, video and other publications such as a manual for creativity. So,your feedback is vital to me. Please let me know whether you would be interested in these additional resources and I will work out a very special discount for you as well as to be the first people to be notified when they are ready. The first ten people to respond will get a complimentary copy of the product of their choice.
Please send an email to me drykk@mindbloom.net to indicate your preference.
I live in a winter wonderland. Here in Minnesota our winters are long and cold. Finding my car after a heavy snowstorm can sometimes be a challenge. Fire hydrants wear tall flags so that fire fighters can find them when the snow drifts are 6 feet deep.
When summer comes we plant gardens and compete to see whose blooms are most beautiful. We want color and shape and size and arrangement. In short, we place a great deal of creative energy (and hard work) into our gardens.
In winter we bring our flowers indoors. We nurture them with places of honor near the window’s light and we give them special food. We guard them from disease.
In Minnesota we also cherish our creativity. Although winter’s light may be dark and dull, we want the mind to be bright and alive. We want our creativity to bloom. And so we read Yew Kam Keong’s book in which he encourages the mind to bloom. It is a wonderful guide for those who want to plant creativity and to harvest beauty. YKK is a gardener of the mind and his teachings help us grow families and businesses. His advice helps communities to blossom. He brings us the nutrition and sunlight that we need in winter and summer.
Each year in Minnesota we try to make our gardens even more beautiful--even more beautiful than the year before. And now YKK has brought us a revision to his successful book which will help us to enhance our creativity and to make our minds ever more wonderful. With some new advice, wisdom, and activities we have a fresh look at the creative mind.
YKK has applied his MINDBLOOM concepts to this book’s revision as well as his superb website (www.mindbloom.net ).His own creativity and energy spark his friends--and his readers become his friends. He ignites creativity in everyone and everything around him. Bravo YKK!
Use this book to nurture your garden of creativity. May your mind flourish with wonderful blooms. The result will be beautiful.
Fred M. B. Amram Morse Alumni Distinguished Professor of Creativity and
Communication University of Minnesota, USA
I was very gratified that my book has positively impacted families, business executives and entrepreneurs. It has now published in five languages- English, Mandarin, Malay, Croatian and Slovenian. I expect many other languages editions to follow.
This English edition has been reprinted 15 times and I haven’t even started on my marketing yet! Nevertheless, I have received invitations to present talks and conduct creativity and innovation workshops because of my book.
This first eBook edition has been updated and substantially improved based on feedback from readers. I would like to particularly single out Lee Say Keng of Singapore who provided several constructive comments, many of which have been incorporated into this new edition. Thanks to Lee and others, I anticipate that this book will touch even more lives than ever before.
My upcoming projects include launching a Business Innovation Digest enewsletter to be made available for membership subscription. As my valuable readers, you will be invited for a free subscription if you send an email to DrYKK@mindbloom.net with the title : “Reader”.
If you are interested my original bedtime fairy-tales (see Bloom 9), please email me at DrYKK@mindbloom.net with the title : “Fairytales” and I’ll email you with an additional five free stories of the over 1000 that I have created for my children.
Experience the thrill of mind unzipping!
Dr. YKK (Yew Kam Keong , PhD) Chief Mind Unzipper
12 Dec 2011
THE RAINBOW OF CREATIVITY
The following relationship between the rainbow colours and emotions are described by creativity expert, Michael Michaiko. You can take advantage of this relationship by visualizing yourself to be immersed in colour pertaining to the qualities and energies you would like to process.
RED excites the mind and body
ORANGEproduces a cheerful state of mind
YELLOW encourages sensitivity
GREEN provides healing and harmony
BLUE eases and relaxes the mind
INDIGO stands for creativity
VIOLET produces revolutionary ideas
Bloom 1
WHY CREATIVITY?
All achievements, all earned riches, have their beginning in an idea.
Napoleon Hill.
There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all. Without creativity, there would be no progress, and we would be forever repeating the same patterns.
Edward de Bono
The world and our civilization have progressed so far due to the power of human creativity. Without creativity, there will be no progress. Without creativity , our civilization as we know it today would have been wiped out by diseases, natural disasters as well as man-made ones. Without creativity we wouldn’t be living the quality of life and enjoying the modern amenities of life in the comforts of our homes. Without creativity we wouldn’t be able to overcome present and future challenges.
The internet, in particular the social media like Facebook (www.facebook.com), blogs , YouTube (www.youtube.com), Twitter (www.twitter.com) enable us to share our creativity with the world at large. It is also an invaluable tool for us to access the creativity of the best brains in the world.
All of us are creative; we vary only in the extent to which we have developed our creativity potential.
There are three primary reasons why we need to be creative:
1.1 Joy and Happiness
We get more joy and happiness out of our lives when we harness our power of creativity. The more creative we are, the more we become. We continue to grow; feel more alive; become charged with enthusiasm, thus leading a more meaningful and fulfilling life. Creative effort is also an antidote to worry. And what is worry? -the wrongful use of our imagination.
Creative people love what they do. It is not the hope of achieving fame or amassing wealth that drives them; rather, it is the opportunity to do the things they love most. They feel an inner glow that exudes a sense of happiness.
We are most creative during our childhood days (see Bloom 2). This stage is also our happiest. Studies have shown that on the average the little child laughs about 400 times a day whereas the average adult laughs only 15 times per day.
Capitalizing on creativity promotes a positive outlook and sense of well- being. That boosts the immune system, which keeps us healthy. A healthy person is a happier person.
According to a Reuter’s report, creative people tend to lead a more active sex life, which researchers said was no coincidence. Their creativity seems to act like a sexual magnet. A good example is the famous artist Pablo Picasso.
A zest for life, energy, along with sexual desire, these are all qualities of those who embrace Creativity.
Few people personify happiness through creativity better than the late Walt Disney. Disney’s creations of fantasy cartoon characters such as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, and Goofy, along with his Fun-theme parks, Disneyland and Disney World, bring joy and happiness to millions of people today. What a legacy he left.
As Alice Walker says: “Helped are those who create anything at all, for they shall relive the thrill of their own conception”.
Walt Disney
It’s to be an adult like we are now and to look back through the windows of memory, remembering the time when we were little children, but it’s even more exciting to know that we ‘became’ the kind of people we dreamed about as children. This is called fulfillment.
Walt Disney
Former US President, Franklin D. Roosevelt has this to say: “Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.”
So what is the second important reason we need to be creative?
1.2 Survival and Progress
The human race has survived despite incessant threats to its existence through the application of its Creativity. Without it, we’d be dead as the proverbial Dodo. There might be other names for it, such as adaptability, innovation, inventiveness and the like, but call it what you may, in humankind, all of this is Creativity.
This fact was borne out by research conducted by Prof. E. Paul Torrance. Torrance was assigned by the US Air Force, early in the Korean War, to develop a training program that would prepare U.S. pilots and their crews to survive in war conditions. This included such situations as being shot down at sea, coming down in the jungle -or even behind enemy lines. After extensive research, Torrance was survival was something that no program at that time had ever taught – Creativity!
In the TV series “McGyver” , the hero McGyver always manages to escape from dangerous and almost impossible situations by using his creative imagination. He survives by finding new uses for the things that he has at hand, and adapting them as his escape tools.
In a landmark study of over seven hundred nuns, David Snowdon, Professor of Neurology at the University of Kentucky’s College of Medicine, USA, found that there was an 80% correlation between Creativity and the absence of Alzheimer’s disease in these nuns in old age. Eighty percent! The march of Alzheimer’s seems to be stymied by an active mind.
We humans are the only organism that is able to modify our living environment through technology. Without creativity, no technology is possible. We have progressed thus far with our technology through applying our creativity.
E. Paul Torrance
“Creative problem solving is the only means of survival whenever a person is faced with a life or death situation for which he has no known or practiced solution.”
“Every time we are faced with a situation for which here is no given solution we must use creative thinking.”
E. Paul Torrance
Let us move on to our third important reason we need to be creative. I’m sure it’ll draw your interest.
1.3 Wealth Creation
The United States of America, still recognized as the most powerful economy in the world, relies on ideas as its main source of foreign exchange income. True. A staggering 42 percent of US exports are ideas, ideas in the form of music, software, books and a plethora of other intellectual capital. Just think of Hollywood, its influence and sales over the years.
The legendary, “El Dorado” of the American Wild West where gold is plentiful, does exist. However, El Dorado is not a place. It is a state of mind. Ideas are the true gold of El Dorado.
With the advent of the Internet, we’ve progressed from the Knowledge Economy to the Creative Economy. Today, knowledge is accessible to everyone with the click of a mouse-button. Wealth creation is about adding value to this knowledge. And how do we do this? We do it through our creativity. An organization’s greatest asset is no longer about physical possession of buildings and machinery. It now stems from the collective creativity of its people.
For instance, Groupon (www.groupon.com) founded by Andrew Mason became the fastest growing company in the history of the world. Barely three years old, it rejected a $6 million takeover bid by Google in 2011.During the filing of its IPO (Initial Public Offering), Groupon was estimated to be worth as much as $30 billion! Other examples include :The purchase of internet telephone company Skype Technologies for $2.6 billion by the largest online auction site eBay and Google’s acquisition of the No. 1 Internet video sharing Website YouTube Inc. for $1.65 billion.
The costs of the physical assets of these two takeovers are almost negligible compared to their systems’ creativity values. Creativity is what counts today. And creativity is what will count for a long, long time to come – if not forever – in the advancement of human accomplishment.
We are paying more and more for creativity and imagination and less and less for the materials for the things that we buy. Just consider computer software on compact disks (CDs). The material cost for a blank CD is less than $1.00, yet the CD ‘s software may cost $50,000 or more. The material cost is insignificant. What we are paying for is not the material but the imagination contained within the software. That is why, Bill Gates, the wealthiness man in the world, got rich. He acquired his millions by selling to us the imagination of his people.
Microsoft is a company that manages imagination.
Bill Gates
In the business magazine, Forbes, of the 2007 ranking of the World’s Richest People, Bill Gates retained his title as the world’s richest person for the 13th straight year. From 2008 to 2010, he retained his ranking as the top three richest men He did it by selling imagination (software) to the world. Likewise, many on the Fortune- under 40 ranking in 2010 (annual list of the forty richest self-made Americans under the age of forty) created their enormous wealth over a short time by leveraging their creativity over the internet. More than ever before, wealth creation depends on our ability to utilize our creativity and imagination.
Bill Gates
We used tools in the past to leverage our muscles. We use tools today to leverage our minds.
Bill Gates
However, wealth-creation is much more than just software and the World- wide Web. In the 20th century, most business empires were built on a single creative concept- just one idea.
General Motors became the world’s largest corporation by introducing the concept of installment payment for car purchases. CNN became the most popular global TV network by introducing the new concept of 24 hour news. Federal Express (FedEx) made its fortune by introducing the innovative concept of overnight delivery. Coca Cola became the world’s most popular and best-selling drink by bottling it.
Have those three reasons been enough to convince you of the importance of creativity in our lives? Let’s look at this a bit more…
Talking about tools to leverage our minds, I came across two amazing and revolutionary soft-ware applications for programming microchips. They are: Core chart and ezCircuit (see details at www.elabtronics.com). Without any knowledge of programming at all, I was able to program a micro-controller after only three hours of instruction! No wonder , the Australian Anthill business magazine (www.australiananthill.com) in its Feb 2007 issue labeled them as a Disruptive Technologies.
The 21st century provides the greatest opportunity to leverage creativity on the internet. The Founder and CEO of the social networking site Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, attracted over 800 million members at the time of writing, making him a fabulously rich man. He was named the “Time Man of the Year 2010″ on 15 of December 2010. He is the youngest since Charles Lindbergh was named as the first Time Man of the Year in1927.
1.4 Experts Can Be Wrong!
“The phonograph…is not of any commercial value.”
Thomas Edison remarking on his own invention, 1880
“Man will not fly for fifty years.”
Wilbur Wright to his brother Orville, in 1901
(Two years later Wilbur and Orville Wright did fly)
“There is no likelihood man can ever tap the power of the atom.”
Robert Millikan, Nobel Prize winner in Physics, 1920
(Are you getting the message here? Even those directly involved in a project cannot always accurately envisage its eventual outcome. This is why it pays to always keep an open mind.)
“Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?”
Harry Warner, Warner Brothers Pictures, 1927
“I think there is a world market for about five computers.”
Thomas J. Watson, Chairman of IBM, 1943
“Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons.”
Popular Mechanics, 1949
“Space travel is utter bilge.”
Dr. Richard van der Riet Wooley, British Astronomer Royal, 1956
(Two years later, the Soviet Union launched the first satellite and Dr. Wooley was named to a British Commission to advise the government on space research)
“Groups with guitars are on their way out.”
Decca Records turning down the Beatles, 1962
(The Beatles went on to become the most famous international pop group in the 1960’s)
“There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in their home.”
Ken Olsen, President of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977
“640K ought to be enough for anybody”
Bill Gates, Chairman of Microsoft, 1981
(Nowadays, a 250 Gigabyte (1 Gigabyte= 1 million Kbyte) laptop is common place and external hard-drives are available for 2 Terabyte (1 terabyte=1000Gigabyte)
“ZAP! How the Year 2000 Bug Will Hurt the Economy”
(Business Week cover story on the Y2K Bug, which started the whole Y2K hysteria in 1998)
1.5 You Don’t Need to be An Expert to Create Breakthroughs!
Everything of importance has been seen by someone who did not discover it.
Alfred North Whitehead
The world is but canvas to our imaginations.
Henry David Thoreau
The first frequency hopping anti-jamming submarine communication system was invented by Hedwig Kiesler Markey, a Hollywood actress (known under her actress name as Hedy Lamarr. You may remember her from the 1950s film ‘Sampson and Delilah’ with Victor Mature)
The cash register was invented by Jake Ritty, a restaurant bar owner.
The electric motor was invented by Thomas Davenport, a blacksmith.
The Kodak camera was invented by George Eastman, a bank clerk.
The first ballpoint pen was invented by Laszlo Biro, a Hungarian journalist.
Okay, let us see if we can enhance our own creativity here with a few ‘mind- stretchers.’
Mindxercise
1.1 Guess Their Professions
Guess the professions of the people making the breakthroughs by matching the column on the left with the correct answers on the right.
Rejection Could Indicate That Your Idea Has Great Potential
Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.
Albert Einstein
An idea’s worth is directly proportional to the opposition created.
Robert Townsend
The series of books on Harry Potter written by JK Rowling was rejected by 12 publishers including major publishing houses like Penguin, TransWorld and Harper Collins. She went on to become a billionaire and the richest author who ever lived.
EDS founder, H. Ross Perot who sold his company in 1984 to General Motors for US$2.5 billion was rejected by IBM when he proposed to create a service organization that would design, install and operate electronic data processing systems on a fixed contract basis.
Federal Express founder Fred Smith’s paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service got only a “C” grade from his Yale University professor who dismissed the idea as not feasible.
The million copies international best-selling “Chicken Soup for the Soul” book by Mark Victor Hansen and Jack Canfield was rejected by 33 publishers before they found a publisher to publish their book.
Kentucky Fried Chicken founder Col. Harland Sanders method of frying chicken was rejected by more than 1000 restaurants before he found success.
Gillette Safety Razor founder, King C. Gillette, tried in vain for six years to raise money to produce his razor shaving blade. It was only in 1901 that he managed to persuade some friends to raise $5000 to form a company.
Apple Computer Inc. founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were rejected by both Atari and Hewlett-Packard when they tried to get the two companies interested in their personal computer project.
Walt Disney, the founder of Disneyland and the creator of Disney animation movies was fired by a newspaper editor for lack of ideas.
Albert Einstein did not speak until he was four years old and didn’t read until he was seven. His teacher described him as “mentally slow, unsociable and adrift forever in his foolish dreams.” He was expelled and was refused admittance to the Zurich Polytechnic School.
Beethoven, the great musician was branded as hopeless by his teacher. He handled the violin awkwardly and preferred playing his own compositions instead of improving his technique.
Thomas Edison, one of the greatest inventors who ever lived and held 1093 patents, was constantly scolded by his teacher as being too stupid to learn anything.
The Greatest Secret About Creativity
The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.
Albert Einstein
After an intensive and extensive study on creativity in which researchers interviewed thousands of creative people on their background, age, sex, occupation, etc., they came to a conclusion which reveals the greatest secret about creativity. This is the secret which, when revealed to you, will make you aware that you could become a creative person if you choose to be one.
In his book, Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention, Mihalyi Csikszentmhalyi interviews creative people from many different fields: the arts, mathematics and science, inventors, educators, thinkers, therapists. He concludes that creative people are not people who simply happen to connect with and express their own innate abilities but people who combine their abilities with disciplined practice. They actually invest time in finding and developing their flow experience - through activities which actively nurture this.
To be creative, we need not only to be able to allow our ideas to emerge, but we also need to constantly practice our particular skill, through consistent disciplined practice. We need to combine playfulness with emotional intelligence, nurturing creative freedom and discipline.
Teresa Amabile, a well known creativity researcher at Harvard Business School has found that there is a strong correlation between creative performance and “intrinsic motivation” .When we are working on a task out of passion and personal interest, we are more likely to demonstrate creativity than if we are pursuing the task in order to achieve an extrinsic reward, like money, fame or promotion.
Mindxercise
1.2: The Greatest Secret
To discover this secret, you will need to read this book from cover to cover as Jig-words* (clues in the form of short phrases) will be given along the way. The Jig-words* are in italics. There are eight (8) of them all together. Once you have the full set of Jig-words* all that you need to do is to join them up like a jigsaw puzzle. Fill up the spaces below as you discover each Jig-word*.
Like the other good things in life, you have to put in some effort but the reward is great – so begin on your joyous and mind stimulating trip to discover the greatest secret about creativity!
Record Your
Creativity Bloom
Here
Bloom 2
WHAT IS CREATIVITY?
Let us not follow where the path may lead. Let us go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
Japanese Proverb
The common cliché is “get real”. Our watchword will be “get bizarre”. Real solutions to problems (true creativity) come from fantasy rather than from the file cabinet in our head.
Fred M. Amram
There are probably hundreds of definitions of creativity. Some are simple, some are light-hearted, some are serious, some are technical and of course some are very complicated. For the purpose of this book, I have chosen this definition:
Creativity is about making connections where none existed before.
Being open-minded, alert, attentive, and willing to give any concept which comes into our heads more than a cursory examination followed by the all-to-common automatic rejection, is essential to the creative process.
We were given the idea. It came from something bigger, more profound and far more knowledgeable than our normal everyday thought patterns. Sometimes that intuitively gathered information might seem ludicrous. If it was – then why did we get it? Sometimes the incongruity might be so great that we can see no link at all. But given a moment of silence, a flash of insight might make it clear. So give it a chance.
If an idea comes, record it straight away. Write it down. Don’t trust it to memory, unless it is so simple and so visual you have no possibility of losing it to short-term memory. Writing it down serves several purposes. You are defining or describing in brief the idea you’ve received, and just as importantly, you are sending a message to your subconscious mind that you are able and willing to take down such messages. Doing this will encourage that unconscious part of your psyche to keep providing good ideas.
What happens when you say something to someone and they ignore you? You try again, perhaps, but with less enthusiasm. They still won’t listen? You eventually give up. That part of you that was originally so enthused to give you new and creative ideas will do the same. So, don’t ignore it. Don’t snub it – encourage it. It wants to help you, so let it. But let us look now at a few brilliant ideas that have come to those who were ready, able, and willing to run with them.
Creative Connections that changed the world!
Jack Dorsey made a connection between SMS (short messaging service) for mobile phones and the idea of an individual using an SMS service to communicate with a small group to create Twitter (a text-based post posts of up to 140 characters) as a social networking and micro blogging service in 2006.
Andrew Mason made a connection between the the Social Charity site The Point (www.thepoint.com) and group discount coupons to create Groupon, the fastest growing company in the history of the world.
Johann Gutenberg made a connection between a wine press and a coin punch to invent the printing press.
Pablo Picasso, a famous artist, made a connection between a bicycle handlebar and a bull to create a famous sculpture using the bicycle handlebar as bullhorns.
Jacques Heim, a French designer, made a connection between beachwear and the tiny Pacific Island of Bikini where the atom bomb was tested to name the world’s smallest beachwear that he had designed as the “bikini”.
Sylvan N. Goldman, a supermarket operator, made a connection between his customers struggling to carry all their purchases and two small folding chairs to develop the shopping trolley.
Christopher Sholes made a connection between piano keys and a writing machine to invent the typewriter.
Clarence B. Darrow, who was always short of money, made a connection between poor people and people who could imagine that they were rich to invent the game called “Monopoly”.
Ole Evinrude made a connection between the car’s petrol engine and a boat to invent the Evinrude, the first commercialized outboard motor for boats.
Philo Farnsworth, while ploughing his father’s field, noticed that the field being ploughed in was a set of parallel lines. He made a connection between the parallel lines and the transmission of a picture line by line to invent television. Philo was only 14 when he got this inspiration.
Erno Rubik, was stuck with workable internal mechanism for his cube. He was inspired one day in 1974 while he took a walk by the banks of the Danube River. Rubik made a connection between the smooth, polished, rounded stones at the bank and the rounded elements for the center core of the cube to invent the famous Rubik Cube puzzle.
Mary Phelps Jacob made a connection between two silk handkerchiefs and the need for a comfortable undergarment to invent the first modern brassiere (bra) for women.
All Of Us Are Creative
All of us are creative. We differ only in the degree and scope of our creativity. There is no one person who is creative in all fields of human endeavor, not even Einstein. The only person who, I believe came close is Leonardo da Vinci who excelled in both the arts and in the sciences.
Leonardo is widely considered to be the most diversely talented person ever to have lived. His painting of Mona Lisa, housed in the Louvre Museum in Paris, is considered to be the most famous and most marvelled painting in the world. As self-taught scientist, Leonardo is also revered for his technological ingenuity. He conceptualised the helicopter, structure of the human anatomy, solar power and civil engineering construction well ahead of his time.
Eight Intelligences
Howard Gardner, a well respected Harvard University professor, believes that all of us possess a combination of different intelligences to varying extents, with one or two being dominant. He came to this conclusion based on his study of many people from many different walks of life in everyday circumstances and professions to develop his theory of Multiple Intelligences. He defined the first seven intelligences in his book Frames of Mind in 1983 and added one more in Intelligence Reframed in 1999.
The original Seven Intelligences were quickly embraced by both educational institutions and the industry as a learning model for which to understand and teach the differing aspects of human intelligence, learning style, personality and behaviour.
Though he does not isolate a Creative intelligence, creativity is implied in all his original seven intelligences.
The question therefore is not : Are you Creative? But How are you Creative? Which of Gardner’s Intelligences dominate in you.? By being aware and focusing on your dominant intelligence, you can speed up your own learning and achieve success in what you set out to do much faster. In the same way, by understanding other people’s dominant intelligence, you will be able to establish a much more harmonious relationship with them and be able to guide them along to achieve fulfillment and happiness in their lives.
Dr. Gardner says that our schools and culture focus most of their attention on linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligence and neglect the others. Personally, I think that in our 21st century, the internet and computer games with their multimedia approach are much more conducive to the diverse learning styles of the new generation.
Intelligence Trap
There is a low correlation between creativity and intelligence as measured by I.Q Tests above 120 IQ points. Based on research conducted by Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea, creativity is not related to either intelligence or school achievement. Generally, intelligence is a measure of convergent thinking (coming to a conclusion based on a series of facts) while creativity is about divergent thinking (see many possibilities to an issue at hand).
Of course a certain degree of intelligence (about 120 IQ points) is important for creativity to happen. However, there is a danger of highly intelligent people falling into their own “intelligence trap”. The research of Chris Argyris at Harvard has confirmed this phenomenon. He has observed that intelligent, successful professionals tend to make good decisions. They seldom make mistakes. As a result, they have little experience with being wrong and are less inclined to listen to other people’s ideas. Thus on the occasions when they are wrong, they don’t see it and tend to become very defensive. Being intelligent, they can construct a rational, well-argued case to defend their point of view. Chris terms this response “defensive routines”, which is actually a form of the intelligence trap.
Intelligent people are highly creative if they are aware of this “intelligence trap” and keep an open mind. Gifted geniuses have a good combination of intelligence and creative thinking.
However, creativity is not a monopoly of gifted geniuses. All of us are capable of creative work under the right environment and when we are sufficiently inspired. After all, creativity is an activity resulting from the thought processes of ordinary individuals.
Einstein - Mentally Retarded?
When Albert Einstein was interviewed on the source of his creative genius, he was purported to have replied, “It is because I’m mentally retarded.” Is it possible that one of the greatest geniuses who ever lived was mentally retarded?