To travel across the sea, to live in a strange land, and to learn about thinking, is to find me learning about ourselves as unique individuals. I become to realize that it is perhaps the only thing that could differentiate human being with animals. I was fascinated to learn about the ability of the mind. And so far as I believe, every normal individual may have their own thought, and it is free and nobody can force you to stop thinking. I believe that our brain is the most miraculous think created for us.
But just like many great thing which ended up in a dustbin of history, as Scott Adams mentioned that creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes, and art is knowing which ones to keep, there is definitely a fine line between being creative and being manipulative.
So as for me, I took this lesson as an eye-opener to nurture the nature of myself. I believe I have the capacity to be a remarkably creative thinker, as long as I put my heart into the studies which comes hand-in-hand with continuous effort. I want to begin challenging my own assumptions. Alan Alda noted that, our assumptions are our windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in awhile, or the light won't come in. In some way I could see that if creativity come with high degree of determination, a genius could possibly been created.
Thinking is the processes by which concepts are perceived and manipulated. Thinking allows beings to model the world and to represent it according to their objectives, plans, ends and desires. Similar concepts and processes include cognition, sentience, consciousness, ideas, and imagination (Houghton, 1999)
While as for creativity, it comes from the Latin term creÅ "to create, make". The ways in which societies have perceived the concept of creativity have changed throughout history, as has the term itself. Originally in the Christian period: "creatio" came to designate God's act of Ex nihilo, "creation from nothing." "Creatio" thus had a different meaning than "facere" ("to make") and did not apply to human functions. The ancient view that art is not a domain of creativity persisted in this period (Michalko, 1998).
So basically, I comprehend creative thinking as looking at problems or situations from a fresh perspective that suggests unorthodox solutions (which may look ridiculous at first). It can be stimulated both by a freewheeling (unstructured) process such as brainstorming, and by a step by step (structured) process such as lateral thinking.
I began to explore more on creative thinking through some reading on several articles on the internet. Below is what I want to share with all the readers.
Nickerson, 1999 provides a summary of the various creativity techniques that have been proposed. These include approaches that have been developed by both academia and industry:
1. Establishing purpose and intention
2. Building basic skills
3. Encouraging acquisitions of domain-specific knowledge
4. Stimulating and rewarding curiosity and exploration
5. Building motivation, especially internal motivation
6. Encouraging confidence and a willingness to take risks
7. Focusing on mastery and self-competition
8. Promoting supportable beliefs about creativity
9. Providing opportunities for choice and discovery
10. Developing self-management (metacognitive skills)
11. Teaching techniques and strategies for facilitating creative performance
12. Providing balance
Creative problem solving:
1. Rethink!
Look at problems in many different ways.
Find new perspectives that no one else has taken.
Solutions example: Finding a job or internship:
a. Ask friends or colleagues for potential leads
b. Over-sell yourself
Send samples of your work or portfolio to anyone that might respond.
c. Check local resources like Craigslist or your school's job search
d. Broaden your target audience.
What other fields could you specialize in?
2. Visualize!
Utilize diagrams and imagery to analyze your dilemma.
a. How can you use pictures, images, graphs, etc. in your studies?
b. Visit guides on concept or mind maps, picturing vocabulary, flashcards, etc.
c. Write out one example of how you can use imagery, then print and post it in your study area.
3. Produce!
Genius is productive.
a. Perhaps originality is not the key, but rather constant application of thought and tools to arrive a solutions.
b. Geniuses are the luckiest of mortals because what they must do is the same as what they most want to do.
W. H. Auden (1907–1973) Anglo-American poet
c. Genius is nothing but a great aptitude for patience.
George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon (1707–1788) French naturalist
4. Combine!
Make novel combinations...
Combine and recombine ideas, images, and thoughts into different combinations no matter how incongruent or unusual.
5. Form!
Form relationships.
Make connections between dissimilar subjects.
a. This doesn't always apply to objects: form relationships with people and ask them questions!
b. Get to know people in your field that can help you excel to the best of your ability.
c. Write down one person that you could get in contact with, why you think this person can help, and print/post it for reference!
6. Opposite!
Think in opposites.
Don't always stick with the obvious solutions.
Get outside of your comfort zone.
a. “Opposites” bring two approaches to a situation but they do share a basic similarity.
Example: “right” and “left” are both directions, but which is the right choice?
b. The Sesame Street Muppet Elmo teaches small children the concept of opposites!
7. Metaphor/simile!
Think metaphorically.
a. Metaphors are connections that are unusual or not an ordinary way of thinking:
A sea of troubles; the heart of a lion; raining cats and dogs.
b. Similes use "like" or "as" to illustrate
The boy was as agile as a monkey. The miner's face was like coal.
The task was as easy as ABC. Dry like a raisin in the sun.
8. Failure!
Learning from your mistakes is one example of using failure.
a. As strange as it seems the human brain is failure machine: it generates models of reality, acts on them, and adjusts or creates new, successful models based on failures.
b. From Daniel Coyle’s the Talent Code on Adam Bryant’s weekly interview: “every single CEO shares the same nugget of wisdom: the crucial importance of mistakes, failures, and setbacks… mistakes create unique conditions of high-velocity learning that cannot be matched by more stable, “successful” situations.”
9. Patience!
Don't confuse inspiration with ideas.
Apply your ideas with patience for the reward they may deserve.
Reference:
1. Webster's II New College Dictionary, Webster Staff, Webster, Houghton Mifflin Company, Edition: 2, illustrated, revised Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1999, ISBN 0395962145, 9780395962145, pg. 1147
2. http://www.newhorizons.org/wwart_michalko1.html, (June 15, 1999) This article first appeared in THE FUTURIST, May 1998. Michael Michalko is the author of Thinkertoys (A Handbook of Business Creativity), ThinkPak (A Brainstorming Card Set), and Cracking Creativity: The Secrets of Creative Geniuses (Ten Speed Press, 1998).
3. Albert, R.S. & Runce, M.A. (1999). "A History of Research on Creativity". in ed. Sternberg, R.J.. Handbook of Creativity. Cambridge University Press.
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