1: No matter our role or position, the ability to think creatively is a key driver of our success.
This week we are exploring strategies to boost our creativity as outlined by Steven Kotler in his powerful book The Art of Impossible: A Peak Performance Primer.
Yesterday, we looked at the impact our mood has on our creativity. A good mood provides a necessary starting point. A bad mood or a crisis situation engages the logical parts of our brain.
“While a good mood increases creativity, a bad mood amplifies analytical thought,” he notes. “In times of crisis, we focus on the details. We want to know if there’s problem-solving data available, right here and right now. We get analytical and logical and would prefer a simple action plan with a high chance of success.”
2: What else increases our creativity?
Being in nature.
“It turns out, broad vistas also broaden attention,” Steven writes. “When we see into the distance literally, we see into the distance figuratively. That’s why time in nature is so tightly coupled with creative insights.”
Being in nature also boosts our mood, which reinforces strategy #1 and our ability to “find those far-flung connections and further enhances creativity.”
“Taking a break from the sensory bombardment of the world gives our brain even more reason to wander into far-flung corners,” he notes. “A 2012 study run by psychologists at the University of Utah, for example, found that after four days alone in nature, subjects scored 50 percent better on standard tests of creativity.”
Just as the reverse of a good mood decreases creativity, the same is true with expansive spaces and nature. “Being in small, cramped spaces has the opposite effect,” he writes. “It shrinks attention, getting us to focus on the parts and not the whole.
“So, in practical terms: Crawl out from under your desk. Go outside. Look around. Repeat as needed.”
3: A third strategy to increase our creativity is to explore our curiosities and to read broadly.
“Cast a wide net. Read twenty-five to fifty pages a day in a book that’s far outside our specialty. Choose a topic that sits at the intersection of multiple curiosities,” Steven writes, “but one that has nothing to do with our normal work.”
As we read, we can intentionally allow ourselves to daydream. “When an idea catches our attention, pause and give our brain the chance to make a connection.”
Why does exploring many different topics drive our creativity?
Because “creativity requires pattern recognition. But what does pattern recognition require?
“Ammunition. If we’re not feeding the pattern recognition system new information on a regular basis, then the brain lacks the ammunition it needs to make connections between ideas. This is why ‘chance favors the prepared mind.'”
More tomorrow!
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Reflection: How much time do I spend in nature? Do I make time to explore subjects I’m curious about?
Action: Be intentional about finding time to get outside and learn more about things I’m curious about.