Chapter Content
Okay, so, um, let's talk about the creative mind, right? There's this quote, and it's basically saying that, like, big ideas? They come from your unconscious. But, uh, the catch is, your unconscious has gotta be informed, or else, you know, your idea is gonna be totally useless.
So, someone named Graham Wallas, yeah? He came up with these four stages of how creative ideas are born. Basically, preparation, incubation, illumination, and verification.
Like, here's an example... there's this author, Kazuo Ishiguro, right? And he wrote this novel in like, four weeks. Which is... pretty fast, right? What's cool is the whole process of, you know, getting creative actually happened way before he even started writing. It was this whole, like, journey, you know?
First, *preparation*. He, like, went all in, right? Read everything about the time period and the settings for the book. Basically just loaded up all the information he could.
Then comes *incubation*. Like, he literally just put the project aside. Filled his time with other stuff, you know, being social and all that. He wasn't even trying to be creative, the ideas were just… marinating in his brain, you know?
And then, *illumination and verification*. He, like, locked himself up and went to town, you know? Wrote like crazy, had a ton of energy, even wrote some scenes that were totally useless. But he also had these, like, HUGE breakthroughs, right? He was just trying to get all the ideas out. It was like he was actually *living* in the book. Then, after four weeks, BAM, there's the book.
So, the thing is, whether you're trying to solve a problem or just come up with a new idea, your mind is, like, working towards a goal, you know? You're hunting for that answer. And to do that, you gotta be able to widen your attention to catch stuff that doesn't seem important at first. If you're too focused, you become less adventurous and your thinking gets all narrow.
So, attention widens in the lower and higher energy states. In the low-energy state, your focus is weaker, but in the high-energy state, it's stronger. This creates two different kinds of creativity.
Okay, so, *spontaneous insights*. When you're in that less energetic state, you're relaxed and you can kind of focus. But you can also just let your mind wander, you know? Just let it float. This lets your subconscious take over. It's like you're daydreaming, which, yeah, makes you creative. Then, when you have a cool idea, you can just narrow your attention and, like, go for it. Letting your attention wander also gives you perspective, like seeing the big picture, right?
That's why you get ideas when you're, like, walking, showering, doing dishes... Anything that makes you stay alert but not, like, super focused, you know? Or even being bored in a boring meeting. As long as you're relaxed and not super stressed, the boredom can help your mind wander.
And then there's *thinking outside the box*. When you're more energetic but still in that gear, your mind feels faster. And you can still focus, but you're also ready to explore. Your attention's wider and catches details you wouldn't normally see. Then, solutions just pop up. And you know, you let go of the old ways of thinking and embrace the new ones. You think laterally, you bend the rules. Then, you gotta narrow your focus and see if those new ideas are any good, right?
This kind of thinking needs freedom. If you're too focused or afraid of judgment, you're not gonna think as creatively. And, get this, it's even harder to be creative if you're physically stuck, you know? One study found that if you raise the ceiling in a room by two feet, people think more expansively. Which probably explains why walking or running outside helps with mental blocks.
Innovative thinking is about finding connections between seemingly unrelated ideas. Like this Japanese guy who invented umbrella bagging machines. He said his idea came from a shoehorn. A shoehorn and an umbrella, right? But he connected the two. And then, he solved another problem by comparing an umbrella to a letter going into an envelope.
Basically, the more stuff you can focus on at once, the more likely you are to have a creative idea. Think of it like cooking dinner. The more ingredients you have, the more amazing meals you can come up with.
Like, during World War II, they were trying to figure out where to put extra armor on fighter planes, so they looked at the bullet holes. But a mathematician pointed out that they should look at the planes that *didn't* come back. The ones with bullet holes probably made it back *because* of where they were hit. So, they reinforced the parts that didn't have bullet holes. So simple!
There's also research that shows that you can train yourself to see connections between ideas by widening your attention.
So, generally, you're more likely to have new ideas when you widen your focus and just immerse yourself in the creative process, you know? Not just focusing on the end result.
And then there's the *power of play*. Apparently, when Alfred Hitchcock got stuck on a screenplay, he would just tell a story that had nothing to do with it. Just to take the pressure off. And then, the idea would show up.
So, you probably won't have new ideas if you're stressed or under pressure. Ideas are more likely to come when you're doing something you enjoy and exploring new stuff without worrying about failing. Play is perfect for that. You just start experimenting, you know?
Play is like a lot of things that make work good. It's intrinsically motivated, driven by curiosity and pleasure. And it can even get you into a flow state. And, yeah, it makes things more fun!
Okay, so, *ecosystems for innovation*, right? This place called Bell Labs was like, the place to be. They invented a ton of stuff there. But the secret wasn't just the smart people, it was the whole environment.
Bell Labs wanted to invent technology to solve real problems. And, the breakthroughs were actually world-changing, which, that gave researchers a feeling of purpose. The director thought that creative ideas came from individual people. So, he wanted to create the perfect environment for those ideas. He saw research as a precious thing, a place where people could work at their own pace without deadlines or financial worries. The funding was guaranteed. And the salary was based on merit, which inspired some healthy competition. No short-term goals, so researchers could focus on long-term stuff.
The building itself was also good for ideas. If you wanted to focus, you could go to your office. If you needed inspiration, you could walk down the hall and talk to someone from a different field. The lunchroom was a common space for people to socialize and share ideas. And everyone could express their creative interests.
So, Bell Labs was like a greenhouse for ideas. Except instead of plants, it was housing great researchers, nurturing them with meaning, freedom, and then, just letting their ideas cross-pollinate.
That's a better model than the usual results-based, deadline-driven work stuff. But the greenhouse model can be hard to afford. One way around it is to have a rotating creativity team. Every employee gets to spend some time in the team, working on a problem in a Bell Labs-style environment, but without the pressure. The managers explain the problem, provide resources, and then, just let them do their thing.
Now, *solving dynamic problems*, right? The thing is, problems are always changing. What you're working on can become useless super fast.
So, if you can enjoy the process of solving the problem, instead of worrying about the end result, you're more likely to keep going. Otherwise, you get frustrated. When you enjoy the process, shifting goals make things more interesting. Intrinsic motivation can help you get into that "high energy" state. That state lets you focus but also be flexible. It also helps with fluid reasoning.
Okay, *fluid and crystallized thinking*. A problem can be familiar or unfamiliar. If it's familiar, you use *crystallized intelligence*. You use what you already know. If it's unfamiliar, you use *fluid intelligence*. You use logic, experimentation, and reason.
A focused mindset helps with crystallized intelligence. It lets you focus on what you already know. That "high-energy" state gets you ready for fluid reasoning. It makes your brain more open to learning, and it widens your attention so you can think outside the box.
So, fluid intelligence is gonna be really valuable in the future, especially with all the technology and all the problems we've never seen before.
So, finally, a *template for creative problem solving*, right? You're kind of hopping across different mental states to get the tools you need. You change speed, converge and diverge your focus, and go in and out of the outer or inner world.
The first step is to clear your mind. The best state for that is the, like, really floaty state, where your attention is too weak to focus for long. You're more likely to be in that state first thing in the morning or last thing at night which is when people usually get creative, right?
Next, you gotta narrow your focus and find the core of the problem. Any extra details just get in the way. Gear two is best for this. So, if you're starting from the floaty state, do something that raises your gears like listen to fast music or exercise, then do something to focus like meditation.
Then, you gotta decide when to think passively and when to think actively. If you're stuck, let your mind wander into a low-energy state. Your perspective widens and your subconscious can help. You can still quickly focus on new ideas, but you also don’t force it. Going for a walk can help with this. Other times, you'll make progress by active thinking. A quick workout can help with the high-energy state. If you're still stuck, just leave it completely and let your subconscious work on it while you're in that floaty state. Then, come back to it later.
Also, if you're stuck on one creative task, try doing a different one that comes easier to you. It can get your mind ready. Apparently, Albert Einstein did this. When he was struggling, he would go play the piano, then go back to his problem. The playing seemed to give him new ideas. So, yeah, the creative mind, huh? It's a whole thing.