Monday, September 21, 2015

Why pretending to be a super hero could lead to super ideas

It's not too late to sign up for this round of the Practice Creativity Challenge. I won't be able to be an active participant this time but, as I have been shouting from my social media rooftops, it's a GREAT EXPERIENCE AND EVERYONE SHOULD GO SIGN UP!" Phew, sorry for the yelling, but there are some wonderful people doing great stuff and building a community of cool and talented people. They were even nice enough to let me share some thoughts in their Creative Leaders Series.


But even if I can't be in the thick of things this time I thought I'd take today, the first day of the new challenge to share a few resources that I was inspired to check out after participating last time. They are listed in no particular order as follows, but you can assume by my including them, that there was stuff in each that I found helpful, or I wouldn't be passing them along.

The Creativity Challenge by Tanner Christensen, 2015


While the title is coincidentally similar to the Practice Creativity Challenge mentioned above, this book is not connected to it, except in concept. The book contains a wealth of challenges for you to undertake centered around five modes of creative thinking.
1. Convergent - combining things
2. Divergent - taking things apart
3. Lateral - logical progression
4. Aesthetic - how something appears
5. Emegent - sudden aha moments
While I read it cover-to-cover, it is best considered a companion that you can consult when you want to get the creative juices flowing. Or you could create a structured challenge for yourself like choosing to do a challenge a day for a week or two or more.

Creativity for everybody by Kathryn P. Haydon and Jane Harvey, 2015


Don't let the small size of the book fool you, big things come in small packages. It is an engaging romp through the science of creativity and makes a compelling argument for why we should all be exercising our creative muscles. The design of the book is whimsical and innovative. I liked the flipbook-style messages along the outer margins of the pages and loved the idea of discovering your own creative constellation. 



Play: How it shapes the brain, opens the imagination, and invigorates the soul by Stuart Brown, M.D. and Christopher Vaughan, 2009


I've heard a number of people over the years cite this book's quote from Brian Sutton-Smith that "The opposite of play is not work, it is depression" but I only recently read Stuart Brown's book. Brown, backed by thousands of case studies and years of studying the field of play makes a compelling argument for the essential nature of play to all human (and other animals) lives. Of course Brown is not the first to posit that play was an important part of human interactions. Plato said: "You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation." Speaking of time, if you don't have time to read the book, you may want to check out Stuart Brown's 2008 TED Talk Play is more than just fun.

The Book of Doing and Being: Rediscovering creativity to life, love, and work by Barnet Bain, 2015


As I was reading this book and doing my usual idea scribbling I wrote three words in the corner of the first page of notes: elegant, mindful, and spiritual. They sum up the tone and feeling of this book which is definitely a labor of love. Bain, an award-winning filmmaker provides a collection of rituals and practices that any of us can follow to nurture and develop our creativity and bring about positive change in our lives. Many of the ideas took me back to acting classes I took decades ago that help you get in touch with your feelings but I have always liked exercises that encourage people to look at things from different perspectives and to engage all of the senses. One of my favorite portions of the book dealt with how to work with The Muses which he says are: "Like the forces of nature, they can be called on to grow the garden of our ideas, thought, and feelings."

Unstuck: 52 Ways to Get (and Keep) Your Creativity Flowing at Home, at Work & in Your Studio by Noah Scalin, 2011


Like The Creativity Challenge this book is about giving you springboards to jump off of. In this case, rather than focusing on different creativity modes, the book takes you through options that last less than a minute to ones that last multiple hours. Of course, that is true of any creative projects. We can get caught up in one that we thought would only take a few minutes and then, poof, hours have passed. This book, by the same author as 365: A Daily Creativity Journal: Make Something Every Day and Change Your Life!, is designed with bright colors and concepts that defy you not to create and includes a host of interviews with creative people doing cool things. I keep this one on my shelf even when I'm not stuck.

And just a few more links because I like you all and want you to have tons of fun exploring your creativity:

Seven Ways To Cultivate a Playful, Child-Like Mindset

Maybe following one of these each day for a week would be one of the best weeks you could spend improving your life. I love each and every one of these suggestions.
1.     Be willing to try and try again and laugh when you “fail.”2.     Believe you can do anything, and speak to yourself accordingly.
3.     Be willing to be seen as silly by others.
4.     Be your unique, amazing self. Don’t edit yourself.
5.     Shake it up. Don’t get caught in routines. Do things differently.
6.     Observe kids playing and join in whenever possible. They’re pros at playing.
7.     Learn a new, playful skill like hula hooping, square dancing or drawing.

How to Be More Productive and Creative at Work? Play More

The Importance of Play for Adults

IDEO: Big Innovation Lives Right on the Edge of Ridiculous Ideas



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