Is a happy day a creative day?
verall, the more positive a person’s mood on a given day, the more creative thinking he did that day." There was even a carryover effect for the next two days after. Want to be more creative? Get happy. Via The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work: Our diary study revealed a definitive connection between positive emotion and creativity. We looked at specific emotions as well as overall mood (the aggregate of a person’s…
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The Simple Thing That Can Dramatically Improve Your Life
end more time outdoors. Nature has a myriad of incredible positive effects that have demonstrated by research: Being out in nature reduces stress. Nature walks or even looking at pictures of nature improves memory. Flowers increase romantic feelings. Nature can even make you a better person. Can't be bothered to step outside? Even a potted plant has been shown to improve attention span and increase creativity in an office environment. You might be inclined to discount this. I know that…
1 min read
41 Simple Ways To Make Yourself More Creative
re's what the scientific research says: Travel. Or just expose yourself to other cultures. Or stay where you are and learn their language. Don't surround yourself with the color red, stick to blue. Get rejected. Buy a potted plant. Give the problem to someone else. Or pretend you're solving problems for someone else. Or pretend you're a child. Think about love, not sex. Take a break. And stop being so hard on yourself. Smile. Or frown while happy. But either way, be happy. Or a…
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Would your team be more more creative if members were less experienced?
aming experienced people with the less experienced can result in better performance than either could do on their own. Those who are new to a subject stimulate creative thinking in those who are more accomplished. Via Choke: What the Secrets of the Brain Reveal About Getting It Right When You Have To: Experienced people benefit from hearing the thoughts of those who are less skilled in areas other than the business world. Pairing two university students of lower and higher…
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Does studying your area of expertise too much limit creativity?
tal opposite is true. Via Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else: If we’re looking for evidence that too much knowledge of the domain or familiarity with its problems might be a hindrance in creative achievement, we have not found it in the research. Instead, all evidence seems to point in the opposite direction. The most eminent creators are consistently those who have immersed themselves utterly in their chosen field, have devoted their lives to it,…
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Does a wandering mind make you more creative – and more unhappy?
ople whose minds wander a lot might be more creative and better problem solvers. Via 100 Things Every Presenter Needs to Know About People: Mind-wandering allows one part of the brain to focus on the task at hand, and another part of the brain to keep a higher goal in mind. Christoff (2009) at the University of California, Santa Barbara has evidence that people whose minds wander a lot are more creative and better problem solvers. Their brains have them…
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How much education did the greatest creative geniuses of all time need?
out college-dropout level. Via Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else: Dean Keith Simonton, a professor at the University of California at Davis, conducted a large-scale study of more than three hundred creative high achievers born between 1450 and 1850—Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Beethoven, Rembrandt, for example. He determined the amount of formal education each had received and measured each one’s level of eminence by the spaces devoted to them in an array of reference works.…
1 min read
Are you more creative when there’s a deadline approaching?
rvard's Teresa Amabile says no. (Hat tip: Jennifer Aaker) We found that on days of the most extreme time pressure, the professionals in our study were 45 percent less likely to come up with a new idea or solve a complex problem. Even worse, there's a kind of "pressure hangover," with lower creativity persisting for two days or more. And: So if you have to tackle a complex problem in a pressure-cooker situation -- hide somewhere with minimal distractions, like…
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