I would like you to visualise one thing, and make it as clear in your thoughts as attainable.
In your minds eye, as clearly as you’ll be able to, think about a Kornaf.
In the event you want a fast reminder what that’s:
A Kornaf has been round for hundreds of years however has solely been identified to people for the previous few hundred years. Initially from the South, it shortly travelled and have become widespread as soon as its distinctive values had been higher understood. Often, it’s about medium-sized. Whereas some individuals like them, others have completely different views. Some historians estimate that for our ancestors, they introduced an actual hazard till we came upon find out how to management them, whereas others declare that they’re the important thing to saving the world.
So what did you think about?
Be trustworthy.
Did you discover it laborious, or practically unattainable?
In the event you did, then good.
It’s an primarily unattainable job, as a result of there is no such thing as a such factor as a Kornaf. I made it up. And the outline above is so imprecise as to make it unattainable to affiliate it with something we all know from the true world.
And it serves to indicate that creativity is a course of by which we construct on our present information.
You can’t have an concept which isn’t primarily based on something which got here earlier than, due to the way in which your mind works.
Your mind is sort of a internet, the place earlier experiences are saved in reminiscence by means of neural networks, and new connections type between networks on a regular basis.
When the mind remembers issues, it might then remodel or mix earlier reminiscences collectively to type new concepts, a few of which could possibly be helpful inventive concepts. Related areas of the mind are used when recalling reminiscences, in addition to visualising new concepts. These new concepts are then saved as new reminiscences (though generally solely briefly time period working reminiscence), and in flip can result in much more new mixtures with different networks.
Typically, this cascade can imply {that a} single reminiscence can set off an entire number of different concepts, which in flip type a good better variety of different concepts.
For instance, say you might be in search of a brand new recipe, and also you bear in mind “apple tart”. Not solely will apple tart come to your consciousness, however there will likely be a cascade of neural exercise for “tarts” (which may set off pastry, puff pastry, tacky puff pastry twists) and “apple” (which may set off orange, candy, crunch and even iPhone, which may then set off Fb, Video games, Textual content your Mother…).
So a single reminiscence can set off associations which no one would have anticipated.
However crucially, there must be the preliminary reminiscence (information) from which the primary affiliation begins. For this reason the clean web page may be so laborious, as a result of there is no such thing as a preliminary set off to work from.
You can’t be inventive and not using a basis of information.
That is usually information of a specific discipline or area.
The mind must have a selected reminiscence to affiliate with and spark divergent and convergent pondering from.
For instance, it’s unattainable so that you can write a inventive poem in Japanese if you don’t communicate or write Japanese.
It’s unattainable so that you can make a inventive contribution in quantum physics with out understanding the fundamentals (or extra seemingly, the leading edge science) of quantum physics.
In creativity analysis, this discipline is named conceptual mixture, because the mind is combining ideas to type a brand new inventive concept. (See examples from Science Direct, Creativity Analysis Journal)
The irony is in fact that an excessive amount of information can stifle creativity by locking individuals right into a set mind-set.
However each inventive concept is predicated on mixtures and transformations of stuff you already knew beforehand.
And who is aware of, perhaps sooner or later, somebody will invent a Kornaf and it’ll have been apparent all alongside.
Creativity & Innovation skilled: I assist people and corporations construct their creativity and innovation capabilities, so you’ll be able to develop the following breakthrough concept which prospects love. Chief Editor of Ideatovalue.com and Founder / CEO of Improvides Innovation Consulting. Coach / Speaker / Writer / TEDx Speaker / Voted as one of the crucial influential innovation bloggers.
