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The 10 Mental Blocks To Creativity |
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Friday, 20 August 2004 |
The following concepts are adapted from Van Oech's book, A Whack On The Side Of The Head, combined with my own experiences and suggestions. You may want to pick up a copy of his book. It's an excellent book on creativity and I highly recommend it. Here is the condensed version of the key points on creativity.
One "Right Answer"
We are all born with creativity but the school systems, socialization, and our parents take it away from us.
Think about it. We talked earlier about how quickly we lose our creativity. We are all born as curious and creative beings. We can invent all kinds of creative ways to try and get what we want as a child. We play with things and have incredible imaginations. Santa is real, we fly planes, and we're movie stars. We don't understand or believe it can't be done.
Then our parents tell us "no" a couple of billion times when we don't follow the rules. We get right and wrong beaten into our heads over and over again.
When we start school that's when things really go down hill for creativity. The brightest person is the one who comes up with the "right" answer the quickest. The right answer is the one that conforms to the expectation in the teacher's mind. What about all of the creative answers the other kids have? They don't get heard. If they take a risk and share a creative answer, they get laughed at. The result? Creative kids stop raising their hands. Van Oech says, "Children enter school as question marks and come out as periods." Sad, but true.
Van Oech also says, "Nothing is more dangerous than an idea when it's the only one you have." Maybe a little extreme, but it's always better to have a hundred ideas to pick from instead of three. Remember when you were shopping for your last car? Which situation would you prefer – three models to pick from or a hundred?
You're bound to find a better solution if you have a variety of options to pick from. The problem is, most people stop the search after they find the first acceptable answer and it's usually not the best one. If you really want some creative answers, keep asking the question.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 19 November 2004 )
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