Albert Einstein once said, “Creativity is intelligence having fun.” Can you think of five things you want to do that are fun and creative?
Here’s my list for the week:
- Coming up with jokes to make my wife laugh
- Creating a surprise birthday box for my daughter
- Inventing and playing a new game with my son (it involves farts)
- Figuring out a healthy dish that I will still enjoy eating and cooking it
- Researching a “boys’ trip” so I can reconnect with my best friend
An unfortunate consequence for many of us as we age is that the opportunities for fun, play and creativity diminish. This reduction in opportunity also means we often find it increasingly difficult to come up with things that are fun and creative when opportunities for this type of activity do present themselves.
Creativity researchers Dr. Simone Ritter of Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands and Dr. Sam Ferguson of the University of Technology Sydney believe that although creativity is one of the key competencies of the 21st century, we are in a creativity crisis (Ritter & Ferguson, 2017). Modern living has created constraints that make it more difficult to be as creative as we were in the past. Let’s fix that. Let’s help you become the master of your world in a fun and playful way, creatively.
Why is Creativity Important?
Creativity doesn’t mean you need to be exceptionally artistic or musical. I am neither. One of the myths of creativity is that it is an inherent skill reserved for those fortunate few born with the innate ability.
What creativity is really about is how our brain processes and then creates new thoughts and artifacts. Creativity is how we look for solutions, produce novel ideas and products, how we reflect on things and come up with new insights. Creativity is fun at its best!
Where can we find creativity?
Creativity can be found in the way we approach the world, the way we reason, the way we occupy ourselves, the way we develop our abilities and the way we prepare for the future. Creativity is found when we put together two or more conceptual ideas that might initially seem unrelated, but we use them to create something that is new and useful (Ritter & Ferguson, 2017). Einstein asserted, “Creativity is intelligence having fun,” because science understands that creativity is when our cognitive and mental processes are at play.
Dr. Balder Onarheim, a serial entrepreneur and former associate professor in creativity at the Technical University of Denmark, argues in his TEDx talk that creativity is a fundamental human skill.
How to Improve Your Creative Abilities While Having Fun
Here are a few science-backed strategies that can help you improve your creative thinking and have fun at the same time:
- Divergent thinking. According to research conducted at the Balikesir University in Turkey, the use of open-ended questions can be particularly good for the development of creative thinking (Kandemir& Gur, 2007). Asking ourselves, and others, open-ended questions tap into our ability to think divergently and divergent thinking is a pillar of creativity. Divergent thinking refers to making unexpected combinations between available information and coming up with new ideas. Common divergent thinking activities include brainstorming and mind mapping. These types of exercises promote divergent thinking as you are encouraged to think of multiple open-ended ideas. These activities can be particularly fun if done with a partner or as a group. A group discussion can be more fun, as well as produce more creative ideas if you include some brainstorming rooted in divergent thinking.
- Listening to certain types of music. This has been shown to promote creative thinking. Ritter and Ferguson conducted a survey that included volunteers who listened to different classical pieces while doing a creative task as well as a control group who performed their tasks in silence. Ritter and Ferguson found that “happy music”—for example, they used Antonio Vivaldi’s “Spring”—promoted divergent thinking. The two researchers concluded that this type of music might be beneficial as background music when people want to generate new, unique ideas. Why not experiment for yourself? Consider putting some positive music on to stimulate your creative side. (It is important to note, Ritter and Ferguson did find that problem-solving tasks might best be done in silence, so it’s not a universal solution.)
- Positive mindset. Research suggests that our mood and creativity are likely linked. Generally, a positive mood improves divergent thinking (Davis, 2009). Happiness is purportedly the best mood for creativity— even better than serenity and feeling relaxed. As such, it’s a good strategy to invest in the skills that help maintain a positive mindset if you want to promote your creativity.
- Combat the Einstellung effect. Again, sometimes our wisdom holds us back. Science suggests our good thoughts can sometimes block our better ones. Our brains are wired to solve familiar problems with familiar solutions. This is known as the Einstellung effect, which was first demonstrated by Abraham S. Luchins (1942). The Einstellung experiments show that in order to make room for novel and optimal ideas (i.e. weaker associations in the brain), you need to suppress obvious solutions (i.e. strong associations in our neural pathways). In other words, creative thinking happens when we override our habitual associations. In fact, habits are considered a big barrier to creativity (Kandemir& Gur, 2007). Teresa Amabile (1989), a known creativity scholar, wrote that breaking out of an established pattern is the first step in the development of creative thinking. Therefore, you might want to practice doing a common routine in a new way from time to time to foster flexibility (e.g. the way you drive to work; what you eat for breakfast; what you say to your partner when you get home). Breaking with familiarity can be both fun and creative.
- Randomness practice. This is a really fun way to practice creativity. Ginamarie Scott, Lyle Leritz and Michael Mumford from the University of Oklahoma reviewed different creativity training techniques and found that practicing randomness can be an effective strategy for increasing one’s aptitude of creativity (Scott, Leritz, & Mumford, 2004). Onarheim also suggests continuous practice in randomness. For instance, while brushing your teeth, try thinking of three words that are completely random and unassociated. The words are not supposed to have any connection or be inspired by what you’re doing or seeing. For example: potato, dance party, ladybug. Onarheim explains that regular practice of this skill is not only fun (you can include other family members and friends), but you’ll also notice you will get faster over time.
- Dream. When we dream, we often do not apply strict rules to the reality of our dream state. As such, a good dream can be a real inspiration for creativity. Do this experiment: before you go to sleep, think of a problem or a puzzle you have been trying to solve. When we get healthy sleep, we enter a REM cycle (where we experience more dreaming) approximately every 90 minutes. Therefore, you need to try to wake up right after REM (e.g. after 6 or 7.5 hours) and take notes about what you dreamt. Can you relate the dream to your problem? Some people have reported really interesting results. Next time you face a challenge that requires a creative solution, try “sleeping on it” using this experimental technique.
Creativity Hacks of the Future
Scientists now know that during creative thinking, certain areas of our brain light up. In the future, we may be able to use transcranial alternating current brain stimulation (tACS) devices to stimulate alpha oscillations in the brain and, in turn, increase our ability to come up with creative ideas. In fact, devices already exist that can be worn like a headset and programmed to stimulate certain areas in the brain to promote specific mental functions. One example is the PlatoWork brainstimulator by PlatoScience. PlatoWork can be used to stimulate your brain to either learn, create, rethink or concentrate. It’s like an instant neural lift of your choice.
Technology aside, there are many other ways to tap into your inherent creativeness. With some deliberate practice using some of the ideas we have discussed, you’re likely to notice an improvement in no time. Color outside lines from time to time, it’s fun!
Sources & further reading:
Amabile, T. M. (1989). Growing up creative: Nurturing a lifetime of creativity. New York, NY: Crown Publishers.
Bilalić, M., McLeod, P., & Gobet, F. (2008). Inflexibility of experts—Reality or myth? Quantifying the Einstellung effect in chess masters. Cognitive Psychology, 56, 73–102.
Davis, M. A. (2009). Understanding the relationship between mood and creativity: A meta-analysis. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 108, 25-38.
Green, M. J., Myers, K., Watson, K., Czerwiec, M. K., Shapiro, D., & Draus, S. (2016). Creativity in medical education: The value of having medical students make stuff. The Journal of Medical Humanities, 37(4), 475–483.
Kandemir, M. A., & Gur, H. (2007). Creativity training in problem solving: A model of creativity in mathematics teacher education. New Horizons in Education, 55(3), 107–122.
Luchins, A. S. (1942). Mechanization in problem solving—the effect of Einstellung. Psychological Monographs, 54(6), 95.
Ritter, S. M., & Ferguson, S. (2017). Happy creativity: Listening to happy music facilitates divergent thinking. Plos One, 12(9), e0182210
Scott, G., Leritz, L. E., & Mumford, M. D. (2004). The effectiveness of creativity training: A quantitative review. Creativity Research Journal, 16(4), 361–388.
