Creativity and the White Queen

'When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." (The White Queen, Alice in Wonderland)

Using your imagination requires a little bit of madness, perfectly exemplified by Lewis Carroll's characters in Alice in Wonderland.  Not coincidentally, Carroll was a mathematician; sophisticated mathematics can create seemingly impossible scenarios, where 2 + 2 only equals 4 on alternate Tuesdays, for example. So he knew that believing impossible things was an indispensable creative skill.

The idea is to imagine what the world would be like if the impossible were actually possible.  In general it's best to treat this as a thought experiment--out of concern for my readers I wish to emphasize that you can't really sprout wings and fly.  On the other hand, you can use your creativity to find a workaround; inventing the airplane, for example, is a real-world way of sprouting wings and flying.

Here's a quick example of how you could use this as a creative exercise.  How could it be both cloudy and clear at the same time?  Come up with imaginary or realistic scenarios, it doesn't really matter.  The idea is to force your brain through the looking glass to a world where more things are possible.

This is your brain on creativity!

Did you know that creativity can be addictive? That's because creativity itself involves the dopamine system in the brain--the reward system. When you are creative, your brain pumps out dopamine.  That's the same stuff that "rewards" you when you jog regularly, or (unfortunately) eat those addictive sweets.

My personal bet is that persistently creative people are those who got hooked on the creativity rush early in their lives.  Maybe they drew a tree with purple leaves, for example, and instead of being corrected ("No, leaves are green, sweetie") someone said, "This child is a genius! S/he drew a tree with purple leaves!"  The praise reinforced the enjoyment of inventing purple leaves for the tree, and a creator was born.

I am living proof that we can train ourselves to get hooked on creativity.  I am naturally kind of in the middle: I enjoy being creative, but I also have poor frustration tolerance; I tend to rush toward answers to frustrating questions.  Over the years I've learned to take a deep breath, clear my mind, force a smile, and shift gears from pushing for an answer to inventing a new solution.

The key for me is how wonderful it feels to let my brain do creative things. Do you remember what it felt like when you figured out how to ride a bicycle for the first time?  That's the high I'm talking about.  That's your brain on creativity.

How to spot when creativity is necessary

Much of the time our daily patterns and habits of thought are convenient for us, helping us to prioritize and multitask.  So how do you know when it's absolutely necessary to shift from habit to creativity?


Here are four situations when using your creative brain--breaking through patterns and barriers--would be your best bet at improving your life or your business:

• You find yourself “solving” the same problem again and again and again and… think diets, employee issues, over-spending, and repetitive conflicts 

• Change is forced on you unexpectedly and you’re filled with self-doubt. Think divorce, job layoff, entry of a new competitor in your marketplace.

• An opportunity comes in your door that (even if it’s positive) makes you feel inexpert and uncomfortable. Even good changes (winning the lottery, for example?) require you to change your patterns in order to take advantage of them.

• You’re worried by a negative trend.  This one may emerge slowly; you may just get a nagging feeling that something's not right with your kid, your sales, etc.

Of course, there are positive versions of these: you get really intrigued by something, or even, in a funny way, you get really bored with your patterns. 


If any of this is going on for you, trust your need to create and do something about it.  If you'd like ideas for how to get started, check out Actively Creative.

Courage and creativity

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you took any one of your amazing ideas--any one of them--and actually started working on it?  Well, what's stopping you?

If you're like me, most of what's stopping you is fear.  It comes in many guises, from "I don't have time" to "You know, I don't think that's such a great idea after all."  But it's really fear of what would happen if you changed they way you work, for example, or if others saw your idea and didn't respond positively.

The question of the day is how to find the courage to be creative?  My favorite recipe is:  Love, Self-Awareness, Commitment.  When I start feeling all dizzy about the risks I'm taking, I go to my family for love and support.  Then I look at myself and ask, what on earth am I scared of?  What could I do to change my attitude about risk?  And last, I am very firm with myself.  I must keep my commitments, especially those I've made to myself.  Otherwise, what am I?

So straighten up and look danger in the eye.  You can do this, and when you do--it's gonna be great.