What's a creative insight?

Most descriptions of the creative process include an insight, which we typically think of as some kind of amazing new fact or observation.  There's no doubt that insights are important to creativity, but insights are not just facts, however amazing.

A recent article pointed out that business people frequently label as "insights" what are really only long lists of observations.  The problem is that just describing something is not the same as understanding it. Could Van Gogh have painted one of his famous orchards based on a 500 page research tome about apple production?  I think not.

Facts by themselves are not insightful; we're surrounded by noisy, distracting, observable facts at all times.  Instead, the insight is an experience which belongs to the perceptive person who picks one out of a million available observations, connects it to a challenge, and sees how important it could be to a creative process.

So how do you know when you've had an insight?  The personal, inner experience of "aha!".  "Aha!" means that you have experienced a revelation; if it's new to you, that's enough.  And of course, it could be wrong, so you'll have to evaluate it.  But when, amidst the thousands of observations you make every waking hour of your life, you experience an "aha", treasure it.  You may be on to something big!

Creativity and conflict

Since we humans are both individuals and members of social groups, conflicts are bound to arise.  What I want, what the other wants, what's expected of me; needs are not always easy to reconcile. Usually, conflicts are resolved amicably thanks to social norms about what's polite and ethical.  Sometimes, though, solutions are hard to find. Creativity may be what makes the difference.

The costs of conflict are huge, even on a small, local level. Simple disagreements about little things (like whether that boundary-line tree is in my yard or in yours) can degenerate to violence.  Within families, the cost of unresolved conflict can be damaged or destroyed lives.

If I had to name a single reason that active creativity is so important to me, it would be my conviction that a combination of good will and creativity could reduce interpersonal conflict.  Your creative brain can help you reformulate points of difference, imagine new solutions, and adapt to necessary compromises. Where there was anger, you can create hope.

Every conflict, no matter how small, is an opportunity to envision a more inclusive world for all people.  Actively creative people, if they choose, can make a huge difference just by using their vision and persistence to build bridges between human beings.  What a wonderful world that would be!

Mothers of invention

Possibly the scariest responsibility anyone can have is that of raising a child. In addition to your conscious choices, things you can't control--the words that just slip out, your facial expressions, your energy level--also shape your child.

So over the years mothers (and fathers too, of course, but it's Mothers Day) have discovered the creative part of their brain and used it to ensure that whatever they do, however they respond, whatever happens in the outside world, their child is shaped primarily by love.

Creativity turns a harsh word into a warm, "I'm sorry" moment. Creativity takes a bad year at school and turns it into a way to see family conflicts through a child's eyes. In a mother's hands, creativity turns milestones into memories, fear into courage, sadness into hope.

You could have replaced the word "creativity" with love in all of those sentences.  Love is the motivation, creativity is the engine, and a strong, hopeful child is the vision.  For Mother's Day, let's all express our gratitude, and also gain inspiration from our unique, persistent, and creatively willfull mothers. 

Thanks, mom; we love you, too!

Smiling helps you overcome creative obstacles

I love this science! For many years, I have known that when I am facing a frightening or stressful situation, forcing a smile helps me to relax. What science has discovered is that smiling also has specific effects on the way your brain deals with errors.

A very thorough (and completely humorless) study involving people holding pens in their mouths in various positions showed that those who held the pen in a "smile" position had very different responses to making mistakes.  Basically, they didn't care much.  They felt good, happy, at peace with the world.  They were high on dopamine, the reward system of the brain.

Is unconcern about errors a good thing? It is when you're facing a creative hurdle. One of the difficulties of creativity is tolerating the risk of failure.  Your brain's danger alerts may lead you to quit before you solve a problem if (as is likely) the path to a solution involves makng mistakes before you reach your goal.

Inhibition around making mistakes is important when you're driving, taking a test, or balancing your checkbook.  So don't knock it.  But when you're free-associating, opening your mind to intuition, or playing with an idea, errors don't matter.  In that early phase of the creative process (the "open phase"), all ideas are equal. Making judgements comes later, during the "closed" phase. Then, error detection is very helpful.  Feel free to frown, purse your lips, or be stone-faced.

When you're coming up with ideas, though, force a smile.  It doesn't matter how you're really feeling, the smile will clear the way for your brain's creative capacity.  You can say the letter "e", or hold a pencil in the right position between your teeth, whatever works for you (that should make you giggle).  Just smile!

3 ways to use creativity to be creative!

Say you've chosen a creative project, and moved along the path far enough to feel you're starting to get somewhere. Most of the time, an obstacle will arise. A time obstacle, a hitch in your plans, negative feedback from someone who really counts... something will come up.

Well, good news! There is an answer: more creativity. Each obstacle can be examined and framed as a creative challenge.  Not enough time? The creative challenge can be, "How can I make time for my project without sacrificing other things that are important?" If you think outside your normal patterns, there may be ways to shift your creativity time around to fit it in, or schedule a vacation break where you can focus 100% on your idea.

Here are three ways to use creativity to overcome obstacles:

• Redefine the obstacle as a creative challenge.  This is step one of the creative process: identification. How could you reframe "My mentor thinks this is a terrible idea!" as a creative challenge? Use your imagination here, just as you did when you first had your idea.

• Tap into your original motivation.  Your motivation--the reason you feel this is important--has carried you this far.  Go back to that place and sit with it until it fills you up again.  The creative energy you get from doing this should help you to restart your creative engines and find ways to get around barriers.

• Use your creativity to reshape your idea.  It's your motivation that matters, not the details of your idea.  If there's something about it that doesn't work, you can use that information to make it better!  J.K. Rowling has written about the number of characters she worked hard on who never made it into her books.  The ability to change your idea when you need to is a hallmark of successful creators.

Whatever you do, don't just give up because something's in the way.  The world of your creative imagination is rich and vast.  There is plenty of room to get around the obstacles.

The importance of focus to creativity

Creativity involves the entire person: your personality to be motivated, your will to persist, your knowledge and skill to inform your choices, your imagination to envision something new, your social environment to support your project. 

Being creative is in many ways the most complete expression of who you are. Because it takes so much of you, a creative process needs your deep, lasting focus if you are going to make it all the way from an initial intention to full realization.

Focus isn't just a matter of what you do for an hour or so.  It's an act of self-mastery.  If you allow random interruptions, such as e-mail alarms during your train ride, to constantly distract you, your attention becomes fragmented. Your inner world becomes a noisy place filled with competing voices. You have no attention left over for anything but the next annoying beep.

Only in the quiet spaces of your life do you encounter your whole self.  Turn down the volume of interruptions, and you will finally be able to listen to yourself and your world. That will enable you to be creative.

3 ways that creativity helps overcome obstacles

Problem-solving is a skill, like any other, and a key component of problem-solving is creativity. Usually, solving a problem requires openness to new ideas and perspectives; if the old ones had worked, there wouldn't be a problem! 

Creativity uses the part of your brain that is open to new experiences and able to find new solutions.  So when you face a problem, you can tap into that part of your brain to make solving it much, much easier.  Here are three ways to use creativity in problem-solving:

1.  Examine your problem from the outside, using role-playing; in other words, pretend you are someone else. Maybe that new perspective will help you see your problem differently.  Use your imagination to make your role-playing very real; remember, you were a master at pretending when you were a child!

2.  Reframe the problem as a creative challenge.  A creative challenge is phrased in an open way that helps you look outside your normal frames of reference.  For example, if your problem is "we're under price pressure", the creative challenge might be something like, "what could we do to or say about our product to make it more valuable to our customers?"

3.  Roll back past choices to see if other roads could have been taken. If a problem is really difficult to solve, it may have started very early on.  Reexamining choices that have already been made is a great way to identify opportunities to start fresh.  Creativity comes into this process because you will need to imagine how changing a decision could have resulted in a different outcome--an act of imagination.

Engaging creativity in a problem-solving situation is a conscious choice.  When we're worried, we have a tendency to react with tired old patterns.  Instead, tell yourself that you are going to be open to new ideas.  You'll find that much more effective.

Do you see what I see? The three traits of perception.

Creativity requires perceptions that open the mind and awaken it to unforeseen possibilities.  Perception isn't just passively taking things in:  it is conscious awareness or understanding of input from our senses.   You can train yourself to be more perceptive just as you can train yourself to be more decisive, or more organized.  The only requirement is the will to do so.


Being perceptive means seeing more than others see.  Typically, the reason we miss what's right under our noses is that we are distracted or operating on automatic.  The way to train yourself to be more perceptive is to focus and really look, listen, and strive to understand. 


As you go through your day, set aside time (such as a walk to the coffee shop) to develop these three traits:

• Actively observe. Clear away your assumptions and see your world with fresh eyes.

• Be curious. Why are things they the way they are? Do they have to be that way? How would you want them to be different?

• Perceive. Strive to internalize and understand what you observe, letting what you learn lead you to new ideas.

The more you practice, the easier you will find it to perceive.  And within those perceptions, you will find creative gold.

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.