The science of creative thinking
Creative thinking is becoming increasingly popular in conversation and even more sought after as a skill for employers. So what is creative thinking?
Creativity is a concept that people seem to have an intrinsic understanding of but if you ask for a definition, they stumble.
Here’s how I define it:
Creative thinking is the ability to go beyond others thoughts to develop something new.
Is an ability:
This means anyone can learn how to do it! You just need the right toolkit or mentor.
Goes beyond other’s thoughts
It’s different from what people are thinking or expecting - that’s also why I like to add the surprising element to it, that’s when you know you’ve hit the sweet spot!
Develops
Creative thinking for me is all about experimental and seeing where your process takes you. All creative thoughts should be a development, backed by research, customer testing or pushed even further. Creative thoughts are often not the final product but the springboard.
Something new
Steel with pride, repurpose something else, it’s so difficult to be original, but there are plenty of “new” concepts made from old ones. Creativity it all about finding a new angle or perspective, but everything comes from something. Never be afraid to seek inspiration.
Are creative thinkers born or can it be learned?
Of course it can be learned, but let’s look at the science first… You know most science is re-written as we lean new things, right? Well, we need to scream this from the rooftops:
Forget left vs right brain, it’s all about the networks!!
People with heightened perceived creativity, have nothing special about their brains. Einstein's brain was even stolen and tested to see if he was different because of his amazing abilities, but nothing was found.
That’s because the trigger for creative thinking is the connections between different parts of your brain. Neuroscientists have identified three parts of the brain, where when connected are the magic sauce for creative thinking. They are:
The executive network, helps you focus and think quickly or freely.
The imagination network, unlocks memories, sparking imagination and draw from past experiences.
The salience network, gives you the awareness of your surroundings helping to contextualist your concepts.
The more these three networks of your brain work together, the more creative you are.
Connecting these parts of the brain can be learned through skills that force you to think unconventionally.
Learn these methods in a workshop, or train how to do it one to one with a mentor.