Page 153 - Keys to College Success

KEY 5.6 Prepare your brain to diverge and converge.

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Creative ideas can f y Often, your mind will l
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out of your mind as be most able to form
quickly as they enter. unexpected connections
Get in the habit of when you have shifted
recording ideas as you into a more relaxed mode.
think of them. Keep a pen People f nd that their best
and paper by your bed, your ideas come while on a long
smartphone in your pocket, a run, after a nap, in the shower, r, r,
notepad in your car, or a or in any environment that gives ss
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recorder in your backpack. their brains permission to chill out.
Gather Five Ingredients of Creativity
Growing your creativity starts with a receptive mindset. Combine the five attitudes in
5 this creativity “recipe” to produce a mindset that promotes creative thinking:
CHAPTER 1. Belief that you can develop creativity. Some people have more innate ability to
think creatively than others. However, as with any skill, you can build and expand
creative thinking ability. In an essay about creativity in medicine, Jennifer Gibson,
PharmD, notes, “While not everyone will paint a masterpiece or write a great novel,
everyone can be curious, seek change and take risks.” 17
2. Receptiveness to new ideas. Seeking out new information, experiences, and people will
give you more raw materials with which to build creative ideas. Research shows that
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people who interact with many people in large human networks are significantly more
innovative than people who tend to stick with smaller, more familiar groups of friends. 19
3. Comfort with time alone. Disconnecting is another crucial part of the creative pro-
cess. Research indicates that creativity demands time and independent thinking (think
of the stereotype of the writer alone in a cabin). Business offers examples such as
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Apple founder Steve Jobs’s collaborator, Steve Wozniak, who worked solo over many
months to develop the personal computer that Mr. Jobs marketed so ingeniously.
Wozniak strongly recommends that would-be inventors spend time working alone. 21
4. Risk-taking and hard work. Creativity demands that you risk time, ideas, and
enormous effort in the quest for reward. “All creative geniuses work passionately
hard and produce incredible numbers of ideas, most of which are bad,” reports
creativity expert Michael Michalko, recounting the fact that Picasso created more
than 20,000 pieces of art. He also advocates regular practice, noting that “the

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