Edward Kiledjian

If you haven't read my other articles in the series, read them before continuing: 

• Creative Thinking Tip #1 - Take The Day Off
• Creative Thinking Tip #2 - Make A Friend
• Creative Thinking Tip #3 - Small Is The New Big
• Creative Thinking Tip #4 - Learn To Mediate
• Creative Thinking Tip #5 - Daydreaming Your Way To Creativity

TIP #6 BUT WHAT IF YOU COULD? 

Usually when I talk to someone who  is stuck, I get some type of response like “I can’t think of…” or “I can’t find a way to…” or something else similar to that chain of thought.

In situations like this, I take them out of the current environment. We may go for a short walk, go to grab a coffee or anything else that takes the person out of their existing environment. Then I repeat what they told me “I can’t think of..” and I add, “but what if you could […] what would it look like”. Often the first reaction is one of disbelief. They can’t understand why you would ask them that type of question when they told you they can’t. After I get them to play along, I keep facilitating this chain of thoughts.

• “but what if you could […] what would it look like”.
• “Then what would it feel like”
• “what would it look like”
• “If you did it, how would that make you feel” 

So on and so forth. Most of the time, I would simply wait for the person to finish talking then look at them and say gently “and” or “because” which encourages them to keep going.

If is very common for the person who was “stuck beyond help” to help themselves out of their rut and into creating wonderful new solutions.

If you haven't read my other articles in the series, read them before continuing: 

• Creative Thinking Tip #1 - Take The Day Off
• Creative Thinking Tip #2 - Make A Friend
• Creative Thinking Tip #3 - Small Is The New Big
• Creative Thinking Tip #4 - Learn To Mediate

TIP #5 DAYDREAMING YOUR WAY TO CREATIVITY

Even as children, most of us were told daydreaming was a useless activity and we were normally told to “snap out of it and concentrate on the task at hand”. Freud called daydreaming infantile. 

One of the more interesting studies I have read about daydreaming came from Daniel Gilbert and Matthew Killingsworth from Harvard. Their study showed that people normally daydream 47% of the time while awake.

As cognitive science progressive, we are learning that daydreaming may actual be a useful cognitive tool. A study from the University of California at Santa Barbara ( by Schooler and Baird) provided a nice modern look at this “useless activity”. They chose 145 undergrads and gave them a standard creativity test called an “unusual use task”. For this test, the subjects are given 2 minutes to come up with creative uses of a boring everyday object like a clothes hangar, rope, etc. The subjects where put into one of four possible situations, 3 of which were: 

• Resting in a quiet room
• Performing short term memory tasks
• Doing something extremely boring to encourage daydreaming

Subject assigned to the extremely boring task beforehand performed substantially better at the unusual use task (actually 41% better). The group that was allowed to daydream after being asked about the boring items did the best. It seems the incubation period (in the subconscious mind) cause by the daydreaming helped giggle the creative juices.  

"These data suggest that engaging in simple external tasks that allow the mind to wander may facilitate creative problem solving," the researchers wrote in the study.

What does all of this mean? Daydreaming should be encouraged. Whether this is done while taking a long hot shower, sitting in a quiet office or cutting the grass, allow yourself to float into the wonder of your mind and that unbreakable problem may just be solved.

If you haven't read my other articles in the series, read them before continuing: 

• Creative Thinking Tip #1 - Take The Day Off
• Creative Thinking Tip #2 - Make A Friend
• Creative Thinking Tip #3 - Small Is The New Big

TIP #4 LEARN TO MEDITATE

An interesting study was released by psychologist Lorenza Colzato & al from Leiden University in the April 19^th issue of Frontiers in Cognition. You probably haven’t read the article but it explains how certain meditation techniques can help the creative thinking process.

When I speak to executives about mediation, they often think it is for relation and stress management but it does so much more. The study clearly shows that the right meditation can help substantially change your life experience by positively impacting cognition and perception of world events (aka how you experience the world).

Convergent and divergent thinking

Convergent thinking is the process of finding one possible solution to a problem using many different inputs. (many to one)

Divergent thinking is the process of finding multiple solutions to problem using one input. (one to many).

Open Monitoring or Focused attention meditation

Open Monitoring is where the meditator is asked to think about all thoughts and sensations experienced (not focusing on anything in particular).

Focused Attention is the exact opposite and the meditator is asked to think about one thought, sensation or object.

The results

The research shows that Open Monitoring improved divergent thinking and was a multiplier for new ideas.

Focused Attention on the other hand did not improve convergent thinking 

My 2 cents

Beyond the clinical research, I am a meditator and find that when I do it consistently, it helps tremendously. The life of an executive is chaotic at best and I find mindful meditation helps by creating new focus and allowing me to channel my mental energy towards creative productivity. 

I believe the subconscious mind (or as some call it, the other than conscious mind) is a wondrous and powerful tool if you know how to use it. It is faster than the fastest supercomputer and more detailed than the strongest electron microscope. By meditating, I feel my mind becoming more sensitive to the subtle message of my subconscious mind.  These subtle messages, if help and acted on, can be incredibly powerful catalyst. 

I previously wrote an article entitles "How To Deal With Stress - Tips And Tricks". In it I talk about meditation and how it can be helpful. I also cover 2 meditation tools that non-meditators can use to get started. I write:

"If you want a fast food type method for quick mediation, take a look at Paraliminal audio technology from Learning Strategies corporation or the Holosync mediation program from Centerpointe Research (the granddaddy of audio aided meditation.)"

If you haven't read my other articles in the series, read them before continuing: 

• Creative Thinking Tip #1 - Take The Day Off
• Creative Thinking Tip #2 - Make A Friend

TIP #3 START SMALL 

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Lao-tzu, The Way of Lao-tzu

Chinese philosopher (604 BC - 531 BC) 

If you havent't read tip #1 (take a Day Off), go and read it now.

TIP #2 Make a friend. 

Some problems are seem much more challenging to solve and sometimes may even seem impossible. If tip #1 hasn't solved your mental block then its time to move to tip #2, make a friend. 

This is a simple exercise where you pair up with someone you know and trust. You explain to them the exact situation (being as brief and concise as possible) and then you ask them to explain the situation back to you. You may realize that even though you explained it as clearly as you can, they end up with a slightly different understanding. This slightly different reality may be enough to jiggle your creative thinking by allowing you to see the problem through the eyes of someone else.

As a business leader, you are paid for your creative thinking and not your ability to follow process. But there are times when you are stuck. You find yourself unable to make a breakthrough. I will write a series of very short snippets to help get you out of your rut and encourage the creative juices to flow.

Tip #1 STOP THINKING ABOUT THE PROBLEM

There comes a time when you have to take a step back and stop thinking about the problem at hand. It may seem counterproductive but trust me, it works. When coaching executives, I sometimes ask them to take a “real day off”. We determine what the perfect relaxation day would look like for them (e.g. golf, spa, reading a book in bed, etc) and then we make plans to implement that perfect day. No cell phones, no emails and absolutely no connection with work or responsibilities.

It is amazing the number of times an executive has come back the next day full of ideas and energy. Try it and I guarantee you will love the results.