Exercise Your Creativity

Looking for a creative spark? Pick a sport like biking or swimming in which your mind can wander.

Free your mind by taking a break and working out, says this very insightful article.

New Brain Machine Improves Musical Creativity

Yes, you read the headline correctly, and no, I can’t believe it either, but apparently scientists have invented a brain machine that dramatically enhances musical performance, thus paving the way for a new race of highly skilled super-musicians. According to the BBC, “the system – called neurofeedback – trains musicians to clear their minds and produce more creative brain waves. Research, to be published in the journal Neuroreport, indicates the technique helps musicians to improve by an average of 17% – the equivalent of one grade or class of honours. Some improved by as much as 50%.”

 Read the complete article by Matt Brennan here.

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What is Lorum Ipsum?

Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry’s standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum.

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To generate your own Lorum Ipsum, go here.

What Is Design-Led Business?

Design-led businesses have a common approach for developing and commercialising business ideas. There are three distinct stages:

Mumbai Help

Find information, numbers, updates at Mumbai Help.

Unlimited Ideas Bank

What is the Ideas Bank?

UnLtd’s ideas bank allows you to post, share and discuss UK- relatedsocial ideas. Submit your idea today or browse through the innovationsalready online, and join the idea revolution!

Go here for details.

Structured Procrastination

What is it? Read about it here.

[Via Gopal]

Don’t Think, Be Creative

Not thinking about a problem for a while doesn’t just give you a fresh perspective when you come back to it. It also allows your more creative unconscious to get to work as it “…ventures out to the dark and dusty nooks and crannies of the mind”. More>>

[Via Shivam]

The A To Z Of Creativity Techniques

So much to do, so little time.

[Via Manoj on Creativegarh.]

The Day Job Survival (& Escape) Kit

I had linked to this article by Jori Lynn Keyser some time back.

I am reproducing below a mail I received from Jori yesterday.

Hi Arun,Last January, you offered a link to my article “11 Tips For Surviving a Day Job With Your Creativity Intact.” I just discovered it today, so thank you!

Last week, I finished my first e-book, which is a 160-page e-book called “The Day Job Survival (& Escape) Kit”. It grew from the seed of that original article, but is greatly expanded and covers other areas as well, with a full chapter on Workspace and Time and one on how to outgrow your job. The book is available on my site as a downloadable PDF. I value bloggers who take the time to read my stuff and pass it on, so I’m attaching a copy of the book for your perusal. It might be something your readers would be interested in.The link for download is here.I hope you have a chance to flip through the book. Please let me know if I can answer any questions for you.

Warm regards,
Durga Keyser

Do download the ebook. I am sure you’ll find it worth your while.

Writing A Book? Write Your Book’s Working Title

This will help you focus on the topic and gives you a concept to start working with. Ensure that the title is clear to you and answers the many questions that are doing the rounds in your mind. ‘Class X Mathematics without a calculator’ is a great title to start a book which focuses on providing students with quick problem solving tricks. “20 ways to turn your hobby into a profession” clearly suggests what the book is about and will help you focus on it. You can always give the book a different title when you’re finished but to start with one helps. I am made to believe that John Grisham began his book “The Client” with “Two kids and a dead body” as its title.

Overcoming Creator’s Block

Here are a few suggestions on overcoming creator’s block.

1. For architectural design:

a. Pick up a few architectural design magazines and go through them, but don’t just look at the pictures. Take some paper and a pencil and *draw* what you like in the pictures, paying attention to the forms and detailing. I’ve found that for some reason this really stimulates the brain and soon you will be getting new ideas for your project. Note: you’re not copying the ideas, you’re putting yourself into a creative / designing frame of mind.

2. General design creative blocks:

a. Take a break!! Do something else for a while. Go watch a movie with friends, do some exercise or go for a jog, go somewhere you’ve never been.

b. Do some deep breathing and relaxation exercises.

c. Make a Mind Map of the problem. Lots of resources on the net if you’re not familiar with this.

d. Lie in bed, relax, breathe evenly for a while, let yourself drift into that state between sleep and wakefulness. Assume a Higher Self is there with you, as a real presence; an aspect of yourself who knows everything and is always on hand to help you out. Ask her to show you your answer. Note down what you see later, or record it into a tape recorder as you see it in your mind’s eye.

e. Try to see the problem through another’s eyes. How would a child see it? Arnold Schwartznegger? A very rich person? A thief?

f. Look at the various aspects of the problem. What can you make change: make bigger, stronger, more vivid? What can you tone down? What can you invert? What can you remove? What can you add?

g. Close your eyes, relax, listen to some lovely music, music that carries you far, far away, to a place where you get your answer…

h. Think about: what is the essence of the problem? Now take a book and know that your question will be answered within. Open it at random and read the first sentence you see. how can you fit it to a new understanding of the problem?

i. Involve someone else. Have a brainstorming session.

j. Work from the end backwards. What are you trying to say? If you said it successfully, how would you have done it?

k. Finally, just make a start. Do something, even if you consider it basic, put it aside for a while and come back to it later. Your designer’s eye will immediately tell you how to make it better.

[Posted by Manoj Vijayan on Creativegarh]

Teach Your Brain To Stretch Time

Get into the, what they call, ‘the zone’. This is how you do it.

Nothing To Lose

A very interesting article on fear and the creative process. Read it here.

Design The Front Cover Of Your Book

So, you’ve written the back cover of your book! Now design the front cover. Keep it on your desk to inspire you. As much as it’s not advised, many people still judge a book by its cover. Get the title, your name and the visual on the cover. See if it hooks you into picking up the book. If it doesn’t interest you, chances are it won’t interest the reader.

Write The Back Cover Of Your Book

Writing a book? Stuck? Need encouragement? Be your own shrink. Write the back cover exactly the way you would want it to be. Concoct some testimonials and reviews. This will give you the initial confidence and inspiration and will also help you set the tone of voice for your book. Of course, in addition it’ll give your thoughts the direction you want.

You Too Can Be Creative; It Just Takes Hard Work

Do you desire to be a more creative person but don’t think you have the “creative” gene? You may have some hard work ahead, but it’s possible to become the next Walt Disney or Martha Stewart, says an expert on creativity at Washington University in St. Louis. Read it here.

Think You Have No Talent?

If you think that you have no talent at all and are creatively challanged, read this post by Charley Parker. Charley reviews a must read book by Betty Edwards – Drawing on the right side of the brain.

Want to write a book but haven’t started yet?

Come rain, thunder, snow or spouse, write at least 3 pages of your book everyday. If you follow this, by the end of six months you would have written a minimum of 540 pages. Sure, you might have a bad-hair-day or a pimple-on-the-nose weekend and might have to re-write some pages later… but at least you’ve written something. Nothing scares a writer more than an blank sheet of paper.

The Hidden Secrets Of The Creative Mind

What is creativity? Where does it come from? The workings of the creative mind have been subjected to intense scrutiny over the past 25 years by an army of researchers in psychology, sociology, anthropology and neuroscience. But no one has a better overview of this mysterious mental process than Washington University psychologist R. Keith Sawyer, author of the new book Explaining Creativity: The Science of Human Innovation (Oxford; 336 pages). He’s working on a version for the lay reader, due out in 2007 from Basic Books. In an interview with Francine Russo, Sawyer shares some of his findings and suggests ways in which we can enhance our creativity not just in art, science or business but in everyday life.

Read R Keith Sawyer’s interview with Time magazine here.