Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak

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One of the reasons for the way I write is that if we don’t have a deep understanding of how we work and why something is important, it doesn’t matter how many techniques we learn, we won’t apply them anyway. But this week, that’s all we’re doing – a big dump of as many creativity enhancement activities as I can squish into this article. So anyone feeling a need for more exercises to boost creativity can revel in the plethora of options available.

Why Brainstorming Doesn’t Work And How To Tweak It For Success

Numerous studies have been done to prove or disprove the effectiveness of brainstorming. It turns out, getting people together in groups for brainstorming sessions is not the most effective way to enhance creative thinking and innovation. Brian Mullen from the University of Kent analyzed 20 studies of brainstorming, in the vast majority of experiments, participants working on their own produced higher quantity and quality of ideas than groups.

The primary reason for this is a phenomenon called “social loafing” (for some reason, the sound of social loafing makes me giggle internally as it conjures up funny images of people “slothing” around in groups). What this means is when we work on our own, success or failure is entirely due to our own abilities and hard work. In groups, there is a diffusion of responsibility, so success or failure is not something that can come back to the individual. Because there will be no personal punishment or personal praise/ reward, members of groups slacken off compared to when the onus is on them individually to perform. Interesting conclusion huh?

So rather than getting a bunch of people together to brainstorm, it’s best to get us to work on coming up with as many ideas and concepts as we can individually. If it is a group project, of course then bring people together afterwards to discuss the findings. This leads to the next interesting and very useful aspect of enhancing creativity in a group dynamic.

Move It Or Lose It

id="more-4779">Studies have shown that playing musical chairs in a group dynamic will lift the creativity and innovation of members rather than everyone sitting in the same place next to the same people. Charlan Nemeth and Margaret Ormiston from the University of California conducted a study in which participants were asked to change seats during the problem solving tasks. They observed a significant rise in creativity and innovation as a result, compared to the groups that were allowed to remain in the same seating formation.

These findings were supported by research done by Hoon-Seok Choi and Leigh Thompson. They found that even in groups of three, adding one new person to the group dynamic caused a rise in creative thinking. So if you do have a team working creatively on a group project, it seems like the best plan of action is to get everyone started working on their own. Then when the group comes together, have everyone switch chairs and shuffle around the group dynamic to keep the creativity and innovation flowing at optimum levels.

Actually, It IS Easy Being Green

href="http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/rain1.jpeg"> class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4809" src="http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/rain1.jpeg" alt="" width="222" height="176" />This is one of my favorite techniques to enhance creativity. In href="http://yourcreativesuccess.com/book/">my book, I spoke about how I often need to spend time in nature to de-stress and awaken my creativity. I found out after writing this, there is scientific evidence that proves this is an effective way to enhance creativity. I think it’s cool how we instinctively know things to help us in our lives, if we just trust ourselves enough to follow it.

Japanese psychologists Seiji Shibata and Naoto Suzuki carried out controlled experiments in office environments in which they placed a green, leafy pot plant in front of or to the side of a person’s workspace. The tests showed that having the plants nearby and within the range of vision consistently increased creativity and innovation of the participants.

Again, this research was supported by experiments done by Robert Ulrich from Texas A&M University. When flowers and plants were added to an office environment, his tests showed a 15% increase in ideas from males, and females came up with more flexible solutions to problems posed. If plants can’t be kept in the office environment, then being able to see plants and trees out of office windows can have a similar positive effect. So if you need to get some creative juice flowing, perhaps look at going green and getting some plants in your work environment.

Apparently, fake plants, or pictures of plants on the wall or on screen savers doesn’t have the same effect, so don’t try to fake it (there is an entire body of extremely interesting research as to why real plants are so beneficial to our emotional and psychological state, but that’s another article altogether, and quite off topic). However, it does lead me to the next creativity enhancement technique.

href="http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/flower1.jpeg"> class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4810" src="http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/flower1.jpeg" alt="" width="231" height="195" />Staying On The Green

The color green is associated with positivity and relaxation, it’s also been found to increase creativity and innovation. Andrew Elliot from University of Rochester found that the color green caused triple the success rate in solving anagrams (an anagram is a type of word play, the result of rearranging the letters of a word or phrase to produce a new word or phrase, using all the original letters exactly once).

Affecting creativity through using the color green is helpful because in the absence of plants, we can come up with plenty of other ways to incorporate green in our workspace. For example, green clothes or green office supplies or equipment.

This makes me wonder why having pictures of plants or fake ones wouldn’t be somehow beneficial as the color green is still going to be working it’s magic, even if the physical and emotional benefits are missing from having a real plant present. A living plant will always be the best option, but sometimes it might not be possible (I find fake plants quite weird and depressing though, so that wouldn’t work for me).

Another side note on how our creativity taps into useful insights and instincts in our lives. When I was designing href="http://www.yourcreativesuccess.com">my website, I chose green as a predominant color throughout. I had no idea about the effects of green on creativity, or our psychological or emotional state when I made this choice. I just liked it and followed my intuition. I consistently find my creativity is very accurate when it comes to presenting me with the perfect solution to my problems, if I just follow my creative instincts!

Guess what? I’ve found myself near the end of the article and there’s a crazy amount of techniques still to be shared! I’d better move on as to why thinking of Lady Gaga can improve creativity and innovation seeing as I put it in my heading. As for all the other techniques, we’ll continue this little foray into enhancing creativity next week.

Why Lady Gaga Makes The Perfect Muse

href="http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/ladygagasmall.jpeg"> class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-4807" src="http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/ladygagasmall.jpeg" alt="" width="159" height="247" />So…Lady Gaga! Now there’s a lass who inspires an incredible amount of response to her style of creative expression. Whether you like it or not, she certainly knows how to get noticed for her creativity. But how can she help us enhance our creativity? It has to do with mental priming.

Psychologists Ap Dijksterhuis and Ad van Knippenburg from the University of Nijmegen did some experiments in which they found people would get the answers to questions correct almost 20% more of the time if they thought about someone they considered intelligent, like a university professor. The same technique works for enhancing creativity.

Psychologist Jens Forster from University of Bremen did tests in which participants were asked to think about the lifestyle and appearance of a typical punk (anarchic and radical). In the tests on creativity, those who focused on the punks scored significantly higher than those who thought about someone we don’t immediately equate with creativity, like an accountant.

Lady Gaga is a perfect example of someone on our radar these days whose personal style and creative expression is definitely on the radical side, whether you find it anarchic or not is for you to decide. So thinking of Lady Gaga in some of her mad outfits would be a great way to mentally prime yourself for a few minutes when preparing to tackle problems that require creativity and innovation.

When This Technique Backfires

Just a quick note in regard to mental priming, it has been shown to backfire if we think of someone we consider a creative genius, that is someone whose creative gifts are beyond the scope of most people. So thinking about Leonardo da Vinci or Michelangelo would actually cause us to shut down rather than awaken our creativity.

It’s related to us unconsciously comparing ourselves with these creatives and feeling disheartened and discouraged by the comparison. So whatever you do, when applying this technique, don’t overdo it! If you think Lady Gaga is a genius, better pick someone a little more low key…maybe Lil’ Kim…HA-HA! I’m going to have leave now, I’m making bad jokes!

I will be back next week with some more fabulous techniques for enhancing creativity. A lot of the studies in this post comes from a fabulous book, href="http://59seconds.wordpress.com/about/">59 Seconds, by Professor Richard Wiseman. It’s a brilliant book if anyone’s looking for a good read. Once again, please leave any comments you have in regard to the ideas in this post. Thanks for reading, and here’s to your creative success.

Neroli Makim

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Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak

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Hi again. Thanks for popping online and checking out my next article. I guess this really is the million-dollar question and we could answer it in a million different ways. For today, I’m just going to concentrate on one aspect of creativity that definitely helps to build relationships, and can facilitate super fast and fluid connections in the “know-like-trust” sales equation. It’s also an aspect of creativity that I find particularly enjoyable to be around and I always go back for more of.

I mentioned Dr. Stuart Brown’s play personalities in my last article, and how they’re connected to finding our unique forms of creative expression. He has defined the Joker as one of the 8 major play personalities. This is also an ancient archetypal player in the game of life. The Joker has always played a key role in accessing and expressing extraordinary insights and wisdom. As Dr. Brown says, “Humor is a central part of our evolution.”

How Creativity Makes Connections

But how does this aspect of creativity help with relationship building and making connections? I have a couple of stories about a few people who demonstrate how this works perfectly.

In my href="http://yourcreativesuccess.com/book/">book, I talk about a great friend of mine, and an exceptional businesswoman, Anna Lisa Tortora. She owns and runs a business with her husband that produces, imports and exports fine foods nationally and internationally ( href="http://www.viscofoods.com">www.viscofoods.com).

Over the years, I’ve watched Anna Lisa use her creativity in her business to build relationships and boost sales. One of the primary aspects of her creativity she engages to do this is her Joker play personality. On any given day that I visit, Anna Lisa reels off a few of the latest and finest jokes she’s been adding to her repertoire to get a giggle out of whomever crosses her path. This sense of shared enjoyment and laughter immediately facilitates connection and builds rapport with those around her.

Some people are naturally adept at this gift of remembering and telling jokes, and making people laugh. When played out with finesse, the Joker aspect of creativity forms an instant connection with others. The ability to make a connection and build rapport covers the first two elements of “know and like” in the “know-like-trust”, sales equation. Being skilled in the art of the Joker can have a profound effect on your ability to create connections and build relationships with ease.

Creativity For Improving Work Relationships

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I’ve also observed Anna Lisa in action when she’s communicating with clients and staff. Her ability to defuse tension with humor and facilitate fluid interactions with others using her Joker play personality is an invaluable asset in her business. A good example is when things are getting strained in a work environment as deadlines loom and challenges hit an all time high.

I’ve watched Anna Lisa’s Joker play personality bring some welcome comic relief to release some of the tension and bring things back into perspective. One of the primary roles of the Joker is to bring insights and perspective to any given situation, but they also offer a valuable service in their ability to relieve stress and tension with humor.

The Power Of Creativity To Make An Impression

Now I’d like to move on to a businessman whom I’ve seen engage the Joker aspect of his creativity to have a positive impact in building relationships and boosting sales. I’ve known Kerwin Rae for a number of years, and been a keen observer of his somewhat meteoric rise to become one of the world’s number one experts on influence ( href="http://www.kerwinrae.com/">www.kerwinrae.com/).

I recently saw Kerwin in action at a two day event, which involved over eight thousand people in the audience, and a dozen other speakers including Sir Richard Branson and Tony Robbins. I was particularly interested in seeing how Kerwin accessed his creativity to make a lasting impression on the audience that was swamped with a lot of information from world-class speakers and businesspeople. I was also interested in seeing how he used his creativity to build relationships and boost sales in the 90 minutes he had on stage.

So, how did Kerwin’s creativity accomplish all this in those 90 minutes? From the beginning of the presentation to the end, Kerwin was reeling off funny stories and anecdotes to illustrate his information and looking like he was having an absolute blast whilst up there. He had the audience cracking up laughing, and for the time he was presenting, he kept eight thousand people entertained, engaged and open to the information he was sharing.

Creativity Wins Friends And Influences People

Kerwin was drawing on his Joker play personality for much of the time he was on stage, and at the same time, engaging the audience in a form of collective play. Dr. Brown refers to the increased level of neural connections being made in the brain when he says, “Nothing lights up the brain like play”. By engaging the audience in a form of collective play, Kerwin was able to keep people interested, open and attentive as he shared his information.

Kerwin’s ability to connect with the audience using his creativity and build relationship in that time meant he was able to cover those aspects of the sales equation of “know, like and trust”. The remaining part of the equation of “need and provide” was not necessarily covered by this aspect of his creativity, but as a leader in his field, he successfully fulfilled those criteria as I watched a substantial number of people lining up at the sales table at the end of the presentation to purchase his products and services.

“Fake It Til You Make It” Is Not An Option Here

There is a very serious point to be made here; being skilled in the creative expression of the Joker play personality is NOT something that can be faked. You can learn to express it more effectively, but it needs to be something you are authentically drawn to engage in to begin with. Both Anna Lisa and Kerwin are naturally gifted Jokers, and their sense of humor bubbles up and spills over into any interactions they have, whether personal or business.

If you try to be funny when it’s not something that comes naturally to you, it will more than likely have the opposite effect of what you are hoping to accomplish. It’s easy to turn people off if they think you’re being inauthentic or faking it. This goes for every aspect of your creativity. You can certainly improve and build upon your gifts, but trying to be someone you are not is the best way to have your desired outcome backfire on you.

One more thing to note at the end of this article, each of the people I have described are at the top of their game due to a lot of consistent hard work, and providing quality products and services. Just because they’re funny and skilled at engaging in the Joker aspect of their creativity doesn’t mean instant success or cash in their pockets. It’s one extremely useful and highly lucrative aspect of creativity, but a combination of skills and creative abilities are needed to be successful in business.

The great news is, if this isn’t one of your creative gifts, there’s a massive array of other forms of creativity that can bring the same results to your business. I will be writing more about these other aspects in future articles.

Creative Character Profiler Survey

If you would like to know how you score in the Creative Character profile for the Joker play personality, you can do the survey by clicking on this link.

href="http://yourcreativesuccess.com/quiz/">http://yourcreativesuccess.com/quiz/

For those of you who have waited patiently for the link to be fixed whilst we’ve recovered from crazy flooding, thank you.

For anyone interested in knowing more about this aspect of creativity, I’ve added a short video on my website that covers how the Joker is an asset to your personal relationships. Once again, thanks for reading this post, and here’s to your creative success!

Neroli Makim

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Neroli Makim is an internationally acclaimed artist, author and speaker on Creativity and its relationship to personal fulfillment and professional success. She educates people about Creativity, what it is, why it’s important and how to access it within them selves. For more information, visit href="http://www.yourcreativesuccess.com">www.yourcreativesuccess.com

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Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak

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