As promised, I will be taking you through an abbreviated version of “A Crash Course on Creativity” offered by Stanford’s Venture Lab and taught by Professor Tina Seelig. You can still sign up on line and participate if you like.
To get a great overview of the course and get started (and feel some of Tina’s contagious energy), watch her TED video.
The reason I love this course is because I think creativity can change how you view your life and they way you live it.
In the first assignment, Tina mentions “that the renowned American inventor Alan Kay famously said, ‘The best way to predict the future is to invent it.’ We are all inventors of our own future. And creativity is at the heart of invention.”
So, to begin being creative, you need to remind yourself that there is always more than one answer to a question or to a problem in life.
Tina uses this simple example. If you ask someone, “what does 5 + 5 equal?”, there is only one answer. If you ask, “what 2 numbers add up to 10?”, there are a myriad of answers.
Her point, “The way you ask the question determines the answers you get.”
Consider this next time you are stuck. See if there isn’t a different way to look at the situation and “open up the box”. Just being aware that you have the ability to create more possibilities can sometimes be empowering in and of itself.
Just be aware, you can get “unstuck” by adding a little creativity to the situation.
More next week.
Denise
