For a More Creative Brain Follow These 5 Steps
For a More Creative Brain Follow These 5 Steps Nearly all amazing ideas follow the same creative process and this article explains how this procedure works. Understanding that is significant because creative thinking is one of the very useful skills you can possess. Just about any problem, you face at work and in life can take advantage of advanced solutions, lateral thinking, and creative ideas.
For a more creative brain follow these 5 steps anybody can figure out how to become more creative through the use of those five steps. That’s not to say being creative is easy. Uncovering your creative genius requires courage and also a lot of practice. But this five-step approach should help demystify the creative method and illuminate the trail to more advanced thinking.
To describe the way this method works, allow me to tell you a short story.
A Problem in Need of a Creative Solution
In the 1870s, papers, and printers faced with a very specific and too costly issue. Photography was a new and exciting medium at that time. Readers wished to see more images, but no one could figure out just how to print images effortlessly and quickly.
By way of example, in case a paper wanted to print a picture in the 1870s, they had to commission an engraver to etch a duplicate of the photo onto a steel plate. These plates were used to press on the image on the web page, however, they frequently snapped after just a couple of applications. This process of photo-engraving, you’re able to imagine, was unusually time-consuming and expensive.
The man who invented a remedy to the problem was called Frederic Eugene Ives. He went on to become a trailblazer in the field of photography and held over 70 patents at the end of the career. His narrative of creativity and innovation, which I will share today, is actually a useful case study for understanding the 5 important steps of this creative process.
A Flash of Insight
After two years of learning the intricacies of the printing process, he began managing the photographic laboratory at nearby Cornell University. He spent the rest of the decade tinkering with fresh photography techniques and learning cameras, printers, and much more.
“While operating my photo stereotypes process in Ithaca, I studied the issue of halftone practice,” Ives said. “I went to bed one night at a condition of brain fog across the issue, and the minute I woke each day before me, apparently suggested on the ceiling, the completely worked out process and equipment at functioning.”
Ives quickly translated his vision into reality and patented his printing approach in 1881. He spent the remainder of the decade advancing upon it. By 1885, he had developed a simplified procedure that delivered better results. The Ives Procedure, because it came to be known, paid off the cost of printing pictures by 15x and remained the normal printing technique for your next 80 decades.
Alright, now let’s discuss what lessons we can learn from Ives in regards to the creative process.
The 5 Stages of the Creative Process
In 1940an an advertising executive named James Webb Young published a brief guide titled,” A Technique for Producing Ideas. In this guide, he left a very simple, but profound statement about generating creative ideas.
According to Young, advanced ideas happen once you develop new combinations of old elements. In other words, creative thinking is not about generating something new from the blank background, but rather about taking what is present and combining those pieces and bits in a way that hasn’t yet been done before.
Most importantly, the ability to generate new mixes hinges upon your ability to see the connections between theories. In the event that it is possible to form a new connection between two older ideas, you’ve done something creative.
Young believed this practice of creative connection always occurred in five steps.
- Gather New Material
At first, you learn, during this stage you focus on 1) learning specific material directly related to your task and two) learning overall material by becoming inquisitive with a large range of concepts.
- Thoroughly work on the substances on your mind
In this phase, you examine what you’ve heard by taking a look at the facts from different angles and experimenting with fitting various ideas together.
- Step away from the problem
Next, you put the problem completely out of one’s brain and go do something different which arouses you and also energizes you.
- Permit your idea to come back for your requirements
Sooner or later, but just once you have ceased considering it, your idea will soon come back to you with a flash of comprehension and energy that is accumulated.
- Shape and develop your idea based on feedback
For any idea to succeed, you must release it out into the world, submit it to criticism, and then adapt it as needed.
The Theory Used
The creative process applied by Frederic Eugene Ives offers a perfect illustration of the five steps in action. To begin with, Ives accumulated new material. He spent a couple of years working as a printer’s apprentice after which four years running the photographic lab at Cornell University. These experiences gave him a lot of material to draw and make relationships between photography and printing.
Second, Ives began to emotionally work over everything he learned. By 1878, Ives has been spending most of his time experimenting with new techniques. He was always tinkering and experimenting with various ways of putting ideas together.
Third, Ives resigned from the problem. In this case, he proceeded to sleep for a couple of hours until his flash of insight. Letting creative struggles sit longer lengths of time may work too. No matter how long you measure away, you will need to do something that interests you and takes your mind away from the issue.
Fourth, his idea came back. Ives awoke with the remedy for his problem laid out before him. (But on a personal note, I frequently find creative ideas struck me just as I’m lying down to sleep. Once I give my brain consent to quit working for the day, the clear answer appears readily.)
At length, Ives continued to revise his own idea for years. In fact, he improved so many elements of the process he registered a second patent. This is a vital point and is frequently overlooked. Additionally, it could be easy to love the very first version of your idea, but wonderful thoughts always evolve.
The Creative Process in Short
The creative process is the action of earning new connections between older thoughts. Ergo, we can declare creative-thinking is that the job of understanding connections between concepts.
One solution to approach creative challenges is by subsequent to the five-step process of just one) amassing material, 2) intensely working over the material on the mind, 3) stepping away from the issue, 4) allowing the concept to keep coming back to you naturally, and 5) analyzing your idea in the real world and adjusting it based on feedback. Being creative isn’t about being the first (or only) person to consider an idea. More often, creativity is all about linking ideas.