how open are you to new experiences are
you open enough that you’ll let me take
my shoes off because I think better
without my shoes on and if you want to
take your shoes off I’m okay with that
too
I’m somewhat of an anomaly I have three
degrees in three totally different areas
my undergraduate degree is Bachelor
music I was a percussion major and I
still drum on things I have a master’s
in journalism and that is my writing
credentials and my PhD is in psychology
but before music I was an accounting
major and when I called home to tell my
dad I was changing for my major from
accounting to music if I could have read
the bubble over his head it probably
would have said I’m going to have to
support her the rest of my life right so
three degrees in three totally different
areas so what is the connection
creativity creativity music is creative
yes
journalism writing is creative and I was
working in an advertising agency as a
copywriter that was creative and then I
went back from my PhD in psychology and
study creative personalities so I can
connect the dots
that’s what creative people do but it
also got me thinking about what is
creativity so I asked my students a
question and let me ask you when I say
the word creative what single word do
you think of got it I asked my students
this question and these are some of the
answers that they came up with you may
have come up with some of these too and
possibly some others but one essential
quality of being creative is that
something has to be novel and you see
this in these were
new original different what they miss
and what you might not have thought of
either is that an addition to being
novel to be creative something has to
have value Wow
for someone that worked in advertising
that’s really interesting because we got
paid very well for our ideas but it’s
more than just money that you might pay
to advertising what if it’s 16
sunflowers in a vase painted by a guy
named van Gogh does that have value it
sells for 40 million dollars but what
about kid art that my kids bring home in
elementary school does that have value I
have some of the framed hanging on my
walls at home so for me yes that has
great value okay so I leave this
advertising agency and I come into the
world of academia now that there’s this
thing called the creative process now
when I worked in as a copywriter I
figured out my creative process but I
never knew it was a thing and a few
weeks ago we had a big time art director
come talk to our students in our
portfolio class and he started talking
to them about his creative process and
it really mapped on and he didn’t know
it was a thing either so I think it’s
important for us to know that there is a
process and what that is so let’s walk
through that so the first step is
preparation you’ve got to put something
in your brain right so you start doing
research and you start thinking about
stuff and all this stuff goes in your
brain and it starts spinning around this
is gathering the information that you
need for me I also often end up cleaning
my desk I call that procrastination with
a purpose right do you guys do that too
right
it’s like we we have to do something so
I do that and then at some point as my
brain is starting to try to solve this
problem
I get frustrated now notice the little
bee in there that means this is not
officially part of the four-step process
this is my addition to it but what’s
interesting that art director I told you
about when he talked about his process
he had frustration as part of that tube
so you become frustrated you’re trying
to solve the problem it’s not working
you hit a wall and you walk away from it
we call that incubation so you’ve walked
away but what do you do is there
something that you can do that helps
your creative process for me it’s
something about water which is one of
the reasons I have water with me like
going into a shower and having the water
pour all over me hot water just pouring
over me
I don’t want fans on I want the steam in
the room with me I just want nobody in
there just me and my steam and my water
pouring pouring pouring down on me
until the water is completely cold
there’s something about that warm water
that is a creative experience for me
whatever that is whatever that
experience might be for you
you might find that my some of my
students who are runners they say that
that’s a creative moment for them that
running that the the beat of the
pavement their feet on the pavement that
rhythm kind of puts them into a
trance-like like place that is very
creative for them so whatever that is
you can find that but at some point the
light bulbs going to go off illumination
you have an idea whoa it’s like that
moment that is magically and wonderful
but here’s the thing about illumination
at least for me that idea is so fragile
that it’s like here it is there it is
there and if I don’t capture it at that
moment when it crosses through my brain
it’s gone so I have to write it down and
if I don’t have a piece of paper and a
pencil with me I’m
saying it as I’m walking whatever that
idea is I keep saying it as I walk until
I get to a place I can write it down and
if somebody stops me and says something
to me it’s gone
it just flutters away wherever ideas go
so make sure when you have an idea you
know how you’re going to capture it okay
so now we have an idea but the question
is is it a good idea is it a good idea
we have to go through the verification
process to figure out whether that’s the
case does it have value does it have
value if it does if it works great
if it doesn’t then you know sometimes it
doesn’t then you have to back up in the
process and maybe take another run at it
maybe you need more preparation put more
stuff in your head to spin around but
it’s important you’re going to say you
have an idea okay so that’s the
four-step process but I have added
another step because you can’t just have
an idea you have to do something with it
so I have added elaboration to my
process as an extra step and the
interesting thing about this there’s a
funny little word hidden inside there do
you see it labor labor this is something
you have to work at executing an idea
takes work to make it be the idea that
you want it to be now have perhaps you
go through a process like this yourself
and figure out how that works but here’s
a really important thing about the
creative process and why I wanted to
talk about it is that it takes time it
takes time you can’t just say I’m gonna
have an idea you know you’re gonna have
to come up with some preparation you
know that you’re going to get frustrated
you know that you’re going to hit the
wall and have to get away from it and
then come back when the light bulb goes
off and see if it’s a good idea and then
actually do something with it big
problems small problems heavy-duty
problems right they all follow into that
same area okay
so I’m on this journey I sort of figured
out what creativity is has to be novel
has to have value I figured out the
creative process but I still haven’t
figured out where ideas come from so
let’s go back to my psychology
credentials and there’s this theory
called the five factor model of
personality also known as the big five
the idea that all of our personalities
each one of you have five dimensions in
your personality and it’s in a very
scientific continuum from not very much
of it all the way over to a whole whole
bunch right so the first one is
neuroticism so how a neurotic are you
are you not very neurotic or are you
really really really neurotic right the
next one is extraversion
are you an introvert an extrovert or
some way along that continuum how
conscientious are you are you if you’re
disciplined if you’re a planner then
you’re probably on the the more
conscientious side how agreeable are you
are you friendly cooperative
compassionate if so you probably score
high on agree ability the last one is
openness to experience openness to
experience do you like to learn new
things do you you like to travel before
just where the experiences if you are
open to experiences this is the one most
closely related to creativity being open
to experience has real value intuitively
this makes sense doesn’t it I love to
talk to people at airports do you like
to talk to people at airports I may be
that person who talks to you airports if
you’re like I don’t want to talk to
people at airports right but I’m that
person so I like to know where they’re
from where they’re going what they’re
going to do and I’ve learned some really
interesting things talking to people at
airports I went with it went out with a
guy to dinner and he ordered escargot
now let me tell you upfront that’s a
snail and I don’t like squishy stuff I
don’t eat squishy stuff but he asked me
if I wanted one and I said okay and I
tried it and it was really surprisingly
good of course it was dripping in butter
and what isn’t good that’s dripping in
butter right I once jumped out of a
perfectly good airplane yep I went
skydiving and I had gray hair when I did
it this is what leads to creativity
these moments these experiences are the
fuel that give us the ideas that lead to
our creativity so let me apply this with
a through a personal story when I
graduated with my journalism degree I
had squirreled away some money and I
bought a round-trip ticket to London I
bought a euro pass and I bought a youth
hostel card and I did the backpacking
thing across Europe and at one point I
decided I wanted to go to Berlin and so
I get on the train and this was in the
early 80s so this is when we still had
West Germany and East Germany as in
communist East Germany so you travel
through Berlin or if you travel through
Germany and you come to East Germany to
get to Berlin because Berlin is in the
center of East Germany and when the
train would stop on the platform was a
guard with a gun and dogs to make sure
that nobody got on and nobody got off
every stop I’m still not sure why we
stopped because nobody got on and nobody
got off so we get to Berlin and I
dropped my stuff at the youth hostel and
I go to the Brandenburg gates because I
was a music major and that was a big
deal and the Brandenburg gates are
course on the dividing wall between East
Berlin and West Berlin so as I’m walking
along the wall they have these platforms
that you can climb up and look
over the wall so of course I’m gonna
look over the wall
so I climb up and as I look across onto
the other side to the East Berlin side
there are guard towers with guns guards
with guns
the guards are looking at us and we’re
looking back at the guards there is no
man’s land with razor wire going through
it and of course the wall and the wall
curls through town so you can see both
sides of the wall and on the East Berlin
side of course it’s pristine
there is nothing on the wall and on the
on the west side it looked like this it
had color it had graffiti it had artwork
it had everything along this wall and
remember I had just finished getting my
journalism degree for me this was a
visualization of what free speech and no
free speech looks like Wow where do
ideas come from I never would have made
that connection if I hadn’t actually
gone to the wall so these are the raw
ingredients for your ideas being open to
experience so I found my answer what I
was searching for how to be more
creative if you want to be more creative
be open to new experiences try something
new
give your brain something new to spin
around and you may not have realized it
but you started it tonight you came to a
TED talk to a TEDx talk and watch
somebody do it without shoes on so what
are you going to do tomorrow thank you
you
you open enough that you’ll let me take
my shoes off because I think better
without my shoes on and if you want to
take your shoes off I’m okay with that
too
I’m somewhat of an anomaly I have three
degrees in three totally different areas
my undergraduate degree is Bachelor
music I was a percussion major and I
still drum on things I have a master’s
in journalism and that is my writing
credentials and my PhD is in psychology
but before music I was an accounting
major and when I called home to tell my
dad I was changing for my major from
accounting to music if I could have read
the bubble over his head it probably
would have said I’m going to have to
support her the rest of my life right so
three degrees in three totally different
areas so what is the connection
creativity creativity music is creative
yes
journalism writing is creative and I was
working in an advertising agency as a
copywriter that was creative and then I
went back from my PhD in psychology and
study creative personalities so I can
connect the dots
that’s what creative people do but it
also got me thinking about what is
creativity so I asked my students a
question and let me ask you when I say
the word creative what single word do
you think of got it I asked my students
this question and these are some of the
answers that they came up with you may
have come up with some of these too and
possibly some others but one essential
quality of being creative is that
something has to be novel and you see
this in these were
new original different what they miss
and what you might not have thought of
either is that an addition to being
novel to be creative something has to
have value Wow
for someone that worked in advertising
that’s really interesting because we got
paid very well for our ideas but it’s
more than just money that you might pay
to advertising what if it’s 16
sunflowers in a vase painted by a guy
named van Gogh does that have value it
sells for 40 million dollars but what
about kid art that my kids bring home in
elementary school does that have value I
have some of the framed hanging on my
walls at home so for me yes that has
great value okay so I leave this
advertising agency and I come into the
world of academia now that there’s this
thing called the creative process now
when I worked in as a copywriter I
figured out my creative process but I
never knew it was a thing and a few
weeks ago we had a big time art director
come talk to our students in our
portfolio class and he started talking
to them about his creative process and
it really mapped on and he didn’t know
it was a thing either so I think it’s
important for us to know that there is a
process and what that is so let’s walk
through that so the first step is
preparation you’ve got to put something
in your brain right so you start doing
research and you start thinking about
stuff and all this stuff goes in your
brain and it starts spinning around this
is gathering the information that you
need for me I also often end up cleaning
my desk I call that procrastination with
a purpose right do you guys do that too
right
it’s like we we have to do something so
I do that and then at some point as my
brain is starting to try to solve this
problem
I get frustrated now notice the little
bee in there that means this is not
officially part of the four-step process
this is my addition to it but what’s
interesting that art director I told you
about when he talked about his process
he had frustration as part of that tube
so you become frustrated you’re trying
to solve the problem it’s not working
you hit a wall and you walk away from it
we call that incubation so you’ve walked
away but what do you do is there
something that you can do that helps
your creative process for me it’s
something about water which is one of
the reasons I have water with me like
going into a shower and having the water
pour all over me hot water just pouring
over me
I don’t want fans on I want the steam in
the room with me I just want nobody in
there just me and my steam and my water
pouring pouring pouring down on me
until the water is completely cold
there’s something about that warm water
that is a creative experience for me
whatever that is whatever that
experience might be for you
you might find that my some of my
students who are runners they say that
that’s a creative moment for them that
running that the the beat of the
pavement their feet on the pavement that
rhythm kind of puts them into a
trance-like like place that is very
creative for them so whatever that is
you can find that but at some point the
light bulbs going to go off illumination
you have an idea whoa it’s like that
moment that is magically and wonderful
but here’s the thing about illumination
at least for me that idea is so fragile
that it’s like here it is there it is
there and if I don’t capture it at that
moment when it crosses through my brain
it’s gone so I have to write it down and
if I don’t have a piece of paper and a
pencil with me I’m
saying it as I’m walking whatever that
idea is I keep saying it as I walk until
I get to a place I can write it down and
if somebody stops me and says something
to me it’s gone
it just flutters away wherever ideas go
so make sure when you have an idea you
know how you’re going to capture it okay
so now we have an idea but the question
is is it a good idea is it a good idea
we have to go through the verification
process to figure out whether that’s the
case does it have value does it have
value if it does if it works great
if it doesn’t then you know sometimes it
doesn’t then you have to back up in the
process and maybe take another run at it
maybe you need more preparation put more
stuff in your head to spin around but
it’s important you’re going to say you
have an idea okay so that’s the
four-step process but I have added
another step because you can’t just have
an idea you have to do something with it
so I have added elaboration to my
process as an extra step and the
interesting thing about this there’s a
funny little word hidden inside there do
you see it labor labor this is something
you have to work at executing an idea
takes work to make it be the idea that
you want it to be now have perhaps you
go through a process like this yourself
and figure out how that works but here’s
a really important thing about the
creative process and why I wanted to
talk about it is that it takes time it
takes time you can’t just say I’m gonna
have an idea you know you’re gonna have
to come up with some preparation you
know that you’re going to get frustrated
you know that you’re going to hit the
wall and have to get away from it and
then come back when the light bulb goes
off and see if it’s a good idea and then
actually do something with it big
problems small problems heavy-duty
problems right they all follow into that
same area okay
so I’m on this journey I sort of figured
out what creativity is has to be novel
has to have value I figured out the
creative process but I still haven’t
figured out where ideas come from so
let’s go back to my psychology
credentials and there’s this theory
called the five factor model of
personality also known as the big five
the idea that all of our personalities
each one of you have five dimensions in
your personality and it’s in a very
scientific continuum from not very much
of it all the way over to a whole whole
bunch right so the first one is
neuroticism so how a neurotic are you
are you not very neurotic or are you
really really really neurotic right the
next one is extraversion
are you an introvert an extrovert or
some way along that continuum how
conscientious are you are you if you’re
disciplined if you’re a planner then
you’re probably on the the more
conscientious side how agreeable are you
are you friendly cooperative
compassionate if so you probably score
high on agree ability the last one is
openness to experience openness to
experience do you like to learn new
things do you you like to travel before
just where the experiences if you are
open to experiences this is the one most
closely related to creativity being open
to experience has real value intuitively
this makes sense doesn’t it I love to
talk to people at airports do you like
to talk to people at airports I may be
that person who talks to you airports if
you’re like I don’t want to talk to
people at airports right but I’m that
person so I like to know where they’re
from where they’re going what they’re
going to do and I’ve learned some really
interesting things talking to people at
airports I went with it went out with a
guy to dinner and he ordered escargot
now let me tell you upfront that’s a
snail and I don’t like squishy stuff I
don’t eat squishy stuff but he asked me
if I wanted one and I said okay and I
tried it and it was really surprisingly
good of course it was dripping in butter
and what isn’t good that’s dripping in
butter right I once jumped out of a
perfectly good airplane yep I went
skydiving and I had gray hair when I did
it this is what leads to creativity
these moments these experiences are the
fuel that give us the ideas that lead to
our creativity so let me apply this with
a through a personal story when I
graduated with my journalism degree I
had squirreled away some money and I
bought a round-trip ticket to London I
bought a euro pass and I bought a youth
hostel card and I did the backpacking
thing across Europe and at one point I
decided I wanted to go to Berlin and so
I get on the train and this was in the
early 80s so this is when we still had
West Germany and East Germany as in
communist East Germany so you travel
through Berlin or if you travel through
Germany and you come to East Germany to
get to Berlin because Berlin is in the
center of East Germany and when the
train would stop on the platform was a
guard with a gun and dogs to make sure
that nobody got on and nobody got off
every stop I’m still not sure why we
stopped because nobody got on and nobody
got off so we get to Berlin and I
dropped my stuff at the youth hostel and
I go to the Brandenburg gates because I
was a music major and that was a big
deal and the Brandenburg gates are
course on the dividing wall between East
Berlin and West Berlin so as I’m walking
along the wall they have these platforms
that you can climb up and look
over the wall so of course I’m gonna
look over the wall
so I climb up and as I look across onto
the other side to the East Berlin side
there are guard towers with guns guards
with guns
the guards are looking at us and we’re
looking back at the guards there is no
man’s land with razor wire going through
it and of course the wall and the wall
curls through town so you can see both
sides of the wall and on the East Berlin
side of course it’s pristine
there is nothing on the wall and on the
on the west side it looked like this it
had color it had graffiti it had artwork
it had everything along this wall and
remember I had just finished getting my
journalism degree for me this was a
visualization of what free speech and no
free speech looks like Wow where do
ideas come from I never would have made
that connection if I hadn’t actually
gone to the wall so these are the raw
ingredients for your ideas being open to
experience so I found my answer what I
was searching for how to be more
creative if you want to be more creative
be open to new experiences try something
new
give your brain something new to spin
around and you may not have realized it
but you started it tonight you came to a
TED talk to a TEDx talk and watch
somebody do it without shoes on so what
are you going to do tomorrow thank you
you
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