The following contains excerpts from the book, inGenius (Tina Seelig).
At our Find the Best Music School Odessa Texas we believe that learning to be creative is foundational to a successful life.
This book’s subtitle, ‘a crash course on creativity,’ is appropriate, as the author demonstrates a remarkable knowledge on the subject. Her much research, combined with her own classroom experimentation on the subject, gives her substantial credibility.
From a philosophical perspective, she formulated a diagram of the key ingredients to creativity, those on the ‘outside’ and those on the ‘inside’. The inside ingredients are: 1) Imagination, 2) Attitude, and 3) Knowledge. The outside ingredients are 1) Culture, 2) Resources, and 3) Habitat. She concludes the book by discussing how all of these are inter-related.
How much time does a brainstorming session take?
“It is generally impossible to keep the energy needed for productive brainstorming going for more than about an hour.”
What do you do when you are done?
“Sometimes the end of the brainstorming session is the most challenging part of the process…the participants are usually eager to pick their favorite ideas, and it is helpful to know their preferences. To address this, you can give all the participants a chance to vote for their top choices in several different categories. For example, ask each person to put a red star next to the ideas that will have the biggest impact, a blue star next to those that are most cost-effective. This process gives the decision makers useful input on what to do next, and it provides everyone involved with a chance to express an opinion…Take photos of all the ideas, make notes about the best ones, and save all the materials that can be saved.”
Details
Paying attention to what is going on around you gives you creative energy to make decisions. “Acute observation is a key skill for gaining valuable knowledge about the world around you. This knowledge is the fuel for your imagination…Steve Blank, a serial entrepreneur…has been on the founding team of eight different companies…praised for his fearlessness. He chuckles and says, ‘I’m not brave. I’m just incredibly observant.’ Steve has discovered that the more you observe, the more data you collect, the more patterns you see, and the more boldly you can act.”
“Scientists and artists of all types are the world’s ‘noticers’…True observation is a very active experience. It involves focusing all your senses and actively engaging with your environment. It requires capturing your findings in words, drawings, photos, and recordings.
At our Find the Best Music School Odessa Texas we train our students how to be ‘hyper-aware’ of what they are noticing within themselves, as well as what they see around them. This develops both ‘self-awareness’ and ‘empathy’ in all relationships and artistic endeavors.
Physical Spaces
The author believes that the physical spaces around us have an important role in shaping our creativity. “The spaces in which we live and work are the stages on which we play out our lives. As such, they have a huge impact on our thoughts and behavior.”
“Unfortunately, as children get older, classrooms get less and less inspiring…and when they head off to work, many…graduates find themselves in offices with rows upon rows of sterile cubicles. Furthermore, in many places in the world, these offices are dimly lit and filled with cigarette smoke.”
“Architects are extremely aware of all of these variables and consider them each time they design a new building…Proximity is clearly an important variable when designing space.”
“Ewan McIntosh, who is an international expert on learning and technology…describes seven different types of spaces that can exist in both the physical and the online world:
- Private Space- we all need to find places where we can be by ourselves for some part of the day. If we aren’t given these spaces explicitly, in the form of private offices, we create them ourselves.
- Group Spaces- where small teams of people can work together.
- Publishing Spaces- designed to showcase what is going on. These occur in both physical and the virtual world. In the virtual world publishing takes place on websites where we share our photos and videos that reflect what we have done and where we have been. In the physical world, the items displayed in the public rooms of your home, such as artwork, pictures, and souvenirs, tell visitors about you.”
- Performing Spaces- where you can either share your ideas or act them out.
- Participation Spaces- places that allow personal engagement with what is going on…turn your schoolyard into a public garden where students tend plants…Or if you make employees aware of their energy usage by showing real-time data about how much is being consumed, then their behavior in the space naturally changes. They become participants in the space rather than mere occupants.
- A space for Data- this is like a library or database, where we archive information that will be needed later. It isn’t necessarily in a public place, but it needs to be easily available, either physically or online.
- Watching Spaces- which allow us to passively observe what is happening around us. Sometimes we want or need to be passive observers, watching and listening to what is going on rather than being active participants.
“Despite the importance of space to innovation, it is still just a shell for the people inside. As a result, it is equally important to consider who is in your space. Each person in your environment affects the culture and influences the topics that are discussed.”
At our Find the Best Music School Odessa Texas we believe it is of utmost importance to have a caring, nurturing and positive attitude in all that we do.
Benefits of Limits
Boundaries are important for successful creativity. “Marissa Mayer, head of product development at Google, says, ‘Creativity loves constraints.’ And time is one of the many powerful examples.
Time Boundary/ Creativity Matrix:
One of the greatest lessons we can teach students in our Find the Best Music School Odessa Texas is to operate within boundaries. Igor Stravinsky, in his book “Poetics of Music” discusses how he becomes more creative, the more constraints he gives himself, as a composer.
Expedition
“There are conditions under which people experience low pressure and high creativity. They feel as though they are on an expedition because they are free to engage in unfettered exploration of opportunities. In this situation individuals need to be very self-motivated and inspired in order to use this stress-free time for creative endeavors.”
Autopilot
“There are other instances of low pressure that lead to low creativity. In these cases individuals feel as though they are on autopilot. There are no external incentives or encouragement to be creative, and they are both bored and uninspired.”
As teachers in our Find the Best Music School Odessa Texas, we hope to inspire students to achieve what they are capable of, and sometimes that requires challenging them to step into unfamiliar territory. This is what good coaching looks like.
Treadmill
“Sometimes high pressure leads to low creativity. This occurs when the pressure is unrelenting and unfocused. Work feels unimportant, and the goals keep changing. Individuals in this situation feel as though they are on a treadmill that never stops.”
Mission
“Finally, there are conditions where high pressure leads to high creativity, and people feel as though they are on a mission. In this environment, despite the pressure, there is a clear, focused, and imp0ortant goal, and people are highly creative.”
Lack of physical resources can be a high motivator for creativity. The author cites the movie ‘Monte Python and Holy Grail.’ The movie was made on a very small budget, and although they originally wanted a scene with live horses, they didn’t have the money for it. They came up with a solution that ended up being far funnier by banging two coconut shells together to sound like the clopping of horses hooves. “This is a poignant reminder that less is often more. In addition, it echoes the message about framing problems. By asking the question ‘How can we re-create the sound of horses,’ as opposed to ‘How do we get horses,’ the range of solutions shifts dramatically.”
“Every habitat has its own constraints. They include some combination of time, money, space, people, and competition. These constraints sharpen your imagination and enhance innovation. Even when you have an abundance of resources, it is valuable to consider how you would tackle the same challenges without them. Constraints are a tool that can and should be modulated up and down to catalyze and compound creative energy.”
At our Find the Best Music School Odessa Texas we believe that miracles can happen in the midst of a lack of resources, less than perfect circumstances, and when facing many difficulties. An important life-lesson students can learn is to thrive where they are planted, and to learn to maximize what is before them. We believe the definition of excellence is doing the best you can with what you have. At the end of the day, only you can answer the question, ‘Did I give my best?’ regardless of the situation.