WHAT DOES CREATIVITY MEANS TO YOU?

Appended below is an imaginal & metaphorical snapshot of Dilip Mukerjea's personal perspectives about creativity.


Readers are welcome to reflect on his "fruits of creativity" as shown at the bottom of the snapshot.

SEEING IS BELIEVING: THE POWER OF VISION

[My personal musings, inspired by Page 3 of 'The Brainaissance Program of iCAPitalism Seminars with... The World's Most Powerful Learning Systems for... The Learning Economy', by Dilip Mukerjea]


Where do you see yourself?

What is the significance of the foregoing question posed by Dilip Mukerjea, against the backdrop of a beautiful imaginal brain profile created by him?

He is basically accentuating what author, futurist & film maker Joel Arthur Barker has exhorted in the proprietary 'The Power of Vision' video training program, first released during the early nineties:

'A positive vision of the future is the most powerful motivation for change'.

Citing the research done by Dutch sociologist Fred Polak, American business researcher Jim Collins, Austrian psychiatrist Viktor Frankl & Canadian educator & psychologist Benjamin Singer, respectively on the successes of nations, companies, individuals & even school children, it has been found that, when they began their climb they did not have the right resources & they didn't even have any strategic advantage.

What they all had in common was a positive vision of their future.

The message here is that circumstances do not determine the outcome, only vision does.

Having a vision is imperative to success. Vision is an essential ingredient in living to win.

Even a child building a sand castle on the beach has some sort of picture in his or her head telling them what to do next. It’s vision.

If you want to be successful in any significant endeavor - you first need to have a 'vision of the future'.

From the neurological perspective, I always like to correlate the 'vision of the future' to the 'image of achievement' as postulated by Dr Karl Pribram, Professor Emeritus of Stanford University, one of the prime architects of our modern understanding of the brain.

According to him, all our behavioural actions are governed by our 'image of achievement', & without it, we cannot succeed in our endeavours.

A 'vision of the future' or an 'image of achievement' is a picture that is seen with the mind's eye.

It is not your present reality, but what you believe as your destiny manifest in the present.

It is more than just being able to imagine something in the future. In a nut shell, the 'vision of the future' or 'image of achievement' becomes so powerful that it cause you to step into it, & live your future each day.

I often like to use the personal example of Arnold Schwarzenegger in my training workshops to illustrate the power of vision.

As documented in the book, 'Fantastic: The Life of Arnold Schwarzenegger', by Laurence Leamer, Arnie was interviewed about what he planned to do now that he had retired from body building in 1976. He nonchalantly responded with his thick Austrian accent:

"I'm going to be the #1 box office star in all of Hollywood."

Arnie's first attempt as an actor was a box office flop, but he explained as follows that he would use the same process he had used in bodybuilding. [By the way, Arnie was five times Mr Universe & seven times Mr Europa.]

"What you do is create a vision of who you want to be, & then live into that picture as if it were already true."

Closer to home, a great personal exemplar of the power of vision is Sim Wong Woo, founder, CEO & Chairman of Creative Technology. Readers can go to my earlier post in 'Optimum Performance Technologies' weblog to read about what I had learned from him.

As a successful nation, Singapore is a classic examplar of the power of vision.

When Singapore was unfortunately kicked out of the Malaysian federation in 1965, most political analysts around the world had seriously thought that Singapore was a gone case.

It was the foresightedness & tenacity of the vision of Lee Kuan Yew & his close team of stalwarts, like Goh Keng Swee, S Rajaratnam, Toh Chin Chye, among others, & his pioneering cohort of dedicated civil servants like Hon Sui Sen, J Y Pillay, Sim Kee Boon, just to name a few, who built Singapore for what she is today.

Throughout the nineties, I had done extensive random surveys of Straits Times interview reports on students who had done remarkably well in their PSLE, 'O' Level, 'A' Level exams, as well as in the presidential scholarship nominations.

I had narrowed down their peak-performing successess to the following common characteristics, in order of priority:

- they are goal-oriented (that's vision! & correlates to Benjamin Singer's research findings);

- they apply study strategies;

- they are passionalte & enthusiastic in their academic as well as extra-curricular pursuits;

- they receive parental as well as teacher support;

To end my musings, & I am very confident that Dilip will concur with me that, as long as we have a 'vision of the future' or an 'image of achievement', & we then act upon what we believe or assume will be true of the future or upon our aspirations for the future, our decisive actions in turn will create the future in which we will find ourselves.

INNOVATION WEB RESOURCES FOR YOUR EXPLORATION

Here's a small list of interesting innovation resources to share with readers:

1) CONCEPTFEEDBACK: Professional & Constructive Feedback for Marketers & Designers


Getting ready to launch a brand new concept? Would you like to know what other professionals think before you release it to the world? Concept Feedback is designed specifically for you!

2) IDEA-A-DAY: Where Ideas Are Free


The founder, David Owen, has written a book, entitled 'The Big Ideas Book', drawing some 500 best ideas from his website.

3) IDEASCULTURE: Ideas While You Sleep


They deliver ideas. Then show you how to select the best one and implement it to bring your idea to life.

4) NOSCO: Ideas Exchange


NOSCO is basically a software & services company specialised in idea management. It offers an unique Idea Exchange, an online suggestion box where you can buy shares in ideas.

5) NOVITATE: Methods & Tools for Innovation Management


The Novitate.com portal is a comprehensive tool with the purpose of creating and sustaining the innovation process and for managing projects.

6) PSFK: One of the World's Leadng Sources of New Business Ideas


PSFK is primarily a trends research, innovation, activation company that publishes a daily news website.

7) SPRINGWISE: Your Daily Fix of Entrepreneurial Ideas


Springwise is one of the world's leading sources of new business ideas, powered by a global network of 8,000+ spotters. You can tap its resources to build the Next Big Thing!

HOW FAR CAN YOU TURN?

I have found the following interesting exercise on the net.

I have had the experience of learning a variation of the exercise during the late eighties, when I had attended a mind power seminar, which eventually gave me a good understanding about the mental rehearsal technique often used by peak performers.

"Here is a short AWARENESS THROUGH MOVEMENT lesson for you to enjoy.

By doing it, you will demonstrate to yourself that your body has a potential far different from what you normally think.

NOTE: This lesson involves turning the head. It is important that you turn slowly and gently, stopping if you get any signals of strain, discomfort or pain.

If you have pain in turning, turn only so far that you are pain-free. A very small turn is OK.

To begin, sit comfortably on the edge of a chair with your hands relaxed in your lap.

1. Gently turn your head to the left. Notice a point on the wall that is the furthest point you can comfortably see. Return to the centre.

Repeat a few times.

If you had pain in turning, turn only so far that you DO NOT have pain. A very small turn is OK.

Gently turn your head to the right a few times and return to the centre. Each time, notice a point on the wall that is the furthest point you can comfortably see.

Turn gently, only so far as you have no pain.

2. Feel which side you would like to improve.

The other side is the better functioning side.

3. Cradle your head with the palms of your hands, so that the heel of your hands is at your jaw line, and the fingers may rest around your eyes. Notice that your elbows rest on your chest.

Keeping your elbows glued to your chest and your hands cradling your head, gently turn to the better functioning side as far as is comfortable and back to centre. Notice that the whole upper body turns.

4. TEST: drop your hands and turn to the side you wanted to improve. Notice the improvement!

Take a moment to realize how organic learning does not happen mechanically in the muscles, but in some higher faculties of the nervous system.

Isn't this more interesting?"

[Source: Issue #1 of SENSEABILITY, A Quarterly Newsletter of the FELDENKRAIS METHOD®, produced by The FELDENKRAIS GUILD®;]

CUT RED TAPE: REDUCING BUREAUCRACY, RAISING STANDARDS

[My personal musings, inspired by Page 2 of 'The Brainaissance Program of iCAPitalism Seminars with... The World's Most Powerful Learning Systems for... The Learning Economy', by Dilip Mukerjea]


Dilip Mukerjea poses a very pertinent question here:

"Is red tape the only thing that's keeping your organisation together?"

To me, red tape also applies in the personal setting.

Just like bureaucracy, red tape is the opposite of efficiency.

In actual fact, 'bureaucracy' & 'red tape' are synonymous.

They suggest a lack of initiative, a bias for inaction, & excessive adherence to archaic rules & inflexible routines. Even more serious, they create an impersonal force dominating the life of oneself as well as others.

So, how does one deals with the bureaucracy running amok & the tyranny of red tape, so to speak, in a personal setting?

I offer a few suggestions:

- examine your own work performance (key result areas), with the view to cut down time & effort-consuming activities;

- apply Pareto's Law or the 80/20 Rule, & focus on high leverage activities that move you forward;

- explore & adopt alternatives & options that generate the greatest net benefits to yourself, as well to others around you;

- review regularly what works & what doesn't work, especially your habitual routines, to ensure relevancy & effectiveness;

- consider: what do I need to do more of? what do I need to do less of? what do I need to start doing? what do I need to stop doing?

- talk regulary to other people, especially stakeholders;

- embrace adhocracy by benchmarking against other high-performance individuals &/or organisations;

- develop a personal bias for initiative & action;

[Readers can go to this link to download a free copy of the book, 'Busting Bureaucracy: How to Conquer Your Organisation's Worst Enemy', by Kenneth Johnson.]

WHICH BOOSTS CREATIVITY: LOVE OR LUST?

Here's the link to a fascinating article by Dr Scott Barry Kaufman, writing in his 'Beautiful Minds' weblog on Psychology Today.

He muses about 'Love, Lust, and Creativity'.

What has caught my initial curiosity to read the article are the two contrasting research findings:

"Love enhances global processing and creative thinking whereas sex enhances local processing and analytic thinking. Thus, contrary to the intuitive notion of creativity and analytical thought as fixed human capacities or stable personality traits, they can easily be changed by subtle cues in the environment or by mere thinking about certain situations."

"... when men are chatting with a female who is a stranger, their cognitive ability takes a nose dive. Not better, but worse."

Read on.

THE POWER OF ASKING 'WHY NOT? QUESTIONS

While taking the following digital snapshots at the underground pathway leading into the Tang's Plaza on Scotts Road/Orchard Road junction, a handful of apt quotes flashed through my mind:

"Never forget that only dead fish swim with the stream."
~ Malcolm Muggeridge;

"If you want to succeed, you have to forge new paths & avoid borrowed ones."
~ John Rockefeller;

"What others apprise, the same you want to; what others avoid, the same you want to; that is why, you fail as others; how ridiculous it is!"
~ Lao Tzu;

"In order to be irreplaceable, one must always be different."
~ Coco Chanel;

To me, they epitomised the wonderful spirit as embodied in the power of asking 'why not?' questions in one's mind.

I realise from past experiences, that in the course of exploring options to a problem, asking 'Why Not?' questions often put our minds in a shifting perspective state.

In a nut shell,... to think differently; be different & make a difference!

In fact, asking 'Why Not?' questions often challenges our asumptions & beliefs about the world. They also provoke our status quo.

In strategic as well as tactical terms, they can ultimately help us to take the things we see everyday, & think about them in new ways, & explore unnoticed possibilities - or unintended implications - along the way.

Hence, I am gratified to know that the Singapore Design Festival is pursuing the same line of thought.