CAN ANYONE LEARN TO BECOME MORE CREATIVE? WHAT DOES IT INVOLVE?

Dilip Mukerjea, writing in his book, 'Brain Symphony" Brain-blazing Practical Techniques in Creativity for Immediate Application', gives his expert answers to the foregoing questions: "Yes, most definitely. Creative thinking techniques are designed to unlock your brain's infinite potential. We have the capacity to be creative in as many fields of endeavour as we choose to be. There are numerous ingredients that constitute our creative efforts. Imagination is essential, other than these prime elements: 1) Nature: Many of the inventions, innovations, and patterns of behaviour, emerge from designs found in nature. We must learn to recognise that nature is the most logical playground for our ideas. 2) Humour: A significant percentage of creativity arises from the world of humour. By not taking everything too seriously and remaining relaxed, we are able to accept ideas as they surface, without judgement. 3) Knowledge: All serendipitous discoveries involve a connection, in one way or another, with some form of prior knowledge. This does not mean that one need have knowledge specifically pertaining to a subject from which a creative idea was born. But by being generally well informed, and knowing that everything connects to everything else, we increase our capacity for generating ideas. 4) Memory: The continuous development of a good memory is invaluable for anyone. All organisations are guaranteed to benefit if the employees exhibit a memory that is well above the average expectation. You need to ask yourself, "How valuable is having a trained memory to you reorganisation?" 5) Intelligence: Research has identified several distinct types of human intelligence. Once we are aware of what these intelligences are, we can easily identify our strengths and weaknesses. The subsequent development of each intelligence will correspondingly boost our creative potential. 6) Skills: We are in the Age of Competitive Intelligence. What we know has a finite lifespan. By knowing how we know what we know, that is, by knowing how to learn, we immediately gain immensely in any domain of activity. All creative skills and techniques are designed to immediately arm you with the tools for navigating through the New Millennium. And it is vital to focus on the arts and the sciences. The merging of these disciplines results in synergy, energy and power! [All the images in this post are the intellectual property of Dilip Mukerjea.] Say Keng's personal comments: To sum up & build on Dilip Mukerjea's roundup of the key elements, I like to take the liberty of throwing in #7) action-mindedness & following through on one's endeavour. Creativity or rather coming up with ideas is one thing - in fact, it's easy, but no action, talk only (NATO) still ends up in inertia. All ideas must be followed by action, even though putting ideas to work is oftentimes a tough task. The harsh reality is this: Action produces Results. Engineer & entrepreneur Nolan Bushnell, who founded both Atari, Inc., & the Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza-Time Theaters chain, sums up best my sentiment: "Everyone who's ever taken a shower has had an idea. It's the person who gets out of the shower, dries off & does something about it who makes the difference."