How to Get Unstuck & Become Creative

CHILD-LIKE THINKING

• A story about a driver in a tall truck that wasn’t paying attention. The driver goes underneath a bridge and gets stuck because the truck is too tall. The more and more he pressed on the gas, the more stuck the truck became.
• A crowd started to gather, wanting to know what was going on. Emergency support started to show up, and they started coming up with different ideas. They tried to push the truck in further, and nothing happened. They tried to pull the truck out, to no avail.
• They came to the conclusion that the best thing to do was demolish the truck to free up space so cars could get through.
• At the point, a six-year-old in the crowd yelled out: “why don’t you just let the air out of the tires?” This is what they did to get the truck free.

INNOVATION

• Book mentioned: Structure of Scientific Revolution by Thomas Kuhn
• A lot of industry innovation comes from a party outside of the industry. External minds can look at an industry with fresh eyes and a beginners mind, and ask: “why don’t you do it this way?”
• If you came up in the industry, you grow up with the same blinders, education, and boundaries that can restrict your creative thinking
• Convergent thinking: logical thinking, coming up with one answer and one conclusion
• Divergent thinking: using the power of your imagination to come up with many answers

THE UNSTUCK ACRONYM

U: Uplift. Study at a Norwegian University found a direct correlation between those with a positive mental attitude and creative flexibility. Optimists had a greater output of divergent thinking and creative ideas.Uplift yourself, monitor your state. Remember that you don’t have creativity, you do creativity.N: Noise. There are certain noises you can listen to to get yourself into a creative state (ideally you want to be in a relaxed alpha or theta state).You could try nature sounds, binaural beats, and music.S: Support. If we’re feeling stuck, changing perspective can help. When you change place it gives you a new point of view.Asking for help is a sign of strength, not weakness.Be a supportive person for somebody else, and be that person for yourself.Nobody is self-made, success takes a village.T: Truth. If we are blind to ourselves, distorting or generalizing things about our situation we won’t make progress.Have the curiosity to know yourself: know what’s most important to you, know who you are and how you work.Once you have the curiosity to know yourself, have the courage to be yourself.Own where you are, look at the indicators of your performance. Don’t avoid looking at the truth e.g. a credit report.U: Urgent.When you create a constraint in your life—this could be a constraint on time or money—you have to get the job done. A constraint increases creativity and commitment to the task.C: Care.You can’t be creative when you’re sleep-deprived and eating processed foods. Self-love and self-care are not selfish.K: Knowledge.There might be a gap between where you are and where you want to be because you have a gap in knowledge. More information means better decision-making.Knowledge by itself is not power, knowledge is potential power. It only becomes a power when you use it.

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