Unconventional Ways to Get Your Creative Juices Flowing

In reality, the man had used the cover of the door to sneak away and hide behind another object, while his team member shut the door via remote control.

“This is a great example of how lazy our brains are,” says neuroeconomist Dr. Paul Zak in the video. “When we go through a door, we go in a straight line. We can’t conceive — because we’ve seen that pattern so many times — that someone would make a right turn.”

This is because our brains frequently use connections — or neural pathways — created by past experience to decipher the world around us. Indeed, if we just let them be, our brains would always “choose the most energy efficient path,”writes MIT senior lecturer Tara Swart in her book Neuroscience for Leadership.

Unfortunately, this means that our brains aren’t so good at being creative. As it turns out, creativity is all about making new connections — a skill which brooding creative types seem to have in common.

In 2011, neuroscientist Dr. Vilayanur S. (V.S.) Ramachandran found that synesthesia — a condition which causes people to involuntarily link one sensory percept to another — is eight times more common in artists, poets, and novelists.

1. This is, she declares, “the basis for creativity — linking seemingly unrelated ideas, concepts, or thoughts.”
2. For this reason, it makes sense that we have to do things that are counter-intuitive in order to spark our creative side, even if they might feel unnatural at first.

“This is a great example of how lazy our brains are,” says neuroeconomist Dr. Paul Zak in the video. “When we go through a door, we go in a straight line. We can’t conceive — because we’ve seen that pattern so many times — that someone would make a right turn.”

This is because our brains frequently use connections — or neural pathways — created by past experience to decipher the world around us. Indeed, if we just let them be, our brains would always “choose the most energy efficient path,”writes MIT senior lecturer Tara Swart in her book Neuroscience for Leadership.

Unfortunately, this means that our brains aren’t so good at being creative. As it turns out, creativity is all about making new connections — a skill which brooding creative types seem to have in common.

So, scrap the usual advice — here are five unconventional ways to get your creative juices flowing

Unfortunately, this means that

our brains aren’t so good

at being creative. As

it turns out, creativity is all about making new connections — a skill which brooding creative types seem to have in common.

In 2011, neuroscientist Dr. Vilayanur S. (V.S.) Ramachandran found that synesthesia — a condition which causes people to involuntarily link one sensory percept to another — is eight times more common in artists, poets, and novelists.

• This is, she declares, “the basis for creativity — linking seemingly unrelated ideas, concepts, or thoughts.”
• For this reason, it makes sense that we have to do things that are counter-intuitive in order to spark our creative side, even if they might feel unnatural at first.

So, scrap the usual advice — here are five unconventional ways to get your creative juices flowing