How to find your Creativity again!

The Primate Committee Thinking Experiment…

It started with a cage containing 5 apes. Inside the cage they hung a banana on a string and put stairs under it. Before long an ape went to the stairs and started to climb towards the banana. As soon as he touched the stairs, they sprayed all the apes with cold water. After a while, another ape tried with the same results – all the apes were sprayed with cold water.

They then turned off the cold water.

Later, another ape tried to climb the stairs, the other apes prevented him from doing it even though no water was sprayed.

They then removed one ape from the cage and replaced it with a new one. The new ape saw the banana and wanted to climb the stairs. To his horror, all the other apes attacked him. After another attempt and attack, he knew that if he tried to climb the stairs, he would be assaulted.

Another of the original five apes was removed and replaced with a new one.

The newcomer went to the stairs and was attacked. The previous newcomer took part in the punishment with enthusiasm!

Again, they replaced a third of the original apes with a new one. The new one went to the stairs and was attacked as well.

Two of the four apes that beat him had no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs, or why they participated in the beating of the newest ape.
After they replaced the fourth and fifth of the original apes, all apes that had been sprayed with cold water were replaced.

Nevertheless, no ape ever again approached the stairs. Why not?

“Because that’s the way it’s always been done around here!”

Sound familiar?

Many people lose much of their creative talents because of similar experiences. So how do we reverse that learning?

Let’s start by taking a few moments to write about what makes you feel most creative. Describe the place or activity in as much detail as possible. How do you feel? How long does the feeling last after you have stopped the activity or left the place you were in? Does it allow you to “see” things in a different light for the rest of the day? A week? A month? Can you share the excitement you feel with others? Do they begin to become more creative as well?

Why is it that we can feel more creative in one place over another?

What we learn from Walt Disney…

Why is it that we feel more creative in one place than another? Is it because of the atmosphere? Is it the environment? Or is it all in our heads? Can the environment be made to be more conducive to creativity? I believe so. Did you know that Walt Disney had four different rooms, each of which he used whenever he began a new project. Each was used in a stage of his creativity. The first was his “off the wall” space. From the wall hung wild, crazy and even “weird” things and it was equipped with an eccentric desk, chair and other furniture that made him feel creative. In this space he did not allow censorship of any sort. He used the space to brainstorm and come up with totally unrealistic and far-out ideas. He did not allow himself to be concerned with how he could make the ideas happen.

His second room was reserved for the critic. Here is where he would challenge the ideas that he come up with in the “creative” room. The room was very organized and arranged to perfection. Here is where he would list out all the reasons the creative ideas wouldn’t work.

His practical room came next. It was arranged like many business offices. It had a traditional desk and chair and all the necessary items to take a close look at the critic’s objections to his creative ideas and come up with all the solutions that would address the objections. It was in this room that he would address: financing; who would work on the project; what the timeline would be; the business plan; and would resolve any other practical considerations.

Lastly, his fourth room was the implementation room. Here is where he would arrange financing, make phone calls about the project, and contact the people he needed to help him. He would make arrangements for any studio space he might need and order supplies that he and his team would need to take the project from start to finish. Can you relate to any of these uses? I sure can. Maybe I don’t use actual rooms, but I definitely go through the stages. Well, maybe not every stage every time. But I hope you get the point. Everyone is different and everyone can use the time to reflect on ways that help them be more creative.

Where do You do Your Best Thinking?

Do you do your best thinking in the shower? Many people do. Why is that? Mostly because our conscious mind lets our subconscious mind take over because our actions in the shower have been committed to memory and don’t need our attention. I know so many people come up with incredible ideas or solutions to issues that face them (or the community at large), but then they don’t do anything about those creative ideas.

I propose you start keeping a pen and paper by the shower and write them down even before you finish drying yourself off. Now don’t let that conscious mind take over too soon or you will talk yourself out of them! Then take yourself and those ideas through Walt’s process (separate rooms optional) and see how much more creative your life will get!

As you travel through different phases of your life, be sure you aren’t stuck in the past. Sometimes the way we always did something not only doesn’t serve us anymore, but we may realize it never really did.

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