Do Less To Achieve More
Key Points:
1. Creativity is an essential skill in all areas of life. It is the reason why people create new things and better existing things.
2. In such a rapidly changing global landscape, creativity is key for being able to perform at our best in the situations that matter most - job interviews, writing exams, or meeting new people.
3. To be creative, we cannot be tense. So, it is important to do what is necessary to be relaxed so that mentally we can fulfill our potential.
“A busy calendar and a busy mind will destroy your ability to do great things in this world. If you want to be able to do great things, whether you’re a musician, or whether you’re an entrepreneur, or whether you’re an investor, you need free time and you need a free mind.”
Newness comes into the world through creativity and imagination. This is true of all fields: science as much as poetry, entrepreneurship as much as fashion, sports as much as business. If we can’t see past what is to what could be, then we cannot create something that currently doesn’t exist. We can’t find a new solution, build a better team, design a more effective medical treatment, even anticipate our own future growth. In a creative state, our mind is open, curious, and spontaneous.
Maybe you’re doubtful about the value of creativity—maybe you see it as a requirement for writing a novel or a symphony but not so relevant to your life or work. I would politely submit that creativity, ideation, and agile thinking are absolutely crucial for us as we craft a beautiful life. Remember Einstein’s words: “I am enough of the artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.”
Creativity is so vital to success that a recent IBM Global CEO study identified creativity as the most important leadership quality. The Boston Consulting Group has been running an annual strategy survey for the last 8 years. For 7 out of 8 years, creativity and innovation have been the top ranked strategic imperative. There’s a similar emerging emphasis in education: learning environments needs to focus less on the transmission of knowledge and more on developing capacities that will see students through all learning and leading situations—critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity.
With creativity at such a premium in our fast-paced and rapidly changing world, scientists are increasingly interested in how to amplify it. In one recent experiment, Elisabeth Hertenstein at the University of Freiburg, Germany, and her colleagues used a technology called transcranial direct current stimulation (TDCS) to see if they could stimulate creativity. Electrodes attached to the scalp passed a tiny current through the brain, with the positive electrode stimulating brain cells on the right side of the inferior frontal gyrus (an area associated with problem solving) and the negative electrode placed on the left side. The idea was to increase activity on the right side, which tends toward more out-of-the-box freethinking, and reduce it on the left. The result? Students performed 10 to 20% better on three creative tasks compared to others with “sham” electrodes without any electrical current.
This kind of scientific interest speaks to the value of creativity in all walks of life. Consider that quite often the biggest moments in our lives are those when we put the most pressure on ourselves: sitting down to write a university entrance exam, waiting to be interviewed for a dream job, or asking someone to go on a date for the first time. These moments happen at critical moments, and the outcomes can change the trajectory of our entire lives.
To ensure that we are able to ask the right questions, to perform to our potential in the moment, remember the key facts, or create a new insight, we need to make sure that we don’t fall into tension (the typical reaction) but rather that we relax so we can enter into the state we need to be in for whatever task it is that we want to do.
Chemical Cocktail for Creativity
Professor Baba Shiv from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University studies the role that neural structures in the brain play in the biological roots of creativity. Dr. Shiv has suggested that creativity is achieved when there is a balance between the neurotransmitters serotonin (involved in regulating the sensations of calm and contentment versus anxiety and fear) and dopamine (which influences our shift from boredom and apathy to excitement and engagement). The ideal conditions for creativity might be high levels of both serotonin and dopamine, where we are calm but energized.
Today’s Call to Action: Combat Breathing
Deep, controlled breathing to calm anxiety or stress is often called combat breathing. You can practise combat breathing anytime you feel that tension is creeping into your life and preventing you from performing or being creative. Here’s how:
1. Get into a good posture by aligning your spine and stretching yourself upward. You can be lying down, sitting in a chair, or standing.
2. Relax your muscles. Mentally scan your body and take note of any tension. Focus on that tense area while you take slow, deep breaths. Think about “letting go” of the tension as you exhale. It might take a few breaths to get an area like your shoulders or forehead to release and relax.)
3. Once you feel you have addressed the tense areas, start taking controlled breaths. Inhale for 4 seconds, hold it for 2 seconds, and then exhale for 6 seconds.
Today’s Bonus Video
Check out this TED Talk on how to be more creative by getting out of the “box”.
The information and advice provided in this program is intended to assist you with improving your performance, as well as your general health. It is not intended and should not be used in place of advice from your own physician or for treatment or diagnosis of any specific health issue. By participating in this program you acknowledge that undertaking any new health, diet and/or exercise regime involves certain inherent risks, that you assume such risks, and that you release Wells Performance Inc. from any responsibility or claim relating to such participation.