Jump For Joy?

The other day I stepped into my garage and noticed a toad leaping persistently into a corner. Thud – thud – spread eagling into the corner and belly flopping back to the cement. The garage doors were open but he kept jumping into that lonely corner, his back to the sunshine and freedom. At first I thought he was extremely clever –practicing his jump so he'd be able to snatch the first bug that got caught in one of the spider web strands above. Then I concluded he was simply daft – even for a toad.

So I encouraged him and pointed enthusiastically toward the door, tried tickling him with a feather, prodding with a stick. I whistled and demonstrated hopping toward the open door. No luck. He was blind to my coaching.

I gave up and headed to work. But he got me thinking. How many times do we hop like crazy, really thinking we're getting somewhere, telling ourselves that if we jump a little higher or a little faster everything will work out? Are we sometimes so focused and determined to win a battle that we fail to see we are actually losing and if we simply shifted our perspective and turned around we'd see an open door … wide open with sunshine pouring in. If only we stopped jumping for a moment and turned around.

Perseverance is usually a great trait when it comes to creativity – it ensures your ideas become a reality. But that toad made me step back and acknowledge that there are many projects and/or situations where sustained effort may actually be preventing you from pursuing more desirable options.

When I came home later the toad wasn't in the corner. But the next day I saw him - about 3 feet from the corner - in a partially mummified state. He hopped himself to death pursuing his goal. Maybe now is a good time to reevaluate our goals – there may be an open door beckoning.

Disconnect to Connect

OK – admittedly there’s some irony in this topic since blogs are an element of the digital device world. However, as Matt Richtel of the New Your Times discusses, our digital dependence has both positive and negative implications when it comes to how our brains function. His two most recent articles http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/technology/25brain.html and
http://tinyurl.com/3xseeah focus on the impact of going totally off the grid (and into the tempestuous wilds of the Grand Canyon) and how keeping ourselves constantly distracted with digital detritus is making it more and more unlikely that we’ll be coming up with new ideas (or retaining information or even learning in the first place).

The problem lies not in using our Blackberries, computers, or iPhones but in our constant use of them. Every time we have a novel experience our brains show new patterns of neural activity BUT only when we give ourselves time to reflect do these new experiences begin to link to other memories and knowledge in our cranium. It is during these periods of reflection that we incubate ideas and enable playful speculation and fantasy – the breeding ground of creativity. With our constant distraction we are robbing ourselves of these periods of contemplation.

Long periods of thoughtfulness are a rare luxury, our life styles long ago leaving us with only small bits of free time, micro-moments, in which to process and reflect on all we’re taking in. If we fill each of those micro moments with another text, search or e-mail check we’re risking shutting down the creative process which consistently demands time for incubation. And the temptation is endless - even game makers are looking to fill those 2-4 minute micro-moments by focusing on developing games that can be played in only a few minutes.

So if you truly want to operate at your creative best – you’re going to have to learn to resist the internal pressure to stay constantly connected. From time to time throughout your day, you’ll need to disconnect from your digital tethers to connect to your thoughts.

Unpredictable Uses

I just re-read Daniel Lyon’s commentary in Newsweek, http://www.newsweek.com/id/229373 about the debate over the impact of Apple’s tablet computer. It may destroy, it may enable, it may fail, it may thrill … that’s what excites me – no one knows! And as Daniel states, “nobody ever knows how new ideas will evolve.” The iPhone was quickly adopted yet what sustains and magnifies our interest in it are the apps. Unpredictable, quirky and ever evolving – new ideas, technological or otherwise, invite us to reinterpret and stretch their initial intent.

Try for yourself. Challenge yourself to use the last thing you purchased in at least 3 different ways. What can you add to modify or improve its use? What do you wish it could do? And when you pick up your tablet computer … make some predictions about what it will become within the coming year.