Your Creative Brain: Seven Steps to Maximize Imagination, Productivity, and Innovation in Your Life

Explains seven brain states or "brainsets" and their functions as related to creativity, productivity, and innovation Provides quizzes, exercises, and self-tests to activate each of these seven brainsets to unlock our maximum creativity Your Creative Brain offers inspiring suggestions that can be applied in both personal and professional life.

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life / Shelley Carson

p cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.ISBN 978-0-470-54763-2 (hardback); ISBN978-0-470-65103-2 (ebk); ISBN 978-0-470-65142-1 (ebk); ISBN 978-0-470-65143-8 (ebk)

1 Creative ability 2 Cognition 3 Brain I

Title

BF408.C216 2010153.3'5—dc222010018175

“Isn’t Creativity Mainly for

Artists, Writers, and Musicians?”

“What if I’m Just not a Creative Person?”

Chapter 2: Your Mental Comfort Zone

Which Brainset Do You Prefer? Chapter 3: Tour Your Creative Brain

How the Brain Communicates with Itself

Geography of the Brain

Chapter 4: Brainsets and the

Creative Process

The Deliberate and Spontaneous Pathways to Creativity

The Creative Process

PART 2: Training Your

Creative Brain

Chapter 5: Opening the Mind:

Accessing the Absorb Brainset

So Easy a Caveman Could Do It Defining the Absorb Brainset Neuroscience of the Absorb Brainset

When to Access the Absorb

Brainset

Exercises: The Absorb Brainset

Chapter 6: Imagining the

Possibilities: Accessing the Envision Brainset

From Memory to Imagination

Defining the Envision Brainset Neuroscience of the Envision Brainset

Exercises: The Envision Brainset

Chapter 7: Thinking Divergently: Accessing the Connect Brainset

Defining the Connect Brainset Neuroscience of the Connect Brainset

When to Access the Connect Brainset

Exercises: The Connect

Brainset47

Chapter 8: Shaping the Creative

Idea: Accessing the Reason Brainset Defining the Reason Brainset Neuroscience of the Reason Brainset

When to Access the Reason

Brainset

Exercises: The Reason Brainset

Chapter 9: Recognizing Useful

Ideas: Accessing the Evaluate

Brainset

Not All Ideas Are Good Ideas Defining the Evaluate Brainset Neuroscience of the Evaluate Brainset

When to Access the Evaluate

Exercises: The Evaluate Brainset

Chapter 10: Using Emotion

Creatively: Accessing the Transform Brainset

Levels of Emotional Experience Defining the transform brainset Mental Disorders,

Transformation, and Creativity Neuroscience of the Transform Brainset

When to Access the Transform Brainset

Exercises: The Transform

Brainset

Chapter 11: Performing Creatively: Accessing the Stream Brainset

Defining the Stream Brainset Neuroscience of the Stream Brainset

When to Access the Stream Brainset

Exercises: The Stream Brainset

PART 3: Putting the CREATES Strategies to

Work

Chapter 12: Flexing Your Creative Brain

Dimensions of the CREATES Brainsets

The Importance of Continual Learning

Exercises: Flexing Your Creative Brain

Chapter 13: Applying the Brainsets

2 The Token Economy System

3 The Daily Activities Calendar References

About the Author

About Harvard Medical School Index

To Stevie and Nacie—the creative bookends of

my life

PREFACE

This book begins in a small lab room in WilliamJames Hall It is a late fall afternoon, and theshadows are growing long as Professor BillMilberg removes the specimen from a formalin-filled Tupperware container As usual, the source

of this coveted specimen remains shrouded inmystery, leading to wild speculation among thedoctoral students about how Milberg obtained it

He places it in my gloved hands, and I am suddenlytransfixed It is an almost mystical experience.What I am holding is an individual’s universe—thesum of one man’s knowledge, his dreams, hisfavorite songs, his memories I am holding a humanbrain

The enormity of the power of this objectthreatens to overwhelm me (or maybe it is the

formalin fumes?) and I think: How is it possible

that the concepts for skyscrapers, interstate highway systems, orchestral symphonies, great works of literature and art, rockets that will take

us to the moon and beyond, as well as acts of

intense greed and cruelty all have their beginnings in an object similar to the three- pound universe within my hands? How bold—and how creative—is the human brain! How is it possible that the brain, small enough to fit within

my curved hands, can conceive and manifest all our human-made marvels? I suddenly realize that

to attempt to answer this question will be aninsatiable driving force in my professional life Fast-forward to 2010 By now, I’ve had theprivilege of meeting hundreds of creative brains—housed within the skulls of the unique individualswho have taken part in my studies, enrolled in mycreativity courses, and consulted me to help them

in their creative professions Many of theseindividuals have been instrumental in talking meinto writing this book Let me briefly introduce you

to three of those creative people

Corey was a student in my creativity course afew years ago When it came time to engage insome of the creativity tests we conduct in the class,

he declined He told me that he wasn’t creativehimself but was only taking the course because his

girlfriend was an artist and he wanted tounderstand her better (Corey, you get kudos forwanting to understand your girlfriend but you stillhave to take the tests!) Of course, it turns out thatCorey was creative after all; but his pathway toinnovative output was different from that of hisgirlfriend, and he needed to understand how toaccess his own unique pathway.

Jenna is an interior designer who almost lost thecareer she loved because she was having troublecoming up with new ideas Every time she had anidea about a new design, she immediately rejected

it because it didn’t conform to the outdatedstandards she had learned in design schooldecades ago She contacted me because she wasafraid to let herself think innovative thoughts thatweren’t “tried and true.” Jenna needed to get out of

t h e evaluation mode before she could take

advantage of her innate ability to generate newideas

Richard, an independent film producer anddirector who contacted me for help, had just the

opposite problem Unlike Jenna, he couldn’t stop

his innovative thoughts, and as a result, his latestfilm was in crisis Each night he came up withoriginal ideas for plot changes, character nuances,set design changes, and new ways to depict thedeep themes within his movie The next day, he’dstop production to go over these excitingmodifications with the cast and crew Eventually,most of the cast left the project, fed up with theconstant changes and delays, and Richard was leftwith nothing but the great visions in his mind toshow for all his time Richard had to learn how to

stop generating ideas and focus on the work of

implementing them.

Perhaps like Corey, you feel that there arecreative people and there are uncreative people(and you have placed yourself in the lattercategory) Perhaps like Jenna, you sense thatcreative ideas are out there ready to bediscovered, but you’re afraid to let go of the “safe”mental space that’s bounded by what is “tried andtrue.” Or perhaps like Richard, you’re full ofcreative ideas but unable to stop generating them

long enough to bring any one idea to fruition If youidentify with any of these, you’ll find that I wrotethis book for you!

Here is something I’ve learned in the years ofstudy and experimentation since my first encounterwith the human brain in Bill Milberg’s class Thedifferences between the brains of highly effectivecreative achievers and the brains of the rest of usare far less important than the commonalities.There are certainly genetic differences thatinfluence creativity, and of course, there willalways be people who are more creative thanothers However, through the study of highly

creative brains, we’ve found that all of us have

creative brains We are all—barring serious braininjury—equipped with basically the same brain

structures It is the way we activate these

structures (our brain activation patterns) and theway we form connections between these structuresthat appear to affect our ability to think creatively.The exciting part is that new findings indicate wecan manipulate these brain activation patterns—and we can form new connections within the brain

—with training; in short, we can learn to activateour brains in similar patterns to those of highlycreative individuals.

In this book I present a model that describesseven different brain activation patterns I call thisthe CREATES brainsets model It is based onneural activation correlates of what I believe to bethe most salient mental aspects of human creativity.These include: openness and cognitive flexibility,mental imagery, divergent or associative thinking,convergent or deliberate thinking, judgmentalism,self-expression, and improvisation or flow In mymodel, these aspects of creativity are conceived as

states (or transient mental activation patterns)

rather than as traits Some of these states facilitate

the generation of creative ideas, while some ofthem facilitate the implementation of ideas Thetrick is to know which is which and how to getfrom one to another That’s what this book isabout

Clearly all of these states of creativity have theirown underlying brain mechanisms; hence some ofthe confusion in the research literature about how

creativity actually plays out in the human brain It

is my contention that you can enhance your creativeoutput by: (1) understanding which of these variousstates related to creativity you prefer—I call thispreference your “mental comfort zone”—and (2)gradually venturing out from your comfort zone toexplore different aspects of creativity by learning

to modify your brain activation state

Although the CREATES model is just that—amodel and not proven scientific fact—it is based

on the latest neuroscience and research in the field

of creative thinking, and the training aspects of themodel are based on established psychologicalmethods of behavioral change Each of the sevenbrain states described in the CREATES model isaccompanied by a set of exercises to help youenter that state Like most such exercises, thesehave not been studied in rigorous trials to provetheir efficacy, but they’ve produced positiveresults for the Coreys, Jennas, and Richards withwhom I’ve had the pleasure of working I urge you

to sample a wide variety of the exercises anddecide for yourself which are most effective for

My hope is that the contents of this book will aidand inspire you to take your innate creativeabilities to the next level And I invite you to let

me know about your results! You can contact me—and explore the additional reader-only content andinteractive tools—at http://ShelleyCarson.com Ichallenge you now to read further, and then todiscover, to perform, to produce, to invent, or toexpress—in short, to take advantage of—theunique and precious resources that dwell withinYOUR CREATIVE BRAIN

Your Creative Brain is truly the product of many

creative brains, most prominently that of wonderwoman Julie Silver, my editor at Harvard HealthPublications This book would not exist withouther vision, expertise, enthusiasm, andencouragement It’s hard to believe one person canwear so many hats and be so good at them all!Thanks for your guidance and creativity, Dr Julie!Along with Julie, I’d like to thank Tony Komaroff

at HHP, as well as those who provided insightfulblind reviews Speaking of reviewers, I owe adebt of gratitude to mentor and colleague EllenLanger for her helpful editorial comments

This book also owes its existence to my literaryagent, Linda Konner, who insisted that I write abook and who knew this book would be writtenbefore I knew myself Thanks, Linda—I hope this

is the first of many! Thanks also to Betty AnneCrawford, who took my manuscript to the world

To Alan Rinzler, my editor at Jossey-Bass,thanks for believing in this book and for making theprocess so easy for me! Thank you also to NanaTwumasi, Susan Geraghty, Donna Cohn, and all thefolks at Jossey-Bass and Wiley who helped in theproduction of this book And to Richard Sheppard,thank you for your artistic additions!

My lovely daughter, Nacie, who is a writerextraordinaire in her own right, was instrumental

in helping me shape academic content intoreadable prose Thank you for helping me with thevision and the revision of this work! You are mysource of inspiration, and it was so fun to share theprocess of writing this book with you

I’d like to thank three scholars who have beeninstrumental in my career: Jordan Peterson, now atthe University of Toronto, who has been my mentorand is now my colleague, friend, and constantwellspring of creative research ideas; RichardMcNally, who took me into his lab when I was anorphan grad student and has continued to amazeand inspire me to this day; and Jill Hooley, who

first encouraged me to explore the topic ofcreativity as a worthy academic endeavor.

I want to thank all of the students who have taken

my creativity courses over the years and havecontributed as much to my knowledge of thesubject as I (hopefully) have to theirs To the manyartists, writers, musicians, and film directors andproducers who have consulted me concerning theircreative difficulties (and triumphs!), please knowthat you have contributed so much to myknowledge of the creative process (and pleasedon’t be upset if you see yourself—identitychanged to protect the innocent, of course—in thisbook!)

Thanks are also due to the scholars, authors, andfriends who took the time to read my manuscriptand who contributed valuable commentary,including Stephen Kosslyn, Howard Gardner, TalBen-Shahar, Teresa Amabile, Dean KeithSimonton, Harrison Pope, Alice Flaherty, DanSchacter, Bernard Golden, Diane Terman, andPeter Marc Jacobson

It’s hard to imagine how anyone can write abook without extensive support on the home front.

My husband, David, has nurtured me throughout thewriting process, providing meals, an occasionalglass of wine during my marathon nighttime writingsessions, good advice, and hugs when needed.Love always, honey!

Thanks also to my son, David Jr., who alsohelped provide food and support while he washome for winter break I owe you a few home-cooked meals, Son!

Finally, I would like to acknowledge Caveman

#2 and indeed all the courageous men and womenwho, from before the dawn of written history, usedtheir creative brains to pave the way for theincredible wealth of art, music, and scientificadvances we enjoy today They gave us the wheeland tools, harnessed fire, and recorded theirexperiences on the walls of caves They travelledfrom continent to continent without the aid of ships

or navigation They endured enormous hardshipsyet their spirit of exploration and ingenuity enduredand allowed us to be here today We truly stand on

the shoulders of unnamed creative giants!

PART 1 Meet Your Creative

Brain

Chapter 1 Wanted: Your Creative Brain

YOU ARE IN POSSESSION of one of the world’smost powerful supercomputers, one that hasvirtually unlimited potential not only to changeyour life, but also to change your world

This supercomputer has the ability to adapt toever-changing environments, understand subtlepatterns, and make connections between seeminglyunrelated things It can design skyscrapers, curelife-threatening illnesses, and send humans intospace

It can make you successful, rich, happy, andfulfilled and it’s located right inside your skull The supercomputer I am talking about is yourbrain, that miracle machine that allows you to do

everything from brushing your teeth in the morning

to presenting complex facts and figures to yourboss in the afternoon

Think about it: our brains have shepherded usthrough some pretty amazing evolutionarydevelopments in record time In the past 10,000years, we’ve invented the wheel, built thepyramids in Egypt, discovered penicillin,developed the Internet, and sent devices of ourown making beyond the outer regions of our solarsystem

To put it into perspective, consider the fact thatthe turtle has been around for roughly 220 millionyears and has yet to make an innovative lifestyleimprovement

So what separates us from the turtle? The answeris: our creative brain Our brain allows us to feel,love, think, be, and, most important, create

You may think that creativity is a gift only certaintypes of people possess, like the Einsteins,Mozarts, or Shakespeares of the world However,the latest neuroscience research suggests that

creative mental functioning involves a set ofspecific brain activation patterns that can beamplified through conscious effort and a littlepractice These are skills that anyone can master.

By learning how and when to turn the volume up ordown in certain parts of the brain, you can developyour creative potential to achieve greater successand life fulfillment

In the following chapters, you’ll learn aboutseven brain activation patterns—the CREATESbrainsets You’ll see how each brainset affects theway you experience the world around you and howeach contributes to the process of creative problemsolving Through entertaining exercises, you’lllearn to use these brainsets to take advantage ofyour creative potential and enrich your life and thelives of those around you

But the purpose of enhancing creativity is notonly for enrichment; it’s a vital resource formeeting the challenges and dangers, as well as theopportunities, of the accelerated-change climate ofthe twenty-first century

The information and technology explosion, alongwith cyber-communication and globalization, istransforming the way we learn, the way we dobusiness, and the way we form relationships with

each other The rule books for virtually every

aspect of human endeavor and interaction—fromcorporate life to personal life to dating and evenparenting—are being rewritten right in the middle

of the game So if all the old bets are off, how doyou survive and thrive? The most important assetyou have for negotiating this rapidly changing

world is your creative brain.

Your creative brain can lead you to discover anew and better way to manage some aspect of yourbusiness It can help you to express your uniquelife experience in a way that inspires or educatesothers You can use it to ensure that the besttraditions of the past get incorporated into thefuture or to add beauty to your environment Yourcreative brain can even reshape your vision ofretirement so that you continue to grow andprosper throughout the decades ahead There istruly no limit to the potential of your creative

Before we go further, let’s define exactly what

we mean by that nebulous term creativity Though

philosophers and writers have come up with a

number of definitions for creative, there are two

elements to the definition that virtually all of uswho study creativity agree need to be present in thecreative idea or product First, the creative idea or

product needs to be novel or original, and second,

it has to be useful or adaptive to at least a segment

of the population.1 Note, for example, that thescribblings of a toddler who has just learned to

hold a crayon are novel but, as a product, they

are not considered useful or adaptive.

You can take these elements of novel/originaland useful/adaptive and apply them to virtually anyaspect of your life to increase your productivityand happiness You can also apply them to thebetterment of your community and to theenrichment of society When you learn to use yourcreative brain more efficiently, there is no limit tothe innovative ideas, products, and new ways ofdoing things that you can explore

Your brain is the repository of a unique store ofinformation: it contains autobiographical, factual,and procedural knowledge that no one else on theplanet has access to When you combine pieces ofthis knowledge in novel and original ways, andthen take the resulting combinations and findapplications for them, you are using your creativebrain as it was built to be used

Neuroimaging techniques, such as fMRI (functionalmagnetic resonance imaging), PET (positronemission tomography), and SPECT (single photonemission computed tomography), have allowed

scientists to peek into the brains of highly creativepeople to see how they unconsciously manipulatetheir brainsets at various stages of the creativeprocess For example, different brainsets appear to

be activated in highly creative people when they’recoming up with new uses for a household item thanwhen they’re combining information from a variety

of sources to find the solution to a uniqueproblem.2 The brainsets you’ll become familiarwith in future chapters reflect what we’ve learnedfrom those studies You’ll learn:

Strategies for accessing brainsets associatedwith creativity

When in the creative process to access each

of them

And finally, how to switch easily betweendifferent brainsets to enhance yourproductivity and reduce creative “block”

If you’re still unsure about how these brainsets

can really benefit your life, then you’re in goodcompany Two of the most common questions Ihear in my seminars are these: “Isn’t creativitymainly for artists, writers, and musicians?” And

“What if I’m just not a creative person?” Let’saddress these questions right now

“Isn’t Creativity Mainly for Artists, Writers, and

Musicians?”

It’s true that when we think of creative individuals,

we tend to think of those with careers in the artsand sciences We think of those who have broughtrichness to our lives by painting a Sistine Chapel,revealing human nature through the lines of

Hamlet, uplifting us with an “Ode to Joy,” or

illuminating our night hours with the electric light

In fact, most of the formal research that’s beenconducted on creative individuals has concentrated

on achievements in the arts and sciences because it

is easy to recognize creative accomplishments inthese domains of endeavor The creative aspects ofachievement in business, sports, diplomacy, andreal-life problem solving are harder to recognizeand quantify, but clearly they are just as important.

If you think creativity is just for artists andscientists, then consider these facts:

Most Fortune 500 companies and manygovernment agencies have hired a creativityconsultant within the past year Creativity hasbecome an important factor in the survival ofbusinesses

The number of business schools offeringcourses in creativity has doubled in the pastfive years

Former U.K Prime Minister Gordon Brownacknowledged that creativity and innovationare critical to the future of the U.K economy Forty-three books and 407,000 Web sites aredevoted to creative parenting

A number of books discuss the importance of

creativity in the field of sports, and the theme

of the 2009 worldwide conference of theEuropean Network of Academic Sports was

“Creativity and Innovation in UniversitySport.”

Creative athletes, such as Michael Jordan,Roger Bannister, Bill Russell, and—yes—Tiger Woods, often possess personality traitsthat are found in highly creative individuals inthe arts and sciences

Let’s look at a couple of examples of howcreativity can serve you in areas of your life thathave nothing to do with art, music, or science First, in the domain of business, the economicdownturn of the past several years has hit smallbusinesses, large corporations, and individualcontractors If your business is going to fight theuphill battle of survival, you need to find creativeways to cut costs while maintaining quality,provide an innovative product or service rather