Genius
A creative genius sets clear
goals and objectives that naturally enhance their focus
and awareness as they progress along their journey toward
manifesting a brilliant idea.
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Creativity :
Mr. Y's Creativity Workshop
Here's a chance to make our study of Howard Gardner's Multiple
Intelligences work for us.
Your creative capacity effectively determines your academic
success, ability, effectiveness, efficiency and your flexibility of
thought. There is no doubt that at school our Logical Intelligence
is looked upon with high regard. The better capacity you have to
remember key concepts, ideas and make sense of the information you
are learning, the better marks you will achieve. However, in the
classroom, creativity is in fact as important if not more important
than your intellectual capacity. Your intellect might help you to
understand key concepts and ideas, however it is your creative
capacity that will help you to
think in unorthodox ways, – somewhat outside the box – helping you
to learn more efficiently, effectively and flexibly at the
same time. Intellectuals are somewhat like computer programs that
are fed information and data. On the other hand, creative
individuals shift, change, expand, and alter this data in ways that
will help them to improve their effectiveness and efficiency of
learning. To put it another way, an intellectual will follow the
instructions of the book to the letter without wavering or making a
mistake. However, a creative individual will come up with brilliant
ideas and methods that will help them to improve their speed of
learning, reading, comprehension and proficiency.
A creative genius thinks that everything and
anything is possible given enough time, thought, and reflection.
In the job world, your creative capacity effectively determines
how quickly you will advance your way up the career ladder. Almost
anyone with a passion for a specific niche area, can learn and
develop the skills to become proficient and reliable. Companies like
to hire these types of people because they have a good sound
knowledge base and understanding of their work responsibilities.
However, in order to advance up the career ladder it takes a little
more than a solid base of knowledge and experience. It actually
requires the creative capacity to think outside the box about
methods, tactics and strategies that will improve efficiency,
effectiveness, grow profits, and enhance customer loyalty. It
essentially doesn’t matter where you are currently positioned within
your company. If you develop enough creative momentum you can climb
up the corporate ladder in very quick succession with only a few
groundbreaking creative ideas. |
Breaking Paradigms
A creative genius is courageous in thought and action. Being
courageous usually requires breaking the rules while going against
orthodox methods of thinking and acting. They understand that the
fastest way to a brilliant and unique idea is through the process of
going against the grain. This is the philosophy they live by each
and every day of their lives.
"Make your own kind of
music. Sing your own special song, even if nobody else sings along."
-Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil
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Does High School destroy creativity?
As we grow older and more mature we progress through to high school
where suddenly we find our creative capacity squashed against a wall
of criticism, judgment and punishment. One of the biggest drawbacks
of our current high school system is in its inability to help
students develop and expand on their creative capacity and
intellect.
A creative genius wholeheartedly believes that
there is NO Failure, ONLY Feedback.
Within the "classic" high school system students are punished for
their mistakes, they are judged for their thinking and processing of
information, and they are criticized for their weaknesses. All of
this leads to a stressful learning environment that predominantly
provides group attention and limits learning to only the visual and
auditory sensory organs. Psychological studies have revealed that
during pre-school 9 out of every 10 kids show a capacity for
creative thought. However, as they progress through to high school,
that number drops to 3 out of 10. What in the world is happening to
our creative capacity? What are we doing wrong? How are we hurting
our kids with our teaching methods? This is a long, deep and thought
provoking topic that we may discuss in further detail another time.
Now...time for a random quote:
“All truth passes through three
stages.
First, it is ridiculed.
Second, it is violently opposed.
Third, it is accepted as being self-evident. “
---Arthur Schopenhauer
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"The creation of something new is not
accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from
inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves."
- Carl Jung
Steve Jobs is someone we reference a lot in the Essential
Skills class here at Oxbridge. Steve Jobs didn't invent the
personal computer, he made it better by introducing the mouse and
the graphic user interface. He didn't invent tablet computing--he
made it better with the iPad. He didn't invent mp3s or mp3
players--he made the iPod. You get the idea... When creativity meets
a need there exists the potential for innovation.
Innovation is applied creativity. The term is often used
to refer to the entire process by which an individual or
organization generates creative new ideas and converts them into
novel, useful, and viable creations!
Essential Skills used on a regular basis become almost automatic
and can be accessed whenever needed. The key: learn in a way
that builds on prior knowledge and directly confronts deeply
held misconceptions.
The more knowledgeable and skilled we become the higher our
expectations become. So it is vital that we continue to grow in our
field of creativity in order to thrive in it. The key: learn
and understand how integrated knowledge, which shows how each
concept is connected to other concepts, can apply to what you
want to create.
Memory function also brings forth creative spark! The key:
understand your creative subject on a much deeper concept, not
memorization of superficial facts. Take time to understand some of
the minutia that has meaning to you. You will be suprised how
you recall it when the time is appropriate. The other procedure that
helps us bring information back from our long term memory is by
association.
Innovation today is a continuous process of small and constant
change, and it is built into the culture of successful
realizations from paper to fruition. Willingness to take risks
with ideas can result in an innovation. Ideas are useless unless
used. The proof of their value is only in their implementation.
Using tools such as memory recall, deep rooted knowledge,
unfocused time, focused effort, and the synthesis of knowledge and
skills (the key ingredients) anyone is able to grow an idea
into an innovative solution to any problem.
Steve Jobs said:
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.
Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of
other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions
drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage
to follow your heart and intuition.”
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Your Creative
Journal
Many creative ideas are lost before they even have an
opportunity to harvest within our minds, because we simply fail to
recognize the obscure patterns of their subtle messages. A creative
genius cultivates, grows and expands their imaginative methods of
thinking each and every day.
A creative genius enjoys journaling or mind mapping their
thoughts, ideas, learnings and experiences as it effectively helps
them to trigger new insights and concepts that may not have been
evident to them before. They understand that only through the
process of turning a thought into a written word or diagram can they
effectively take control of the vast amount of ideas that are
continuously flowing in and out of their mind. One of the greatest
inventors of all time,
Leonardo da Vinci was an avid note taker. He understood that it
was very difficult to make sense of his ideas if they weren’t
concretely presented on paper and laid out in front of him in a
logical manner. It is through this diligent and dedicated process
that he brought to life some of his most famous and well known
inventions.
A Creative Journal is a book created to chart progress,
make steps to follow, and create a journey to building
self-confidence. It can be used for writing down experiences you
have, words that give you power and help you to work toward your
success! This journal ia a good place to record your information so
that you can go back and look at later.
Tips for Creative Journaling
1. Inspiring creativity to come is about finding balance.
Upon waking, pick up your journal and write down a goal for the day.
Commit yourself to doing one thing that will take you out of your
comfort zone today.
2. It is a good idea to focus on one specific thing that
will bring about change today, no matter how awkward it may feel. Be
focused.
3. Determination is the key element you must apply to see
your goal through today. Be determined.
4. Jot down an affirmation that you will repeat throughout the
day "I am willing to take the risk", "I am proud of myself and
will extend my pride even further today", "I will achieve my new
goal today". Yeah, it sounds too "New Agey," but what you're
doing is programming your brain.
5. Allowing the creative process to unfold is the sign of
a confident person. You can achieve this by having faith in what you
choose to set as your goal.
6. Having faith in your abilities is trusting your heart's
desire. And no one can deny your heart's desire.
7. Take a look at your creative process. Are you
pro-active? Write down each idea. Now, one by one, as you go on your
journey, use these as a check list you will think about.
8. Take a look at your positive attributes. These are your
strengths you will use as tools to take you further and create your
new idea.
9. Reflect on your past successes. Use these as stepping
stones in order to reach your goal. You have done it before and you
will do it again. This is bringing creativity to innovation.
10. As you inspire yourself and become innovative, you
inspire innovation in others. This natural progression is one of the
most rewarding gifts you can receive.
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Music stimulates the forebrain to potentially open up the
creative portion of the mind. The interaction may take the form of
talking about thoughts and feelings, contributing to group
experiences, cooperating with others or responding to others' needs.
Interpersonal interaction can take place through music listening.
1. Choose types of music which inspire you.
2. Music can help you reflect, influence and alter your
emotional response and therefore is a valuable therapeutic tool.
3. Music for creativity helps with identification, awareness,
reflection or expression of feelings and can help with related
issues.
4. Music can act as a psychotherapeutic tool to improve mental
clarity. Mental clarity can be boosted through improvisation,
singing, movement and dancing.
5. The right music (music you love) can provide you with
sensory feedback, will promote self-knowledge and promote
awareness and identity.
6. Music taps into memories and emotions. Work with music
that brings forth memories and emotions that are positive, uplifting
and motivating.
7. Music is success oriented. People of all ability levels
can participate and reach their goal.
8. Studies have shown that it is not one type of music
that inspires us or builds creativity, but any type of music that
works to encourage your progress.
9. Learn more about our connections to music and the
entrainment process.
10. Now choose the music that will help you to get
motivated, inspire your actions and take you to the next step.
Make
a CD or MP3 of your favorites and utilize this valuable tool
often!
A couple more quotes from Steve Jobs: “I want to put a ding in the universe.”
“I’m convinced that about half of what separates the successful
entrepreneurs from the non-successful ones is pure perseverance.” |
Creativity is accessed through a stimulus. It is important
to embrace the transition! Learn to recognize strengths you
may have overlooked and use them in the creative process. Embrace
optimism and compel yourself forward. Honor the creative
endeavor, which you are transforming into. Here are some tools
for stimulating creativity:
1.Visualization
and Guided Imagery: Picturing yourself as the person who is
creative, successful and a fountain full of ideas, is the key to
revealing your own mastery. It is a fact that creative people see
themselves as creative giving themselves creative freedom. Those who
feel they are not creative people, do not allow themselves to be
creative and do not give themselves the opportunity to create
anything new. Energy follows thought. When you program your thoughts
to reflect your wishes, you tend to put your energy into making it
so. The mind can be the most helpful tool in the way we desire to
live our lives and create what we want to create. If you can believe
it, you can achieve it.
 2.
Music is the great motivator. Music empowers our spirit and can give
us the create spark to grow, realize who we are and even give our
ideas wings. Music as a creative building block is as individual as
we are. Find the music that gives you passion. The passion to grow.
Let music inspire you, lift you up and find your voice. Music works
on the
Entrainment Theory. The beat of the music aligns with our heart
and body rhythm. Slower music gives us time for reflection,
inspiration and introspection. Faster music moves us, motivates us
and pushes us forward. Use music to create more creativity in your
life.
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