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Thursday, January 11th 2007

11:51 AM

The 6 Myths of Creativity

January is International Creativity Month, founded by motivational speaker Randall Munson.

Video: Buono from U2 discusses why he is creative

The 6 Myths of Creativity

Teresa Amabile at the Entrepreneurial Managerial Unit of the Harvard Business School collected 12,000 journal entries from 238 people working on creative projects in high profile companies to gather their thoughts on how they get creative ideas. She discovered several beliefs that we had about the creative process that just aren't true.

Myth #1: Creativity Comes from Creative Types

"Creativity depends on experience, including knowledge & technical skills; talent; an ability to think in new ways; and the capacity to push thru creative dryspells." Given this definition, almost anyone is capable of being creative to some degree. We don't have to be that stereotypical 'creative type' to use our imagination or come up with a great idea. If we can combine our experiences over a lifetime with knowledge we've accumulated and add a touch of our own unique abilities, we are capable of something original & creatively our own.

Myth #2: Money is a Creativity Motivator

There seems to be a belief that we are most creative when we will gain some sort of monetary reward at the end, but this didn't bear to be true in Amabile's research. She discovered that people felt most creative when they had a natural interest - an emotional concern or connection - with the project they were working on & when they felt challenged. It seems that cold, hard cash is what we all want, but it isn't exciting enough to get those creative juices flowing. We need to care about what we're doing and feel stretched - but not overwhelmed.

Myth #3: Time Pressure Fuels Creativity

In the movies we see it all the time - the creative idea comes only moments before its necessary, suggesting that time pressure squeezed it out. In fact, when asked, the people who submitted their journals to Amabile said they thought they were most creative under a time pressure. But after she studied their journals she found this wasn't true at all. In fact, she found that when they felt they were under a time pressure their creativity was stifled for that day and for two days afterward!

Myth #4: Fear Forces Breakthroughs

We've heard the stories about famous artists who cut off their ears or successful authors who are a drunk recluse, and somehow these types of stories have taught us that creative people are somehow depressed people who live in a state of fear and sadness that produces their creative works. Amabile's journals didn't see this at all. In fact, she discovered that if a person felt happy one day, they were most creative the next day.

Myth#5: Competition Beats Collaboration

Our society seems to believe that competition brings out the best in people, but Amabile's research concludes that with creativity this just isn't the case. It is in the freedom to share ideas and debate those ideas that creativity blossoms. Under the pressure of competition people stop sharing their thoughts & creativity takes a hit.

Myth #6: A Streamlined Organization is a Creative Organization

This idea is probably more a product of 'spin doctoring' than based on fact, but many believe that downsizing produces a creative flow. One of the companies that submitted journals to Amabile was in the middle of a 25% downsizing time, and she discovered that during this time period the fear of the unknown kept people from communicating & creative flow suffered greatly. In fact, five months later creatively was still significantly reduced.

* Based on an interview & article by Bill Breen.

Express Your Creativity with a T-shirt!

Here are examples of some t-shirts to celebrate your own creativity. Click to see styles & colors available for him & for her.

Scarab: Ancient Egyptian Heiroglyph for Creativity

Nothing is Impossible When You Create

I Draw

Obey the Muse

Check out our creativity at Lingo T shirts!

January 11th in History

1569 --- England's first state lottery was held.

1770 --- The first shipment of rhubarb was sent to the United States from London. Benjamin Franklin sent the plant to his buddy, John Bartram in Philadelphia. So, get some rhubarb pie, or if you’re in the vicinity of Knott’s Berry Farm, and you’re going to have their famous chicken dinner, you’ll get stewed rhubarb whether you want it or not! Of course, you can just get into a rhubarb today to celebrate!

1815 --- U.S. General Andrew Jackson achieved victory at the Battle of New Orleans. The War of 1812 had officially ended on December 24, 1814, with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent. The news of the signing had not reached British troops in time to prevent their attack on New Orleans.

1878 --- For the first time, milk was delivered in glass bottles -- by one Alexander Campbell, in New York. Up to that time, moo juice had been ladled out of a container by the milkman, right into the customer’s own container.

1913 --- The first sedan was unveiled at the National Automobile Show in New York City. It was manufactured by the Hudson Motor Company.

1922 --- At Toronto's General Hospital, 14-year-old diabetic Leonard Thompson became the first person to be treated successfully with the drug insulin.

1935 --- Amelia Earhart Putnam became the first person to fly solo from Hawaii to California. She had also been the first woman to solo across the Atlantic three years earlier.

1963 --- The 'Whisky A Go-Go' opens in Los Angeles - the first disco in the U.S.

1964 --- U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry issued the first government report saying smoking may be hazardous to human health.

1964 --- "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash became the first country album to top the U.S. pop album chart.

1973 --- Major-league baseball agreed to allow the American League to experiment with the designated hitter rule for the next three years. At last check, they were still experimenting with it...

1984 --- Thriller, the album by Michael Jackson, became the all-time best-selling LP. Thriller, with ten-million copies sold, surpassed the previous bestseller, the soundtrack from Saturday Night Fever. Among its precedent-shattering achievements, Thriller spent 37 weeks at number one on the Billboard album chart (longer than any contemporary rock or pop album -- only the cast album of South Pacific at 69 weeks and the West Side Story soundtrack at 54 weeks had longer runs at the top). And Thriller produced seven top-10 singles, ahead of Fleetwood Mac, Cyndi Lauper and Bruce Springsteen, who have each taken four top-10 singles off one LP. As of early 2002, Thriller was still the biggest-selling record ever, having sold more than 40-million copies.

2003 --- Two days before leaving office, Illinois Governor George Ryan called the death penalty process "arbitrary and capricious, and therefore immoral." He then commuted the sentences of 167 condemned inmates, clearing his state's death row.

Chart Toppers
January 11

1947 For Sentimental Reasons - Nat King Cole
Ole Buttermilk Sky - The Kay Kyser Orchestra (vocal: Mike Douglas & The
Campus Kids)
The Old Lamplighter - The Sammy Kaye Orchestra (vocal: Billy Williams)
Divorce Me C.O.D. - Merle Travis

1955 Mr. Sandman - The Chordettes
The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane - The Ames Brothers
Hearts of Stone - The Fontane Sisters
Loose Talk - Carl Smith