Have you mentally challenged yourself?

We know that a child needs some mental stimulation to help them grow intellectually and emotionally. What about adults? Is it enough to just survive our days? Tell us what you do to challenge yourself on a consistent basis?

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Which room would you prefer…

Or this:

Did you cringe at the thought of putting a child in the sterile room at the top? There’s nothing to interest or excite them in such a sterile environment.

Researchers Elizabeth Gould and Charlie Gross from the Department of Psychology at Princeton looked at the difference that habitats can make in brain structure.

have you mentally challenged yourself recently?

It’s so easy to keep to the same pattern of work, applying the same formula and seeing new but similar results. How about pushing that mental comfort zone, even a little?

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7 Ways to Push Your Creativity Levels to the Max!

How do you challenge yourself to greater creativity?  What do you do to push yourself, not just to achieve more but to master your business/art/relationships/self? In an effort to push my creative levels, I decided to sit down and write out 7 ways to push your creative levels to the max. I decided to do this without any prior googling (research) or in any particular order of importance. Here goes:

1. Challenge Yourself. Do something you have never done before. Take a new class in an area drastically different then what you are used to. 

2. Limit Yourself. I do this when I paint. I try to limit myself to just a few colors or bits of ephemera in my collages. Otherwise, I get overwhelmed and eventually blocked. If you do #1, do it in a set about of time, be it one hour, one week, one month, etc.

3. Don't think. This doesn't mean don't use your brain but we can over analyze everything. Do what I am doing with this 7 things exercise and just be spontaneous. You might be surprised how much you really do know.

4. Break the rules. If you try to be creative and color inside the lines you might get stuck and/or be completely bored. New discoveries come when you do what is not supposed to be done. 

5. Stick to the rules. OK, this goes against #4 but I can break my own rule not to follow the rules by following them can't I? This is similar to #2 where you limit yourself. Instead of limiting your resources, pick the a few rules in a certain areas and apply new ideas to them. 

6. Be random. Explore new thoughts in diverse fields and apply them to your field or area of interest. I like to go to a magazine rack and pick a few random magazines and read random articles to see what this can spark for me. You can do this online with sites like popurl.com and alltop.com.

7. Be disciplined. The best thinkers on creativity seem to advocate that you do whatever it is you do every day! Start early. Work at a specific time everyday. This technique seems easier when you don't insist on an outcome. This always stymies me. Trust the process and let your creativity flow but allow it do so on a schedule too. 

As I sat down to write these 7 ways to push your creativity levels to the maximum, I was a bit worried I would get stuck halfway through. I didn't. Whew. Actually, I could have written more or broken up various points into smaller chunks and so on. Put my goal was 7 so here they are. Share with me your thoughts or additional creativity maximizers by clicking the comment link or sending me a tweet at http://www.twitter.com/thirstyfishinfo

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Do you doodle?

I am one of those not-so-rare types that like to doodle. It has nothing to do with attention deficit, drawing skills or boredom. OK, sometimes it has to do with those things for me but as you can read below, it may have a greater reason too... Do you doodle? Leave us a comment, link or tweet.

clipped from www.creativity-portal.com What do you think when you see someone doodling during a class lecture or a department meeting? Are they paying attention or mindlessly daydreaming? Do you ever wonder if doodling helps them in their learning process? You may be surprised. Here's the old thinking and new wisdom Wenner shares about doodling: Old Thinking: "Scribbling circles on a notepad while your company's chief inspiration officer drones on about synergy means you have trouble focusing." New Wisdom: "Doodling can boost your mind's ability to notice and remember mundane information by nearly 30 percent, according to research from the University of Plymouth. The theory is that the act of drawing makes use of visuospacial processes in the brain that might otherwise be used for daydreaming, thereby preventing your mind from wandering."

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Is your brain operating at its creative best?

Image via Wikipedia

This article sounds like the old left brain/right brain discussion that has been around for a long time. I guess it is still of interest to everyone in trying to increase personal and professional performance. Take a look at the book for more in-depth exercises and creativity tools.

clipped from www.problogger.net At a recent conference, Harvard psychologist Shelley Carson spoke on harnessing your brain state for optimum creativity. Carson is an expert on creativity research and the author of Your Creative Brain: Seven Steps to Maximize Imagination, Productivity, and Innovation in Your Life (aff). The Deliberate Pathway The deliberate pathway handles problem solving, planning, reasoning. You use this pathway when you’re actively focused on a problem or task. For those interested in brain anatomy, this pathway primarily uses the prefrontal cortex, the most frontal portion the brain. The Spontaneous Pathway The spontaneous pathway, on the other hand, comes into play during idea incubation, immersion, and free association. You’re in this brain state when you defocus your attention: when you’re sleeping, in the shower, in a boring meeting, etc. The spontaneous pathway uses posterior portions of the brain.

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