| Don’t Fight Fantasy
In 1983 a new craze spread through Britain’s children...
Lateral thinking problems are evil
One bane of working in the field of creativity is the curse of certain 'lateral thinking' problems...
Using narcotics to enhance your creativity
Many people have suggested that their creativity has been enhanced by ingesting mind and body altering chemicals...
Vison On and Take Hart
This month I finally got to meet one of my heroes, the artist, broadcaster and double BAFTA winning Tony Hart...
You CAN draw and don't you forget it!
Can you use a pen or pencil to write your name? Can you catch a ball from a distance of two metres? Can you thread a needle? If you can, then you can draw...
Can you draw? Of course you can!
In my workshops I teach people to draw. Actually I don't teach them at all, I just prove to them that they can draw, it's just them telling themselves they can't that stops them...
Do you use your talents at work?
There's a Monty Python sketch where Michael Palin's character is an accountant who's gone to a careers advisor played by John Cleese. The accountant says he's fed up with being an accountant. He wants to be a lion tamer...
The antidote to fear
One definition of fear is that it stands for False Evidence Appearing Real. Fear appears not when we know what to expect or when we don't know what to expect but when we guess what to expect...
Be a creator
There is an interesting dimension to being a creator that sets apart creators from non-creators...
Taste the Moment
We tend to live locked-up in our left-brain controlled critical world. Is it any wonder that we find it so hard to let go and experience the world around us...
So Why Can’t We Be Polymaths?
In this age of specialisms and niching, we’re all told to be good at something. But by that many people usually mean for us to be rubbish at everything else. We’re streamed and channelled in our education system...
Don't be a generalist - be a specialist
You can't please everybody all the time. If you try you actually end up pleasing nobody all the time. This is what television broadcasting companies and record companies have only just started to realise...
Take it as Red
Have a look outside for a red car. Have a closer look at the body of it. Is it really red? The more you look the more you’ll see that it’s many different colours...
Positive Change – Turning things around for charities
Remember in November last year we looked at the fact that in achieving goals, you always need to focus on what you want (rather than what you don't want). I used the charity 'Make Poverty History' as an example...
Think Ahead for Glory
At the start of every year sensible people do some form of goal setting exercise. You can’t hit a target you can’t see, so set the target. An easy and fun way to do this is...
Poverty.... or Happiness and Abundance?
I was surprised and delighted to be innudated with emails of support about the article in the last issue saying we should stop the 'Make Poverty History' campaign. There were a few who didn't quite read it through...
Are Art and Money the Same Thing?
I used to think that we could abolish money in the future as part of some Star Trek style Utopia. Now I’m not so sure. I think if we didn’t have money, we’d invent it as it’s so useful...
Stop the ‘Make Poverty History’ campaign
I don’t like the ‘Make Poverty History’ campaign and I think it should be stopped with immediate effect. But before you press ‘delete’ in disgust, please read on for my reasoning here...
Multitasking is for Morons
People go on about multitasking. Usually they trot out the same old chestnut that women are better at multitasking. Usually that’s stated as an attack on men to ‘prove’ that women are better than men at something...
What
a lot of thoughts
It
has been estimated that the human brain is capable of thinking a
lot of thoughts. A figure was put on these thoughts by Pyotr Anokin
of Moscow in 1968 whose research calculated that the total number
of possible thought patterns was...
Creativity
vs Innovation
Definitions
and semantics are always tricky, especially when people use one
word to describe a complex process or use two very different words
to confusingly describe the same thing...
Virtual
Networking
I've
been playing about with online networking. You can read my
Ecademy profile here. I haven't got round to MySpace and LinkedIn
yet but you can find me easily on Facebook.
Six
Ridiculous Things
The
world has been without Douglas Adams now for six years...
Six
Impossible Things Before Breakfast
Alice
laughed: "There's no use trying," she said; "one
can't believe impossible things."...
The
Art of Not Knowing
I
always found it frustrating that politicians never admit to not
knowing something. If you don't know, say so...
Do
you believe that anyone who starts a business is an entrepreneur?
It's
an interesting question. My theory is that entrepreneurship is both
an activity and attitude but also a bit like being a pop star. You're
one while your doing it, but once you stop producing the hits...
To
bee or not to bee
When
most people think of climate change they just concentrate on global
warming and think that somehow we'll manage to survive extreme weather,
we always do...
So
why did the chicken cross the road?
I
was asked that question when I was interviewed recently for a website.
How would you answer it?...
Oh,
hello Mr President
I
met Bill Clinton by accident once...
Dangerous
Thinking
Sometimes
I open my talks with a throwaway statement that not everything I'm
about to say is true, but I won't tell you which bits...
Creating
Your Masterwork
The
Beatles' masterwork, 'Sgt
Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' was released 40 years ago.
It marked the turning point when pop became rock and could be regarded
as an art-form...
Thinking
on the right side of the brain
I
recently did a talk for top medical students at King's College,
London. It was part of an initiative to train the doctors and surgeons
of tomorrow in entrepreneurial and creative thinking techniques...
Time
is on your side, yes it is
The
most important commodity we have today is time. We all have the
same number of hours in the day and we all complain that 24 just
isn't enough to get everything done...
Tidy
Up!
The
best way to improve your memory is to tidy up your mind. Instead
of having a mind like a library full of books scattered around the
floor...
What
can we learn about innovation from Dragon's Den?
Recently
I was one of the judges in a competition for universtity students
to come up with a business idea. It was rather like being a 'Dragon'
investor on the television programme 'Dragon's Den'...
Music
for Pleasure
New
ways of doing things are usually more convenient, but not always
better, or more fun...
Thinking
on the Eastern Side of the Brain
Learning
Mandarin is very likely to give you an economic advantage in the
years ahead. Recent research has shown that it could help you in
other more surprising ways too...
The
Problem with Challenges
The
great stimulant to creativity is pressing problems. The problem
is that in today's business world people are living in denial...
Avoid
Clichés like the Plague
A
cliché is a phrase or opinion that is overused or displays
a lack of original thought...
How
to Play the Piano
I've
had a piano for seven years and a synthesiser for seventeen years
and I've just learnt how to play...
When
Jargon Replaces Thinking
Many businesses find it impossible
to run a meeting without lacing it with cliched jargon...
The
Colour of Christmas
One of the most important techniques
for being creative is the art of noticing...
But
is It Art?
So many people use the concept
of creativity interchangeably with art. But creativity is not art...
The
Apple of Your i
Is the iPod the best mp3 player
around? Possibly, it's certainly outselling all the others put together,
controling over 70% of the market. Interesting...
Think
the Right Way
Some people think they’re
a left brainer, “I’m a left brainer,” they say,
“I deal with computers, I deal with numbers. I get things
organised, I turn up on time...
Oh
No, Not the Paper-Clip
How many non-uses of a paper-clip
can you think of? Most people find this quite hard which shows they
are not fluid at activating the right side of their brain...
Creating
Brain Waves
When the brain is most creative
it is able to form new associations between disparate ideas. When
you alter your attitude, what you do with your body and what you
choose to focus on, you’re actually altering the frequency
of your brain waves...
Business
Unusual
I started my own business on
12th September 2001. That’s right, a day after 11th September
2001. On that fateful day I was flying back from the Caribbean...
We
Love Stupid Ideas
Stupid, idiotic, bad ideas are
great. Think of bad ideas. Think of very, very stupid ideas. I challenge
you - think of five stupid ways you could improve your business
or lifestyle right now...
Don't
Turn Your Brain Off
There have always been opponents
to new technology. Long before 'luddites' smashed the machines that
stole the work of men during the Industrial Revolution, many early
philosophers (including Socrates) argued that even writing was dangerous
technology...
Piper
at the Gates of Dawn
Music fans around the world
were saddened this month to hear of the death of Sy d Barrett, the
founder member of Pink Floyd...
What
Makes a Genius?
When I'm doing my creativity
workshops the biggest hurdle to overcome is people's belief that
only certain people can be creative and only certain people can
become genii. In fact people believe that certain babies are born
genii. Unfortunately for this belief there is no evidence to back
it up...
I'm
Having a Laugh
All humans in all recorded cultures
have the ability to laugh, to find something ‘funny’
and have what is generally called ‘a sense of humour’,
that is the faculty to perceive comedy. It's part of being human...
The
Age of Ideas
Why is creativity so important?
Why are larger businesses spending millions on particular types
of training and ways of doing business that they wouldn't have given
time of day to less than ten years ago? The answer is...
The
Age of Ideas
I grew up in Durham the North-East
of England. I didn't go 'down south' to London until I was 13...
Put
Grandma in the Playpen
What would be a realistic but
unusual answer to this 'lateral thinking' problem?...
Laterally
Thinking
Lateral Thinking,
Blue Sky, Out of the Box - we hear these phrases bandied about but
what does it all really mean?...
A
Different Perspective
I grew up in Durham the North-East
of England. I didn't go 'down south' to London until I was 13...
Want
to See Some Magic?
Have you been watching 'The
Apprentice'...
Chaos
and Creation in Your Backyard
In December 2005 Paul McCartney
hosted a special solo performance from Abbey Road studios...
The
Problem with Superstitions
The problem with superstitions
is that they aren't really clear enough...
New
Years Resolutions are a Waste of Time
You may be surprised to hear
that but it's true...
Who
Do You Think You Are?
Most of the problems of the
people of the world today are caused by one thing, whether it's
wars or suicide. It's not religion and it's not money...
The
Magic of Christmas
“What are you doing for
Christmas?” – a question we could be asked at anytime
from September onwards...
Wot?
No! You must me joking. Would you believe it?
Can you believe that
some people say they don't have any beliefs? Don't trust these people,
they'll lie about other things too...
Practical
Brainstorming
First have a look
at the rules for setting up a brainindstorming meeting...
The
Rules of Brianstorming
Brainstorming is the
process that everybody thinks they understand but very few people
do. There are two reasons is for this.
Your
X-Factor
I confess. I've been
watching television. Not only that, I've been watching the reality
show 'The X-Factor'...
Don't
Look Back in Anger
Ten years ago rock bands
Oasis and Blur were fighting it out for the number one slot in the
UK, Microsoft launched Windows95 and Sony revealed their PlayStation.
But what were you doing?...
I
Decide Therefore I Am
I always had a
problem with sweet trollies. Which pudding should I have? The chocolate
gateau looks nice but so does the merangue. But what if...
I'll
Do it Tomorrow
"I'll do it tomorrow" - the
greatest labour saving statement ever uttered, because as the cliche
goes, tomorrow never comes...
Goals
are for Life - Not Just for Christmas
Do
you sit down at the beginning of the year and make a list of things
you want to achieve or change about yourself and your life?...
Thanks
for the Memory
A paradigm
is a model or example that helps us understand something complex.
I want you to consider re-thinking your paradigm of what you believe
memory to be...
Vote
for You!
Every so many years in a democracy the citizens get
to choose their favourite colour and put a cross next to someone
who spends all their time in a party...
Your
Brain Makes Stuff Up!
Nature abhors a vacuum. Likewise your brain needs
to fill in the blanks, and it will. If the ‘facts’ aren’t
available, it’ll just make stuff up...
Creative,
Moi?
The midwife holds
up the newly born baby and declares, "we've got a creative
one here all right. This one's a genius and no mistake...
The
Place for Ideas
People ask me, 'Where's
the best place to think up good ideas?', hoping that in the answer
I might reveal the secret location of a magic glade...
Manifesto
of Ideas
The recontextualist movement
grew in reaction to the cultural changes in recent times...
But
is it Art? - A poem
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