“I thought of that while riding my bicycle!” Albert Einstein is said to have proclaimed of the Theory of Relativity. Michael Gelb found a similar trend in his book How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci. Most people came up with their best ideas in the shower, resting in bed, or walking in nature rather than when working.
The concepts of the ‘left’ and ‘right’ brains (I say concepts because these are generalizations - there are many more nuances to the way the brains actually work) have fundamentally contrasting methodologies by which they process information. It's like taking an artist and a scientist and contrasting them - the scientist will believe only that which is proven by repeated and repeatable experimentation, and the artist is able to create based on little more than meandering thoughts. The scientist sees the world as conforming to a set of infrangible rules, whereas the artist believes, with a sprinkle of creativity on top of it, possibilities are infinite and rules don't exist - only customs to be broken.
The left brain, you see, is the scientist. It operates in the realms of logical deductions based on sequential, time-oriented reasoning.
The right brain is quite the opposite - on top of having greater spatial and visual aptitudes, it is able to put puzzle pieces together in order to see the whole of an issue, which allows it to commonly solve problems quickly by making intuitive leaps. On the downside, it is not time-oriented nor quite as logical as the left brain in its thinking.
Betty Edwards explains in her books Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain and Drawing on the Artist Within that the creative process requires the unique skills of both the left and right brain. You see, the process occurs in five steps: first insight, saturation, incubation, illumination, and verification. Saturation (where information for the project is gathered) and verification (translating the creative work into a common language) are both left-brain skills... the rest are very characteristically right brain.
Have you ever been working on something creative - writing, designing a poster, or attempting to eat a quart of ice cream in one bite - and just gotten stuck, only to disengage with a trail run and the solution pops into your mind without warning? That’s the right brain’s role in the creative process. Remember, as important as full engagement is, complete disengagement is just as important. Those revolutionary, original creative insights don’t come as often when scrolling Facebook. Instead, cultivate them by going on adventures - climbing, running (with meditation in motion), or mountain biking.
Since right-brain based aptitudes will define successful companies and people in the Conceptual Age according to Dan Pink’s A Whole New Mind, cultivating your creative side with disengagement may provide benefits to your work life as well as reduce stress and increase contentment.
So what's your creative cultivation going to consist of?
The concepts of the ‘left’ and ‘right’ brains (I say concepts because these are generalizations - there are many more nuances to the way the brains actually work) have fundamentally contrasting methodologies by which they process information. It's like taking an artist and a scientist and contrasting them - the scientist will believe only that which is proven by repeated and repeatable experimentation, and the artist is able to create based on little more than meandering thoughts. The scientist sees the world as conforming to a set of infrangible rules, whereas the artist believes, with a sprinkle of creativity on top of it, possibilities are infinite and rules don't exist - only customs to be broken.
The left brain, you see, is the scientist. It operates in the realms of logical deductions based on sequential, time-oriented reasoning.
The right brain is quite the opposite - on top of having greater spatial and visual aptitudes, it is able to put puzzle pieces together in order to see the whole of an issue, which allows it to commonly solve problems quickly by making intuitive leaps. On the downside, it is not time-oriented nor quite as logical as the left brain in its thinking.
Betty Edwards explains in her books Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain and Drawing on the Artist Within that the creative process requires the unique skills of both the left and right brain. You see, the process occurs in five steps: first insight, saturation, incubation, illumination, and verification. Saturation (where information for the project is gathered) and verification (translating the creative work into a common language) are both left-brain skills... the rest are very characteristically right brain.
Have you ever been working on something creative - writing, designing a poster, or attempting to eat a quart of ice cream in one bite - and just gotten stuck, only to disengage with a trail run and the solution pops into your mind without warning? That’s the right brain’s role in the creative process. Remember, as important as full engagement is, complete disengagement is just as important. Those revolutionary, original creative insights don’t come as often when scrolling Facebook. Instead, cultivate them by going on adventures - climbing, running (with meditation in motion), or mountain biking.
Since right-brain based aptitudes will define successful companies and people in the Conceptual Age according to Dan Pink’s A Whole New Mind, cultivating your creative side with disengagement may provide benefits to your work life as well as reduce stress and increase contentment.
So what's your creative cultivation going to consist of?
