Creativity Inside the Box

You know that feeling when you come up with a really creative idea?

You feel overjoyed. Your face lights up. It’s almost like you’ve fallen in love.

It’s great to have these happy moments. The trouble is that getting infatuated with a creative idea also presents some danger. 

That danger comes in the form of confirmation bias.

Don’t beat yourself up for being overly positive about your creative idea. Everyone does it! Instead, tune into today’s episode to learn some ideas for overcoming confirmation bias so you can rationally analyze your idea. 

1. What confirmation bias is.
2. Why there actually is such thing as an ugly baby.
3. Why it’s a good thing to be passionate about your ideas.
4. How to balance that passion with realism.
5. Why you should point out the negative things about your idea first.
6. The benefits of getting help from others to overcome confirmation bias.
7. Why you should find reasons that your idea won’t work.

Downloadable scorecard to rate your idea

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EPISODE CREDITS:

If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment.

He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world.

Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com

When you hear a joke, at what point do you laugh?

Do you laugh at the beginning of the joke, right when it begins?

Of course not! You laugh when you hear the “punch line.” This is the moment of collision, the moment all the elements of the joke come together and you finally get it.

The same thing happens with a creative act. That is why the act of innovation and humor are so strongly connected. They originate from the same phenomena, that being the collision of two previously unrelated themes.

Tune in to today’s episode to hear more about this phenomenon and how to use it to increase your creative output.

1. Why hindsight is so important in creativity.
2. How to use systematic inventive thinking to come up with abstract ideas.
3. The 5 patterns that go into the SIT method.
4. How to take the abstract ideas in your mind, develop them, and look back on them later to produce an innovative idea.

Downloadable scorecard to rate your idea

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EPISODE CREDITS:

If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment.

He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world.

Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com

Think of a current problem in your life that you’re trying to solve.

Maybe you’re encountering an issue at work, something is going on at home, or there is some tension in one of your important relationships.

Now, brace yourself because I have some bad news for you: more likely than not, you’re going about that problem all wrong.

However, there’s also some good news: you’re not alone! Most people go about their problems less than optimally. We try to solve or improve them by adding something. In reality, we should be subtracting things!

Today, I am going to explain why this is the case. Tune in to learn why you need to stop adding things to your life and how to go about solving your problems more efficiently.

1. The study that reveals why people are more likely to consider solutions that add (rather than remove) features.
2. Examples of situations where people added things to solve a problem.
3. Why we are prone to add things to our lives.
4. What the sunk-cost bias is.
5. The benefits of subtractive thinking.
6. How to apply the subtraction technique.
7. How to use subtraction to be more creative.

Downloadable scorecard to rate your idea

“People Systematically Overlook Important Changes” by Gabrielle Adams, Benjamin Converse, Andrew Hales, and Leidy Klotz

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EPISODE CREDITS:

If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment.

He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world.

Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com

Creativity is a team sport. It is not a solo event.

When you try to generate creative ideas all by yourself, you’re sitting in a vacuum. You aren’t making the most of the resources at your disposal!

However, if you leverage the brainpower of other people, you can boost your creative output in amazing ways.

Today, I am explaining why this boost in creativity happens when you work with a team. I am also sharing the one question you should be asking to improve your creative output. Finally, I’m teaching you exactly where in your creative act you should ask that question. 

Tune in to hear it all and stop limiting yourself.

1. Why people are so reluctant to ask for help.
2. A study that proves people are more willing to help you than you think.
3. The benefits of asking for help.
4. Where to ask for help in the context of creativity.
5. Why asking kids for help can be useful.
6. How to practice this method over email.

Downloadable scorecard to rate your idea

“If You Need Help, Just Ask”: Underestimating Compliance with Direct Requests for Help by Francis J. Flynn and Vanessa Lake

If you enjoyed this episode, we've created a PDF that has all of the key information for you from the episode. Just go to the episode page at https://drewboyd.com/podcast to download it.

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EPISODE CREDITS:

If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment.

He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world.

Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com

If you want to be more creative, turn off your phone and put it away.

No, I’m not trying to be your parent. I’m just trying to remind you that your smartphone is a major distraction and that distraction is the enemy of creative thinking.

However, we face hundreds of distractions every day. There is no way to escape them completely. We can’t just get up every morning and spend hours thinking silently.

So, in this episode, I’m going to teach you how to be creative despite all of your distractions and clutter. I am providing you with practical tips that will help you improve your creative input whether you are working amidst noisy kids or blaring email notifications.

1. A study that proves how distractions impede creativity.
2. What the principle of constraint is.
3. How to put the principle of constraint into practice.
4. What the task unification tool is.
5. The difference between multitasking and taking advantage of the clutter or distractions in your life.

Downloadable scorecard to rate your idea

“Decluttering the company” Economist article

The Myth of Multitasking by Dave Crenshaw

If you enjoyed this episode, we've created a PDF that has all of the key information for you from the episode. Just go to the episode page at https://drewboyd.com/podcast to download it.

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EPISODE CREDITS:

If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment.

He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world.

Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com

Creativity is nothing more than combining two things in an unexpected way. However, it is critical that it really is unexpected.

For example, if you mash peanut butter and jelly together, it may taste great, but it’s not very creative. You must take two things that have never been put together and combine them to produce something truly innovative.

If you struggle with finding two new things to mix together, this episode is for you. In it, I am going to be sharing 10 different scenarios that clearly explain how to pick items to mash together to produce a creative output. Tune in and you will further develop the habit of innovation.

1. The power of getting specific.
2. How to utilize imaginary boundaries to generate creative ideas.
3. How to put this method into practice at home.
4. Ways to be more creative in your writing.
5. How to put this method into practice at work.
6. Ways to be more creative in the service industry.
7. How to be more creative in your relationships.

Downloadable scorecard to rate your idea

If you enjoyed this episode, we've created a PDF that has all of the key information for you from the episode. Just go to the episode page at https://drewboyd.com/podcast to download it.

***

EPISODE CREDITS:

If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment.

He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world.

Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com

Do charities and nonprofit organizations also need to be as creative and innovative as for-profit companies? Absolutely!

If you’re doing work in a nonprofit organization, volunteering work for some charity, regularly donate money to a particular organization, or have at least some involvement with a nonprofit organization, there are ways and areas where you can particularly be more creative so you can see better opportunities and help your organization of choice progress even further. 

Today, let me share with you some ideas about how to apply creative thinking to a nonprofit organization. It doesn't matter which charity, the key is deciding on your closed world and looking for ways to break fixedness.

1. SIT Review
2. 3 key areas for being creative in the nonprofit world 
3. Team Rubicon
4. America's Packard Museum
5. Neuroendocrine Tumor Research Foundation
6. Organization for the visually impaired

Team Rubicon

Neuroendocrine Tumor Research Foundation

America's Packard Museum

Downloadable scorecard to rate your idea

If you enjoyed this episode, we've created a PDF that has all of the key information for you from the episode. Just go to the episode page at https://drewboyd.com/podcast to download it.

***

EPISODE CREDITS:

If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment.

He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world.

Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com

Guess who’s more creative – men or women? 

If you answered either of them, you’re wrong. In fact, many people think men have more innovative solutions than women. But it’s a little bit more complicated than that.

Both are equally creative – they just have different roles in terms of their creative output.

In this episode, I’m going to share with your two independent studies that talk about this complex issue of gender role in creativity. 

I'm also going to describe for you a very real gender bias that occurs in the world of creativity and in other places we know of. 

1. Research study on "Role Expectations as Constraints to Innovation"
2. Second research study on the uniqueness of the inventor's name and perception of the innovation
3. How to achieve the sweet spot of innovation in terms of gender roles
4. The implications of gender role differences and gender bias in creativity

Study: Role Expectations as Constraints to Innovation

Downloadable scorecard to rate your idea

If you enjoyed this episode, we've created a PDF that has all of the key information for you from the episode. Just go to the episode page at https://drewboyd.com/podcast to download it.

***

EPISODE CREDITS:

If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment.

He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world.

Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com

Most likely, there probably have been moments in your life where you have been rejected for your ideas. Getting rejected is a terrible feeling for sure. But try to recall and go back to those moments. How did you handle those rejections? Did you just instantly give up? 

When you get rejected, the key is to use that as your motivation to come back with an even better idea. Rejection breeds creativity. Having our ideas rejected actually motivates us to be even more creative. 

The next time you're out there developing a great idea, keep going. Use your creative tools and templates we’re going to talk about today and use that golden moment in taking rejection to fuel further creativity.

1. Research: having ideas rejected motivates our creative output
2. Let rejection work to your advantage 
3. How to reject someone's idea the right way

Outside Advantage: Can Social Rejection Fuel Creative Thought?

Downloadable scorecard to rate your idea

If you enjoyed this episode, we've created a PDF that has all of the key information for you from the episode. Just go to the episode page at https://drewboyd.com/podcast to download it.

***

EPISODE CREDITS:

If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment.

He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world.

Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com

No matter who you are, it doesn't matter if you're born creative or gifted in some way, everyone has the potential to become more creative, regardless of where you’re at on the creativity scale. 

The secret of this is the idea of patterns and how patterns of the mind boost our creative power even without knowing it. 

As creatures of habit, humans follow habits all the time, which we tend to repeat especially if it leads to a good outcome. Sadly, we may also follow some bad habits. But for the most part, when we do something successfully, we tend to repeat it. 

And many times, we're not even aware of how our habits actually control our choices. Now, if you can take what you’re already doing subconsciously put it into action proactively, just imagine how much you’ll be winning at everything you do with creativity each time.

1. How humans are creatures of habit 
2. The study on the Rock Paper Scissors Tournament
3. How the rock, paper, scissors game is a game of choice
4. A review on the 5 patterns of Systematic Inventive Thinking (SIT)
5. Examples of these patterns

Rock Paper Scissors Tournament study:

https://arxiv.org/abs/1404.5199 

Downloadable scorecard to rate your idea

If you enjoyed this episode, we've created a PDF that has all of the key information for you from the episode. Just go to the episode page at https://drewboyd.com/podcast to download it.

***

EPISODE CREDITS:

If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment.

He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world.

Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com