Being Creative

Creativity is a right brain activity, and most educational system focus on the left brain.

Some of the obstacles to creativity (according to my web research) are:

1) Logic
We live in a physical word where everything obeys the physical laws. We learn to reason, make assumptions, deductions and logical choices based on the available information and the laws of nature which we are so familiar with. But some of these logic are unsound in certain situations, and many situations are counter intuitive.

2) Obedience
We are taught to be obedient since young. We obey the laws, rules, regulations, social norms and even old traditions and customs. In Mr Sim's book, "Chaotic thoughts from the old millennium", he cited the "no U-turn syndrome", to highlight that we are also bounded by non-existent rules.

3) Fear
To be creative means to come up with something original. Sir Ken Robinson said, "If you are not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with anything original." Fear of ridicule, fear of failure, fear of being wrong stops us from being creative. Better to be safe than wrong (or creative)

4) Confidence
Maybe it is our up-bringing, we believe that we cannot be creative. Our past experiences tell us that every time we try to be a little creative, something bad happens. WE ARE NOT CREATIVE. Other people are. Better to follow than to innovate.

So why is being creative so important?

Some solutions to problems are counter intuitive and creative solutions are almost always more elegant and simple. They tend to run against common sense and logic.

Here are some examples:

1) Ask anyone to try to make a paper plane what can fly the furthest. He/she will most likely come up with a conventional origami creation that somewhat resembles the real life plane. Now, ask him to launch his creation and see how far it flies. Then, you can take another piece of paper, crumble it into a ball and throw it way further than where his plane lands.

So what's wrong? We are, subconsciously, limiting our solutions by assuming that the paper plane should look like the real plane. Why? Because we assume that it had to be aerodynamic, it needs to have wings and a fuselage. Logic (or unchecked logic), invalid assumptions puts a cage around our creative potential.

2) Years back, the IPPT system had gone completely computerized. Gone are the days where the PTI will blow the whistle for you to start your shuttle run. Now, it is totally un-manned.

You simple put your ID card to log in, and there are senors gates at starting point and U turn points. Once you pass the starting gate, the timing automatically starts. There is no more " time lag" between you starting running and the pressing of the start button on the stop watch. So how can you "cheat" half a second off with this new system?

the solution is simple but counter-intuitive.

Start your run further back the senor gate. In doing so, you have remove the acceleration time when you start running, you pass the starting gate senor already at full speed, and therefore shaving a good half a second off your time. Simple? But very counter intuitive.