"Do You"? Part Two
Yesterday I asked 13 questions in my record short post, and asked for Yes or No responses. If you didn’t see that post, it might be worth popping over, the exercise will take two minutes and it will prepare the ground for this post.
Toward the end of yesterdays post I said, “Every YES answer suggests you are creative in that area. Even question 8 which could easily be linked with procrastination but, even procrastination can be linked with creativity”.
A brief definition might be helpful.
Procrastination
“English speakers borrowed the word in the 16th century from Latin procrastinatus, which itself evolved from the prefix pro-, meaning "forward," and crastinus, meaning "of tomorrow." Like its synonyms delay, lag, loiter, dawdle, and dally, procrastinate means to move or act slowly so as to fall behind”.
(https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/procrastinate)
How Can Procrastination be Creative?
Well, putting something off because we see it as too challenging, difficult or painful is never going to work for our best interests but there are times when procrastination can be a good thing because in allowing it, it can assist our creative intelligence and believe it or not, we all have a healthy amount of that (back to this soon). The problem is that many of us think that we don’t because we go through life with linear thinking. That, however, is not how we started out on this journey through life. It’s something that we learned. Our creativity is gradually edited into the background as we progress through life.
Research
An experiment was conducted in The US and investigated the amount of creative potential used by people across various age groups:
- Kindergarten Children use 95 – 98% creativity in their lives
- Junior School Children, 50 – 70%
- High School & University Students, 30 – 50%
- Mature Adults, less than 20%
According to psychology, creative intelligence is the ability to produce new products, ideas, or inventing new or novel solutions to problems. Think about a few people who you consider to be successful in whatever they do. Are they also masters of creativity?
What Sets Them Apart?
In 1981, Professor Roger Sperry was awarded a Nobel prize for his explorations of different thinking activities and their effects on brainwaves. He accurately predicted that brainwaves would be different for different activities. What he didn’t predict was how our amazing brains divide activities very clearly into, left brain / right brain activities.
The Division of Labor
Left Brain: Words, Logic, Numbers, Sequence, Linearity, Analysis, Lists.
Right Brain: Rhythm, Spatial Awareness, Dimension, Imagination, Daydreaming, Color, General Awareness.
Professor Sperry also discovered that when one side or the other was at work, the opposite side relaxed and went into a meditative state. This is true in every healthy human and he went on to show that everybody has a massive range of intellectual, thinking and creative skills and shock / horror, most of us are not using our full potential. This is what sets “The Masters” apart; they are effectively using both sides of their brain and their creativity has not been edited out.
“Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try” (Dr. Seuss).
Take Your Brain to The Gym
More research has proven that when good teachers train people, they discover that they can do things they previously thought, “not possible”. Ninety percent of people say they are genetically unable to sing, perform a quick mental calculation about how much interest they owe on their mortgage or draw an accurate portrait. Yet this has shown to be untrue. There’s hope for all of us!
“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have” (Maya Angelou).
Training the brain is like training a muscle that’s been dormant for a while. The artistic, numerical and musical skills have always been there, it’s just that they’ve been side-lined. If we train the areas we consider weak we strengthen our mental muscles and they in turn strengthen the other mental muscles from the opposite side of the brain. Left and right talk to one another.
Find an Instructor
In this high-tech information age, there’s no shortage of instructors to help train us in say, ‘imagery and art’. The pay off is that we learn more skills than we bargain for. If we develop these skills, we also develop word and numeracy skills. Our creativity skills increase too.
Study A Genius
One of my favorites is left brain genius, Albert Einstein. But wait! Einstein solved his problems by allowing huge doses of imagination to run riot so, he was a left/right brained type of guy.
“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions . . . I never made one of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking”. (Albert Einstein)
Think about a musician you respect. Right brained creativity at its best surely? No! Music is sequential, written on lines and follows logic; that’s left-brain cortex at work. Your favorite musician uses both sides of the brain effectively. The creative brain uses the whole brain.
“Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted”. (John Lennon)
Procrastinate Away
Of course, procrastination can be a bad thing that stops us from doing the things that matter or might make a difference but, there is also a creative side so long as we don’t judge the word as purely negative. Challenging I know; Merriam-Webster don’t exactly show it in a positive light.
Think for a moment about questions 8 and 9 from part one of this post:
- Do you have books, magazines, newspapers in your home that you have meant to read but not got around to it?
- Are there other things that you have promised yourself but not got around to yet?
If you answered yes to either of those, you crossed over into the procrastinator camp. Yet, 95% of the people who were asked those questions in a survey answered, ‘Yes’, so you are not alone. I’m with you on that!
Turn it Around
Creating apparent excuses for not reading or delivering on the promises to self is highly creative. It takes some thought to create an excuse. I might have studied the research that has helped me with this post when I first came across it. Instead, I scanned it and put it on the ‘meant to read’ shelf until I got around to it. Yesterday I got around to it after some procrastinating thought and I didn’t pause to wonder if procrastination is always a bad thing as some would have us believe; because,
“Non-judgment quiets the internal dialogue, and this opens once again the doorway to creativity” (Deepak Chopra).
Creativity is such an incredible and limitless source of power that it goes on for a lifetime.
Recent Comments
35
Thanks Steve for these two posts. I didn't get around to reading the first one until right before I read part 2 this morning. Not that I procrastinated, but I have so many emails to get through that I can't read them all in one day plus do the training.
You made some very good points and I enjoyed the read. I like music, and arts of various types, but numbers are a problem. So I guess I am right-brained?
Take care
Charlotte
Hi Charlotte. Do you passively listen to and enjoy the sounds music makes or do you actively listen, know the scales, etc? If so, that's both sides of the brain working together. I thought I had a number problem until stats came up in my psychology training and I discovered that they weren't a problem at all. Both sides working well but they do need plenty of positive workouts. I'm pleased that you enjoyed the read. Good luck with your emails.
Wishing you a wonderful week
Steve
Ok so you are saying that if I can read music, sing, and count the beat at the same time, I'm using both sides of my brain? Interesting.
Both sides in action. Often some things are a problem not because of the way the brain is working. Our minds are exceptionally powerful. My number "problem" related to the negative teaching. In a sense, I retrained and moved forward.
Interesting. Now I may have to go back and rethink my #8 answer, which was 'yes'. Good to know that it's okay to have a healthy dose of procrastination without feeling guilty.
Interesting about Einstein. I was reading about him - that when he was trying to figure out the theory of relativity, he would often use his imagination to visualize it. Sometimes he would pick up his violin and play Mozart when pondering a difficult math or physics problem. I'm assuming that he's tapping into both sides of his brain then. 🤔
Thanks for the post, Steve.
Isaiah 😊
Thanks Isaiah. Yes there is much food for thought with Einstein. I play electric guitar (not well) and Irish flute when I need to think something through. It's amazing how things flow when I think I'm concentrating on the music. Can't compare to the great E though. He was indeed tapping into Left / Right brain.
Hope you have a wonderful week
Steve
Interesting research. It seems like there is more distractions now with social media and lots of things take our attention away which leads us to procrastination.
Also, i think we tend to prostrate because we are more aware of what others think which robs us of our creativity.
Very nice post, thanks for sharing
Thank you Jeff. Yes, I agree completely, our awareness of what we think others think can indeed lead to loss of creativity:-) OK I twisted your words a little.
Happy Monday and wishing you a super creative week.
Steve
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I thought we were up for more questions. Sigh, puts pen and paper away.
Many times I will allow certain things to 'simmer'. Purposely (That doesn't look right, the alternative is purposefully which is meant to indicate a greater level of intent-how is that right ? Hmm.)
A form of voluntary procrastination, maybe.
Your example of music made me wonder. As the majority of musicians start playing when they are young, does that influence (to a greater degree) their ability to become more 'creative' or would it make no difference ?
I make a laymans observation that by playing an instrument they are 'creative' yet as your study shows, that involves the use of both sides of the brain, which in turn makes them more creative. Does this increase their 'right' brain function (which makes them more creative)
I think I need to stop now.
Awesome post Steve.
Hey Twack, there's some wonderful thinking up there to fire my brain this morning. Thank you. I allow things to simmer and by doing so, I associate and assimilate before acting. Voluntary P indeed and quite a healthy process.
History does tell us that some great musicians started young although I think their environment boosted their abilities and we all have abilities. J S Bach reportedly said to students, "Anybody who works as hard as I did will do as well". He worked 10 - 18 hours daily for nearly 60 years. Brain function increases down at the brain gym. We have to work at both sides although some activities actively work at Left & Right but not simultaneously. Left works, right rests, etc. cortex meditation; so I guess it's not really resting. Perhaps it's working on the 3 A's I mentioned above?
Just for you, I will see if I can fit an exercise in the next post. Pen & Paper at the ready!
Hope you have a wonderful day.
S
Thank you Steve, it was getting late and normally I would struggle to throw a sentence together, or at least one that made sense.
I like the three A's, they could be applied to our day to day interactions as well.
I am a firm believer in 'multi-tasking' but in a passive way. In the same sense that a tricep wil get 'worked' to some extent when exercising the bicep.
I sleep listening to audio programs, some subliminal, some hypnotic and some meditative. Stanley put up a great post, a month or so ago, about using the opposite hand to brush your teeth, apparently this works your brain. I also like watching films/tv shows with the subtitles running, even if the spoken word is in English. Again I believe this is a mini-cerebral workout.
If you can, I will be looking forward to the exercise, no worries if not. A point in the right direction would suffice.
Terrific, rather than tedious Tuesday is upon us. Enjoy.
Pen & paper at the ready, it's out there. Yes, I remember Stanley's post and have been brushing my teeth with the left hand ever since. We do the subs thing here too sometimes same language, sometimes French / English. While we don't read them consciously, one of us will often say, "hey that sub is not what they said"! Interesting.
A terrific Tuesday to you too.
Sweet, I'm going over there now, thank you Steve.
It's 'all' interesting, fascinating and mind boggling, I think.
Like juggling for mindfulness.