Creativity for Personal Success – Part I

Welcome back!

For the past several months on Wednesday’s I’ve taken a specific “coaching” subject and look at how you can apply it to your life to help you reach your personal goals and personal success.

I hope you have found them helpful.

Today we’re going to look at creativity and how specifically it plays a role in your personal success, setting goals and reaching your personal goals.

Until the 1950’s it was believed that the right side of the brain was redundant and that the left side of the brain was the side that separated humans from animals. The left side of the brain was thought to be the side that was analytical, language based, systems based etc.

However over the last 50 years much research has been done into the functioning of the brain and has found previous beliefs about the right side of the brain to be completely unfounded.

Prior to the 1950’s everything was based around the left side of the brain. Reading from left to right is a left brain function, teaching people to mostly be right-handed in writing and thinking that analytical skills were by far superior functions.

This type of conditioning around the importance of the left side of the brain has only recently been challenged. Research now shows that the right side of the brain is just as important as the left and performs a different function to the left side of the brain.

However we still live in a world where the conditioning around the left side of the brain is very prevalent. We teach children using a left brain system in public education systems and some companies still see the value of left brain skills to be more important than right brain skills.

Now with knowledge being a commodity, as it is available to anyone anywhere anytime via the internet, companies are now having to rethink the way in which they work and the way in which they can maintain a competitive edge. Thus enters creativity. Creativity is a highly valued skill yet learning how to develop creativity is a new concept. Creativity is a function of the right side of the brain.

In Daniel H. Pink?s book, “A Whole New Mind”, he talks about the differences between the right and left hemisphere’s of the brain. He sees that the functions of both sides of the brain can be broken into four sections.

• The left hemisphere controls the right side of the body; the right hemisphere controls the left side of the body.
• The left hemisphere is sequential; the right hemisphere is simultaneous.
• The left hemisphere specializes in text; the right hemisphere specializes in context.
• The left hemisphere analyses the details; the right hemisphere synthesizes the big picture.

These four areas help us to see how the two sides of the brain differ. Neither is less, both are different, both are fundamentally important for personal success.

The challenge for people today is that the education system that they entered taught them mostly left brain skills. Workplaces are now seeing the importance of right brain skills and so many people have to learn new ways of working and thinking. This can be very challenging.

Developing creativity, as a skill is something that Edward de Bono has specialized in for many years. He teaches skills around developing “idea creativity? as opposed to artistic creativity, which is not the same concept. de Bono talks about idea creativity as part of lateral thinking. He believes idea creativity can be taught as a skill.

Part of developing the skill of creativity is looking at possibility. However today a great deal of time is spent gathering data and analyzing it to give information to develop policies and to make decisions.

This is moving in the direction of certainty. As much attention needs to be paid to possibility. Self directed learning is a right brain activity. It is about creating possibilities of learning.

Self Assessment

Are you a left, right or whole brained thinker?

In the book “Right Brained Children in a Left Brain World” Jeffery Freed and Laurie Parsons created a learning style inventory below.

Answer yes or no to the following questions.

• Are you better at remembering faces than names?
• When you’re presented with a toy or piece of furniture to assemble, are you likely to discard the printed directions and figure out how to build it yourself?
• Are you better at thinking of ideas if you’re left to concentrate rather than working with a group?
• Do you rely mostly on pictures to remember things, as opposed to names and words?
• Do you have especially acute hearing?
• Do you cut labels out of clothes?
• Do you favor garments that are especially soft and well-worn, finding most clothing too rough or scratchy?
• Do you tend to put yourself down a lot?
• When you’re asked to spell a word, do you “see? it in your head rather than sound it out phonetically?
• When you’re studying a subject, do you prefer to get the “big picture? as opposed to learning a lot of facts?
• Are you good with puzzles and mazes?
• Can you imagine things well in three dimensions?
• In other words, can you visualize a cube in your mind, rotate it, and view it from every angle without difficulty?
• Were you considered a late bloomer?
• Did you need to like your teacher to do well in his or her class?
• Are you easily distracted to the point that you find yourself daydreaming a lot?
• Are you a perfectionist to the point that it gets in the way of trying new things?
• Are you ultra-competitive, hating to lose more than most people do?
• Are you good at figuring people out?
• Do others tell you that you’re good at “reading? people?
• Is your handwriting below average or poor?
• Were you a late walker or did you have other delayed motor skills as a child?
• When you’re in a new place do you tend to find your way around easily?

The more yes responses you have the more right-brained you will be.

In general:

• 0-4 yes answers indicate you’re very left brained,
• 5-8 somewhat left brained,
• 9-12 whole brained,
• 13-16, somewhat right-brained,
• 17-20 very right-brained.

This is not a scientific test but it will give you a general understanding of your brain dominance.

Contemplation

• What score did you get with the above learning style inventory?
• How do you feel about your score and what does it tell you about your learning style?
• Do you feel it is correct?
• How can you use this information to reach your personal goals and personal success?

Well, I think that gives you enough to consider until next week and leave you with this:

“Imagination is the living power and prime agent of all human perception.” – Samuel Taylor Coleridge

If you’d like to begin to explore how tapping into your creativity can help you with your personal goals and personal success go ahead and ask for an Introductory Consultation today.

Also, the e-book “Develop the Mental Strength of a Warrior” (also available in a Kindle version) is packed with teachings, questions and exercises to help you engage your creativity as well.

I’d like to thank ICA for their support and inspiration for this topic.