A title that can help you apply creative thinking techniques to everything you touch, whether it is that novel you have inside you, the new business idea you've had that will make you the next hot entrepreneur, or whether you would like to share with others (as a teacher or trainer) some new approaches to seeing things differently.

Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Conventions Used in This Book 2 What You’re Not to Read 2 Foolish Assumptions 3 How This Book Is Organised 3 Part I: Laying the Foundations: Understanding Creativity 3 Part II: Preparing Yourself: Creating Your Creative Mindset 4 Part III: Getting Creative – The Practical Stuff 4 Part IV: Applying Creativity to Your Life 4 Part V: The Part of Tens 4 Icons Used in This Book 5 Where to Go from Here 5 Part I: Laying the Foundations: Understanding Creativity 7 Chapter 1: So What Is Creativity? 9 Seeing Creativity Everywhere 9 Spotting obvious signs of creativity 10 Noticing less obvious signs of creativity 11 Finding Curious Ways to Fulfil Your Curiosity 12 Reconciling paradoxes and juxtapositions 13 Combining the familiar and the strange 13 Entwining the tangible and the elusive 14 Experiencing the seductive and the scary 14 Adapting Strategies to Help You Survive in the Creative World 15 Emulating child’s play 16 Recognising creativity as a necessity – not a luxury 16 Appreciating creativity as your lifeblood 17 Getting into a Creative Frame of Mind 18 Converging and diverging 18 Storming ahead 19 Being physically passive but mentally active 20 Being physically active and mentally alert 20 Programming Yourself for Creativity with Neuro-linguistic Programming 21 Fighting through Uncreative Times 24 Being stuck 25 Getting unstuck 26 Chapter 2: Living in a World of Creativity 27 Searching for Spiritual Expression 28 Embodying spirituality and knowledge in architecture 28 Connecting body, mind and spirit 29 Meeting the Muses 29 Musing with Greeks and Romans 30 Meeting modern muses 31 Finding your own muse 31 Tuning In with Music and Creativity 32 Challenging the Status Quo with Creative Thinking 35 Playing a revolutionary role 35 Working within the system 36 Creating political art 37 Connecting Religion, Politics and Creativity 38 Pomp and propaganda 38 Nudge – when politicians get ideas 39 Shedding Light on the Dark Side of Creativity 43 Limiting beliefs 43 Generating energy and ignoring burn-out 45 Melding creativity and personality 46 Chapter 3: Exploring the Creative Mindset 49 Being Creative – All the Time 50 Realising that you can’t not be creative 50 Exhibiting everyday creativity 51 Knowing creativity when you see it 51 Having the creative touch 52 Knowing the Moment versus Knowing the Outcome 53 A change is as good as a rest 53 And a rest is as good as a change 54 Exploring Different States of Consciousness 54 Memories, dreams and reflections 54 Daydreams, sleep and meditation 56 Being wide awake and curious 58 Altered states – sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll 59 Exploring the subconscious 60 Understanding Different People and Different Kinds of Creativity 62 Jung’s theories and the foundations of modern personality assessment 62 Convergent and divergent thinking 66 Gender 66 Age 67 Creativity across cultures 67 Beyond the five senses 69 Part II: Preparing Yourself: Creating Your Creative Mindset 71 Chapter 4: Preparing to Be Creative 73 Understanding the Creative Process 74 Opening up to ideas and originality 74 Closing down to solve a problem 74 Changing your mind for a different perspective 75 Capturing Your First Ideas 75 Getting into the Right Space – Mentally and Physically 76 Getting in the mood 76 Setting the scene 77 Flying Solo versus Working in Teams 83 Working alone 84 Working together 84 Having it both ways 86 Assessing Outcomes 87 Did it work? 89 What to do next 91 Chapter 5: Committing to Creativity 93 Creating Continuously – Keeping the Tap Running 94 Being creative for a living 94 Stressing about creativity 95 Achieving the magic 10,000 hours 96 Preparing for good results 96 Living Like Leonardo – Working with Creative Continuity 97 Being insatiably curious – curiosità 98 Testing knowledge through experience – demostrazione 101 Refining the senses – sensazione 103 Embracing ambiguity – sfumato 105 Balancing art and science – arte/scienza 106 Cultivating the finer aspects of life – corporalita 107 Connecting everything – connessione 109 Experiencing a Creative Burst 110 Lighting up – the light bulb effect 110 Exploding with creativity 111 Finding Your Own Creative Style 112 Part III: Getting Creative – The Practical Stuff 113 Chapter 6: Changing Your Mind with Creative Thinking 115 Discovering Ways of Changing Your Mind 116 Getting to Grips with Mind Mapping 118 Designing a mind map 119 Employing Table Games 122 Building with Matchbox and other games 122 Using creativity cards 124 Playing with Language 125 Harnessing the power of metaphor 125 Talking about narrative and trance 127 Finding a way into trance states 131 Using Random Input 133 Playing word games 133 Making complexity simple 135 Transforming language 135 Visualising Success 136 Putting visualisation to work with image streaming 137 Discovering other creative visualisation techniques 138 Chapter 7: Opening Your Mind with Creative Thinking Techniques 141 Generating Ideas with Brainstorming 142 Processing the rules 143 Brainstorming the right way 144 Making refinements for better brainstorming 146 Signing Up To Synectics 150 Inventing a prototype for brainstorming 151 Referring, reflecting and reconstructing 152 Tooling Up with SCAMPER 157 Working with a handy toolbox 157 Using Thinkertoys – a bigger toolbox 160 Thinking Laterally 160 Introducing Parallel Thinking 161 Provoking Provocative Operation 163 Wearing the Six Thinking Hats 164 Chapter 8: Closing In on the Answer: Creative Problem-Solving 169 Working Creatively to Find a Solution 169 Using the Disney Model – Being in Character 170 The dreamer 173 The realist 174 The critic 175 Trusting Young’s Five-Step Technique 176 Using the Whole Brain with Herrmann’s Model 179 Listing dominant types 181 Seeing HBDI in action 182 Putting the Whole Brain Model to work 185 Chapter 9: Playing Creatively 189 Provoking New Ideas with Thought Experiments 190 Drawing and Doodling 192 Drawing on the right side of the brain 192 Seeing passively and actively looking 194 Building a visual vocabulary by asking questions 195 Working with SQVID 199 Playing with paint 203 Playing with Role Play 204 Walking a mile in their shoes 205 Evaluating role play 205 Keeping and Breaking Rules 206 Thinking in and out of the box 207 Encountering blue skies, clouds and storms 208 Choosing chance 209 Having Whole-Body Experiences – Indoors and Out 211 Creating Movement When You Get Stuck 213 Part IV: Applying Creativity to Your Life 215 Chapter 10: Living the Creative Life 217 Living the Benefits of a Creative Life 217 Improving your health 218 Managing stress 219 Living a long life 222 Getting good sleep 222 Measuring wealth 225 Celebrating the Creative Power of Happiness 227 Searching for happiness 227 Failing happily for success 228 Joining the club – happiness is catching on 230 Getting a Sense of Humour 230 Taking humour seriously 231 Laughing at an important subject – deflating the balloon 232 Enjoying humour and creativity together 232 Experiencing Wellbeing 233 Ascending Maslow’s hierarchy of needs 233 Feeling good about yourself 235 Creating a healthy brain 237 Chapter 11: Children and Creativity 239 Looking Inside Children’s Creative Minds 239 Blooming buzzing confusion 240 Modelling mastery 241 Becoming competent 242 Considering what babies do because they don’t know better 244 Playing as a learning method 244 Developing patterns and habits 246 Showing acquired skills through drawing 247 Observing How Education Influences Creativity 251 Debating the purpose of education 252 Balancing rigid and relaxed teaching 252 Applying Creative Thinking Lessons in Daily Life 253 Fostering creativity 253 Getting culture into the bloodstream 254 Partnering with modern technology 255 Chapter 12: Working Creatively 257 Looking at Creative Industries and the Bottom Line 258 Auditing creative business 258 Driving business through the creative engine 259 Moving creativity from back room to front office 260 Generating Ideas that Make Money 261 Putting a premium on creativity 261 Owning ideas that change the world 262 Protecting the Creative Franchise 262 Where there’s a hit there’s a writ 263 Engaging in the eternal battle between artist and producer 264 Instilling Creativity in Companies Large and Small 265 Doing business as usual 265 Drawing creativity from the outside in and inside out 265 Overcoming Resistance to Creativity 266 Living by logic – or not 267 Riding your obsessions into oblivion 268 Planning in a straight line 270 Resisting vision 270 Creating (and Maintaining) a Creative Workplace 271 Choosing a space 271 Making a creative space 272 Living with the Difference between Innovation and Creativity 273 Defining the difference 273 Owning the creativity 274 Making it happen at Saatchi & Saatchi 275 Chapter 13: Embedding Creativity in Your Personal Life 279 Becoming Continuously Creative 280 Changing the habits of a lifetime – or a minute 280 Perseverance versus perseveration 282 Appreciating Creativity and Culture 283 Asking what culture is 285 Pushing the culture button 285 Breaking the barrier – official creativity 286 Celebrating everyday life 286 Discovering Transferable Skills and Resources 287 Trying self-remembering 287 Reaching resourceful states 289 Using Your Creative Awareness 289 Getting serious 290 Joining creative networks online 290 Being in touch with creativity around the world 291 Maintaining a Creative State of Mind with Fun and Games 294 Discovering an app for that 297 Simplifying 298 Noodling and doodling 299 Part V: The Part of Tens 301 Chapter 14: Ten Great Ways to Get Creative 303 Seize the Moment 303 Give Yourself Permission 304 Make Time to Relax, Play and Have Fun 304 Immerse or Isolate Yourself 305 Immersion 305 Isolation 305 Tolerate Ambiguity 305 Find Your Personal Centre 306 Develop Endless Curiosity 306 Make Things Bigger, Smaller, Distorted or Inverted 307 Organise a ‘Creative Heroes’ Dinner Party 308 Indulge in Creative Sleep 308 Chapter 15: Ten Acorns That Became Oak Trees: Great Ideas that Became Reality 309 Gutenberg’s Printing Press 309 Galileo’s Understanding of Mankind’s Place in the Universe 310 Newton’s Insights into the Physical World 310 Henry Ford’s Vision of Modern American Industry 311 Edison’s Persistence and Inspiration 311 Tesla’s Electric Inventions 312 Marconi’s Radio 313 Picasso’s Works of Art 313 Alan Turing’s Modern Computers 314 Richard Feynman – Bongos and Atom Bombs 316 Chapter 16: Ten-Plus Essential Books 317 The Act of Creation by Arthur Koestler 317 Hare Brain, Tortoise Mind by Guy Claxton 318 Secret Knowledge by David Hockney 318 The Power of Creative Intelligence by Tony Buzan 319 Thinkertoys by Michael Michalko 319 The Creative Brain and The Whole Brain Business Book by Ned Herrmann 319 Blink by Malcolm Gladwell 320 How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci by Michael Gelb 320 Strategies of Genius, Volume One by Robert Dilts 321 Lateral Thinking by Edward de Bono 322 The Art of Innovation by Tom Kelley 322 A Technique for Producing Ideas by James Webb Young 322 Making by Thomas Heatherwick with Maisie Rowe 323 Chapter 17: Ten Inspirational Creative Businesses 325 Saatchi & Saatchi – Bringing World-Changing Creativity 325 The Mind Gym – Instigating Intelligent Interaction 326 Pixar – Creating an Ideas Playground 327 Apple – Sustaining an Atmosphere of Maverick Thinking 328 DPA – Thinking Space 328 LEGO – Building a Business Brick by Brick 329 Chiat\Day – Reinventing Creativity 330 St Luke’s – Redefining Creativity 331 Caffeine – Stimulating Business 331 Jack Tinker – Achieving Creativity Heaven 332 Chapter 18: Ten Unusually Creative Individuals 333 Eric Clapton – Learning His Craft the Hard Way 333 David Hockney – Working at Everyday Creativity 334 Bob Dylan – Reaping the Rewards of Creative Persistence 335 Brian Eno – Being Eclectic 336 Vivienne Westwood & Malcolm McLaren – Producing Punk 336 Benoit Mandelbrot – Fascinating Fractals 337 Anita Roddick – Creating a Body of Work 338 Malcolm Gladwell – Making New Sense 338 Ferran Adrià and El Bulli – Cooking Up Magic 339 Richard Hamilton – Inspiring a Generation 340 Index 341

Open the door to a world of infinite new ideas and creative opportunities! Creative thinking is all about opening your mind and seeing things in a new way. Acquiring the knack can be incredibly liberating. Better yet is learning how to apply creative thinking in practical ways. It’s a skill that opens up a wealth of new possibilities for greater success and fulfilment in every aspect of your life. In Creative Thinking For Dummies you’ll discover powerful tools for kicking your brain’s idea engine into high gear, along with easy-to-learn-and-use techniques for living more creatively and finding innovative solutions to all of life’s challenges. Think inside the box – discover why your brain works the way it does and what psychology and neuroscience have to say about obstacles to creative thinking and how to overcome themStart your engines! – use simple, proven techniques for getting into the zone and feeling at home there, including da Vinci’s principles of creative livingBrainstorm the castle – find innovative solutions to even the most daunting problems with brainstorming, lateral thinking exercises, visualisation and moreIdeate like there’s no tomorrow – generate amazing new ideas – fast! – using mind-mapping, word games, doodling, storytelling and other fun, easy techniquesTake your creativity to work – find out how to use creative thinking to get recognised at work, form better work relationships and advance your careerMainstream your imagination – learn how to make creativity integral to your everyday life and to live life with more humour, happiness, inspiration and fun! Open the book and find: What creative thinking is and how it happens in the brainWays to open yourself up to living more creativelyHow to unleash your imagination and realise your creative potentialTools for generating great new ideas in a hurryCreative problem-solving techniquesMethods for improving your mind with whole-brain thinkingTips for learning faster and better and remembering moreIdeas for being creative at work – and making creativity work for you