3 Ways to Train Your Brain for Bigger and Better Ideas
For starters, you need to
stop overthinking it.
Organizations
and entrepreneurs are looking for ways to
encourage more innovative thinking. But,
according to John Assaraf of The
Secret and MyNeuroGym.com, thinking is the problem -- the process of thinking
actually "by definition cancels out the neural process of
creativity," effectively killing innovation. Here he sheds light on the
brain processing required for greater innovation as well as the secrets to
encouraging and invoking innovation.
"Creativity, imagination and innovation
are a part of a neural process that occurs in some of the newest evolutionary
structures of the brain. Creativity is a whole-brain phenomenon that takes a
totally different level of complexity." Begin with the prefrontal cortex,
which Assaraf calls the "Einstein Brain: the CEO; Executive Director; the
GPS system -- the part of the brain where you can think of all the possibilities
and then activate the occipital part of the brain to imagine an outcome."
This brain process allows us to disconnect the frontal lobe
"thinking" portion and tap into our intuition and imagination, which
"Einstein believed to be more powerful than knowledge."
Assaraf defines intuition as "what you
know before you think." So what are the secrets to intuiting versus
thinking?
1. Stop thinking and let it go.
When you are in the shower, sometimes you get
a "spark of genius when your brain radio is open to accepting external
frequencies." Getting into a free flowing, mind-wandering state allows the
mind to go into a semiconscious daydream where you can access a field of
information and patterns outside the regular neural network.
Only 40 to 50 brain waves are active at any
given time and lists and busy lives keep the mind too crowded. Purposeful
activation of the intuitive frequency requires "mindful stillness."
Slowing down, sitting quietly, and being present help bring on a relaxed state
to give your creativity a chance to rise above the noise.
2. Speed your way to innovation.
Comedians and musicians familiar with the
concept of improvisation are capable of being in "a state of flow, turning
off an over-thinking brain, and turning on the creative flow." For those
who went to art school, gesture drawing is the equivalent, forcing the capture
of just the essence of what's important. Any exercise that uses speed works to
tap into what you know before you think, getting the "thinker out of the
way." If you don't have time to think, you can't overdesign or overthink,
and you can ignite the innovation process.
3. Practice the creative flow.
Innovative imagining is natural for kids. It
is schooling that forces a young child to turn on the developing left prefrontal
cortex and focus, disrupting the imagination process. Although not
scientifically proved, it is believed that the majority of our creative neurons
shut off by the age of 30, so "we have to work harder to disinhibit
thinking brain and turn on the flow of intuition." Through meditative
practices and other mind-stilling brain exercises, like MyNeuroGym's Innercise,
brain retraining can occur, "forming new connections and growing new brain
cells."
Trying to think innovative uses the state of
the familiar within the brain and cannot possibly achieve creative, truly
innovative solutions. Flow into intuiting your way to innovation instead.
BY TRACY LEIGH HAZZARD
http://www.inc.com/tracy-leigh-hazzard/why-john-assaraf-believes-design-thinking-is-killing-innovation.html?cid=em01020week07a
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