Photo by Ebeth

Let’s test your creativity. I am going to tell you a real story, a problem; let’s see if you can derive a creative solution to this problem.

There was a hotel; a grand, historical five star hotel established since the 1940s. Everything was great about the hotel; posh, grand, cozy and all, except for one thing. The old elevators were too old and too slow. These were the very first batch of elevators designed for high rise building installed more than 40 years ago. It was taking too long to reach the customers in the upper floors, and the hotel management was getting a lot of complaints about the slow elevators.

The hotel management called in the engineers and they proposed two solutions:

1. To change the existing elevators to the latest, faster models.
2. To add more elevators to the hotel.

Both options would cost the hotel management a hefty sum which was way beyond their budget. Can you think of any other solution to this problem?

You Are A Creative Genius

When we talk about creativity, we think of names like Leonardo Da Vinci, Albert Einstein, Picasso… Some think that being creative is a gift that is limited to the blessed few, but it is not. Everybody has creativity in them, and it can be harnessed with the proper process or steps, which I have learned and will share with you today.

1. Maintain An Open Mindset. The first step to creativity is to get out of rut thinking. That means stop confining yourself to a limited life; go out there and experience new things, meet new people, read widely. All these new experiences will help you to see new perspective, appreciate differences, and truly understand, appreciate that there is more than one way to skin a cat.

   This step sets the stage for out-of-the-box thinking, without which, you have a tendency to limit yourself to the most direct or straightforward solutions, like the ones the engineers have proposed in the story above.

2. Focus On The Problem Or Opportunity. The second step to creativity is to understand what problem you are trying to solve, or opportunity you are trying to pursue. Sit down and think about it; without jumping straight into the how-to of the solution, think about what are the end results that you are trying to pursue.

   In the story above, are the elevators the real problem? Is getting the elevators to move faster the real results that the hotel management is seeking?

3. Step Away. Once you have clearly defined what you are trying to achieve. Step away. Leave it there at the back of your mind. You must understand that solutions do not necessarily come immediately; you’ve got to give it time for your creativity to digest the problem/opportunity and respond. Our subconscious is very powerful and will provide you the answers when you least expect it.

   Tina Su has an interesting take on the relationship between creativity and spirituality.

   In her article, she claimed that maintaining a relaxed state of mind allows your creativity to surface. It is the same as what I’m saying here. Relax and let your all powerful subconscious mind work on the solution. By being uptight and stressed about the issue, you are actually stifling your creativity.

4. The “Eureka!” Moment. This is the easiest part. If you allow yourself to relax, then answers may come to you at the least expected moment. I call it the “Eureka!” moment; that’s when the light bulb in your head lights up.

   It may happen anytime; when you are in the toilet, bathing, eating, or even from your dreams. I get some of my blog ideas from my dreams, when I’m bathing or even when sitting on the toilet bowl!

   It is also worthy to note that renowned creative geniuses like Albert Einstein and Leonardo are known to walk around with a notebook and doodling notes. What they are doing is in fact noting down their inspirations. Make sure you note down the ideas at the ‘Eureka’ moment, before they slip away.

   You may also like to list down all the ideas that comes to you like in a brainstorm session. Luciano has a good article on using a list of 100 to tackle issue. The list will serve you well as a platform to narrow in onto a actual solution.

5. Test The Idea. Once you have the idea, that’s not the end. Test it. Execute the idea either by running an experiment, or a pilot test. As great as the idea may seem, you won’t know if it works until you put it to a test.

   By running a pilot, you get to find out the viability of the idea without incurring the full consequences of a full fledged execution. With the results, review, revised the idea and re-execute.

6. Appreciate The Results. Whatever results you achieve with these steps, appreciate them; be grateful that you are making small progresses in the direction of your desired end results. This reinforces and encourages your subconscious to provide more ‘Eureka!’ moments. It also provides you the emotional motivations needed to sustain any long term endeavors.
7. Repeat and Recycle. The more you do this, the better you get. You will notice yourself becoming more aware and receptive of cues and hints that you subconscious mind is constantly dropping you. Over time, you will find yourself getting bombarded with so much ideas that you can’t find enough time to test them all.

   In any case, just note them down, and you can revisit them later. Sometimes, you can combine, synthesize new ideas with old ones, and have something new altogether. Essentially, you end up with a notebook full of creative ideas. I maintain a notebook of ideas for blogs too.

Alright, have you gotten the solution to the elevator problem?

The hotel management finally came up with a much cheaper solution that solved the customer complaints. They installed full length mirrors at all lift landings in the hotel.

You see, the real cause of the problem is customers getting impatient, and their perception of long waiting time. The mirrors shift the customers’ attention from ‘waiting’ mindset to ‘appreciate-myself-in-the-mirror’ mindset; thus changing the perception of a long waiting time, and solving the problem! It’s quite an interesting story about creativity, isn’t it?

Did you get a similar solution?

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