On his The Frontal Cortex blog, Jonah Lehrer writes about a fascinating study of creativity in which half of a large group of undergraduates were given this instruction:
"You are 7 years old. School is canceled, and you have the entire day to yourself. What would you do? Where would you go? Who would you see?"
The other half were given this instruction:
"You have the entire day to yourself. What would you do? Where would you go? Who would you see?"
Each group spent ten minutes writing their answers. Then they were given tests of creativity.
The group that had imagined themselves as kids scored higher, coming up with more ideas and ideas that were more original.
It may be that simply remembering a time when your thinking as less structured and life was more full of possibilities brings back some of those memories. If you're experiencing a creative block of some kind, it could be worth doing that exercise for ten minutes and then returning to your task with a more open mind.
(There are 25 ways to get into a creative state and 25 ways to generate more ideas in my newest book, "Creativity Now!" published by Pearson and available from Amazon and other online and offline retailers.)
