Same or Different: A Crash Course in Creativity

In high school German class, there was a portion called "Same or Different." The teacher would say two words. If they were the same word, you wrote "same" on your test. If they were different, you wrote "different." (Not kidding, that's exactly it.) Every time the teacher read words that were different—very obviously different—the class would chuckle and scribble its answer. What was funny to me was how jarring "different" was. Hearing the same word twice was reassuring. Hearing different words was disarming (and, because of the context, hilarious).

I never forgot how great a feeling "disarming" is. It gets people's attention. It demands an explanation or at least prompts questions. Having produced content for 20 years, I'm constantly trying to produce ideas that capture that jarring feeling. That's why your personal creative process is so important. Great ideas don't just happen; they're the result of time and work, trial and error. So let's look at a few simple steps to improve your creative process and output.

Understand What Creativity Is

A lot of smart people have tried to define creativity. Ruth Noller, a professor of mathematics, developed a statistical formula to describe the factors that produce creative behavior. In her formula, represented as C = a(KIE), she indicated that creativity is the interaction between knowledge (K), imagination (I), and evaluation (E). She suggested that a crucial catalyst in this formula is the individual's attitude, (a). So, creativity isn't just imagination. It's a chemistry between factors. Notice that these are attributes that every person has.

Use Your Attitude

As put forth in that formula, your outlook and attitude are essential to the type of work you do. They provide your starting point with any new idea. If you're a fan of Seinfeld, you can tell the difference between episodes written by Larry David and those of Larry Charles. One is very absurdist, even silly. The other is very dark, sometimes existential. These two men wrote for the same show but have much different filters they use to observe the world.

Start From Point A, With No Point B

People can use a number of creative processes. Some follow an endless cycle. Some inch closer to great ideas. Some circle around great ideas. Some suffer through ups and downs. Some wait around for inspiration to find them. (This is also called "going to college" or "avoiding work.") The key to developing your own creative process is to say "yes."

In fact, this is one of the foundational principles of improvisational theatre, which is the art of building scenes, stories, and characters on the fly. Whatever the circumstance, you accept, not negate. In working through your ideas, your job is not to judge your ideas; rather, it's to nurture them, from infants into adults, sometimes in the span of seconds. Give every idea the chance to grow into the inspired solution it wants to be. Where ideas ultimately "live" is determined later, not during their development.

Form Professional Relationships, Not Personal Ones

This might just be the hardest part about creative thinking. You come up with something that seems promising. It has a few truly exciting morsels. But, the idea just doesn't quite solve the problem. So, now you are faced with a tough choice: protect the idea or move on. It can be extremely difficult, but getting emotionally attached to ideas can cloud your thinking and be counterproductive. Filmmaker Christopher Guest, known for Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, and Spinal Tap, is a great example of this approach. For each of those 90-minute films, more than 40 hours of footage was shot. Be ready to throw out 90 percent of your ideas.

Think in Analogies

The truth is, in life, many unrelated things function in similar ways. That is why analogies are powerful tools of learning and understanding. The assembly line was a creative solution to the inefficiencies of making automobiles. Historically, cars were stationary, and the workers would move. With the assembly line, the opposite became true. The concept came from Ford engineer William "Pa" Klann, who observed a "disassembly line" at a meat packing plant. Analogies help us look outside our world and learn new languages.

Exercise to Be Fit

Writers write. Painters paint. Slam dunk champions try different ways to spin in the air. Creatives create. Think of it as marathon training. Ryan Vail, who has been called the “new face of elite American running”, trained by running up to 150 miles per week for the New York City Marathon. Carve out time every single day to think, write, draw, crack (not quote) a joke, or generally just do something new. This way, when it comes time for the race, you have the muscles to do it.

Greg Roth is a writer, speaker, and consultant who is working on a book about creativity and selling ideas. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregrothcreativ or visit his site at grcreative.net.

This post originally appeared in ASAE's Associations Now Plus.