Need to be more creative? Give yourself a “Whack on The Side of the Head”

April 21, 2010 8830 Comments2010-04-21+11%3A54%3A21Ben+Nash

Can you train yourself to be a better creative thinker? Answer: Yes! Everyone can be more creative, so says Roger von Oech, author of a great little book called “A Whack on the Side of the Head – How You Can Be More Creative”.

Apparently the brain comes in two halves (see http://blog.ted.com/2008/03/jill_bolte_tayl.php). The left-hemisphere is associated with logical and sequential thinking – the sort of analytical thinking that accountants, engineers, and scientists do. The right side of the brain is associated with pattern thinking, visualization, and intuition rather than logic—the kind of thinking that painters and poets engage in.

When we are children we can uses both sides of our brains quite easily in play, but as we grow older our socialization and education tends to push us towards using our left brain. This leaves many people with under-developed right brains due to under use. It’s like exercising your left arm when you go to the gym but not working out with your right arm—you will feel a little out of balance with a bulging left bicep and a wimpy right handshake!

So go get yourself a “A Whack on the Side of the Head – How You Can Be More Creative” and do the work out exercises for your right brain. Who knows—there may be a creative genius in there waiting to get out!