Unlock Your Own Creativity – Roger Von Oech

Q. What are the basic principles to unlock one’s own creativity?

Roger Von Oech, the author of the essay “Unlock Your Own Creativity” expresses his opinion that in this changing world one cannot have his thoughts and ideas locked up in his mind. Man has to be open-minded and not to have any conservative thinking which stands as an obstacle for his all-round development.  New ideas and creativity in the minds of the people should germinate and give scope for discovery of what nobody has thought. Mental locks should be freed and unlocked to give opportunity for the new ideas. The adults are used to find a set of answers to a set of questions. They think only in one dimension. The children think freely and with a natural ease. Thus the children are more creative than adults because they let their minds run free. So the adults remain with no new ideas.

Fortunately creativity is not all that mysterious. According to the Nobel prize-winning physician, Albert Szent-Györgi, the important trait of the creativity is “Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought”.

A whack (hit) on the head or some kind of push is required to strike the ideas. The falling apple awakened Alfred Newton to discover the laws of gravitation. Similarly some big blows make people think differently.  If a person loses his job, or if a person wants to do some difficult work, he or she is likely to respond creatively. People when faced with some challenges big or trivial, they set to think creatively.  Otherwise the mental locks will hold the persons to think freely. To over come these mental locks the author suggests uncritical acceptance of seven common mental locks in his famous book “A Whack on one side of the head” they are:

1. Find the right answer:

We are taught that there is one right answer to every problem. But in reality, many important issues are open-ended. Suppose if we have a problem like: “What do I do now if I have lost my job?”  The accepted right answer is —‘Look for another job’. But there is a second right answer also, —‘Go back to school and, learn a new trade’. And there is third possible answer is —‘Start your own business’. If you merely try to look for a second answer, that would produce the new idea you need. It is very important to note that according to Emile Chartier ‘Nothing is more dangerous than an idea when it is the only one we have’.

2. That’s not logical:

Hard and logical thinking can be death to new ideas, because it eliminates alternatives that seem contradictory. New ideas germinate faster in the loose soil of soft thinking, which finds similar ties and connections among different things or situations.

 3. Follow the rules:

To get an idea, we have to break rules that no longer make sense. Some times a new idea may lead on to a new rule.

4. Be practical

To grow ideas one should need a wide realm of the possible rather than the narrow one of the practical. Ask yourself: ‘What if …?’ you may likely stumble at the new ideas.

5. Don’t be foolish:

Many times being humorous you can get new ideas. Being foolish is the form of play. If necessity is mother of invention, play is its father. Be foolish and write down the ideas that come to your mind.

6. That’s not my area:

Fresh ideas almost invariable come from outside one’s field of specialization. Creative people have to be generalists, interested in everything. What you learn in one field might prove useful in another. We are all generalists at home from where we start being creative.

7. I am not creative:

Most of us think that creativity is only for artists and inventors. If we think like this, we will not try creative solutions to any important problem. Self-esteem is essential for creativity because any new idea makes you a pioneer. Once you put an idea into action, you are out there alone taking risks of failure and ridicule.

We need the change that comes through creative thinking of all people, not just geniuses.

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