WEBVTT 00:00:12.331 --> 00:00:14.621 The creative process — you know this — 00:00:14.621 --> 00:00:17.521 from the first idea to the final product, 00:00:17.521 --> 00:00:19.411 is a long process. 00:00:19.411 --> 00:00:21.951 It’s super-iterative, lots of refinement, 00:00:21.951 --> 00:00:24.561 blood, sweat, tears and years. 00:00:24.561 --> 00:00:25.441 And we’re not saying 00:00:25.441 --> 00:00:26.431 you’re going to go out for a walk 00:00:26.431 --> 00:00:27.991 and come back with the Sistine Chapel 00:00:27.991 --> 00:00:28.681 in your left hand. 00:00:28.681 --> 00:00:29.321 Right? 00:00:29.321 --> 00:00:31.411 So what frame of the creative process 00:00:31.411 --> 00:00:32.411 did we focus on? 00:00:32.411 --> 00:00:33.431 Just this first part. 00:00:33.584 --> 00:00:34.964 Just brainstorming, 00:00:35.005 --> 00:00:36.325 coming up with a new idea. 00:00:38.096 --> 00:00:39.926 So we actually ran four studies 00:00:39.926 --> 00:00:41.816 with a variety of people. 00:00:42.013 --> 00:00:44.443 You were either walking indoors or outdoors. 00:00:44.527 --> 00:00:45.947 And all of these studies 00:00:45.947 --> 00:00:47.327 found the same conclusion. 00:00:47.865 --> 00:00:48.975 I’m only going to tell you 00:00:48.975 --> 00:00:49.685 about one of them today. 00:00:51.023 --> 00:00:53.433 One of the tests we used for creativity 00:00:53.433 --> 00:00:54.887 was alternate uses. 00:00:55.233 --> 00:00:57.103 In this test, you have four minutes. 00:00:57.118 --> 00:00:58.338 Your job is to come up 00:00:58.338 --> 00:00:59.388 with as many other ways to use 00:00:59.388 --> 00:01:00.258 common everyday objects 00:01:00.308 --> 00:01:02.008 as you can think of. 00:01:02.193 --> 00:01:03.193 So, for example, 00:01:03.203 --> 00:01:04.753 what else would you do with a key, 00:01:04.753 --> 00:01:05.963 other than to use it 00:01:05.963 --> 00:01:07.043 for opening up a lock? 00:01:07.710 --> 00:01:08.900 Clearly, 00:01:08.925 --> 00:01:09.795 you could use it 00:01:09.795 --> 00:01:10.875 as a third eyeball 00:01:10.875 --> 00:01:11.895 for a giraffe, right? 00:01:12.429 --> 00:01:13.319 Maybe. 00:01:13.523 --> 00:01:14.413 That’s sort of interesting, 00:01:14.523 --> 00:01:15.583 kind of new. 00:01:16.009 --> 00:01:17.479 But is it creative? 00:01:17.661 --> 00:01:19.861 So people came up with as many ideas 00:01:19.925 --> 00:01:21.725 as they could, and we had to decide: 00:01:21.725 --> 00:01:23.465 Is this creative or not? 00:01:24.518 --> 00:01:26.558 The definition of creativity 00:01:26.637 --> 00:01:27.967 that a lot of people go with 00:01:27.967 --> 00:01:29.237 is “appropriate novelty”. 00:01:29.368 --> 00:01:31.048 For something to be appropriate, 00:01:31.048 --> 00:01:32.478 it has to be realistic, 00:01:32.544 --> 00:01:33.714 so unfortunately, 00:01:33.803 --> 00:01:36.333 you can’t use a key as an eyeball. 00:01:36.413 --> 00:01:37.063 Boo! 00:01:37.207 --> 00:01:39.927 But “novel,” the second thing, 00:01:39.981 --> 00:01:42.381 is that nobody had to have said it. 00:01:42.418 --> 00:01:43.748 So for us, novelty 00:01:43.816 --> 00:01:45.406 had to be appropriate first, 00:01:45.455 --> 00:01:46.755 and then for novelty, 00:01:46.755 --> 00:01:48.855 nobody else in the entire population 00:01:48.855 --> 00:01:50.665 that we surveyed could have said it. 00:01:50.724 --> 00:01:52.764 So you might think you could use a key 00:01:52.780 --> 00:01:54.580 to scratch somebody’s car, 00:01:54.580 --> 00:01:56.040 but if somebody else said that, 00:01:56.040 --> 00:01:56.890 you didn’t get credit for it. 00:01:56.890 --> 00:01:58.120 Neither of you did. 00:01:58.220 --> 00:02:01.460 However, only one person said this: 00:02:02.371 --> 00:02:03.471 “If you were dying 00:02:03.594 --> 00:02:05.374 and it were a murder mystery, 00:02:05.374 --> 00:02:06.274 and you had to carve 00:02:06.274 --> 00:02:07.964 the name of the murderer into the ground 00:02:07.964 --> 00:02:09.164 with your dying words.” 00:02:10.013 --> 00:02:11.603 One person said this. 00:02:12.452 --> 00:02:13.742 And it’s a creative idea, 00:02:13.742 --> 00:02:16.022 because it’s appropriate and it’s novel. 00:02:16.156 --> 00:02:17.506 You either did this test 00:02:17.506 --> 00:02:18.606 and came up with ideas 00:02:18.606 --> 00:02:19.756 while you were seated 00:02:19.776 --> 00:02:22.246 or while you were walking on a treadmill. 00:02:24.178 --> 00:02:25.528 They did the test twice, 00:02:25.528 --> 00:02:26.768 with different objects. 00:02:26.808 --> 00:02:27.738 Three groups: 00:02:27.850 --> 00:02:30.140 the first group sat first 00:02:30.205 --> 00:02:32.565 and then sat again for the second test. 00:02:32.898 --> 00:02:34.028 The second group 00:02:34.218 --> 00:02:36.968 sat first and then did the second test 00:02:37.012 --> 00:02:38.682 while walking on a treadmill. 00:02:38.915 --> 00:02:39.885 The third group 00:02:39.926 --> 00:02:41.176 -and this is interesting- 00:02:41.237 --> 00:02:43.007 they walked on the treadmill first, 00:02:43.008 --> 00:02:44.188 and then they sat 00:02:44.533 --> 00:02:45.333 OK 00:02:45.380 --> 00:02:46.480 so the two groups 00:02:46.480 --> 00:02:48.410 that sat together for the first test, 00:02:48.410 --> 00:02:50.410 they looked pretty similar to each other, 00:02:50.410 --> 00:02:52.680 and they averaged about 20 creative ideas 00:02:52.691 --> 00:02:53.531 per person. 00:02:54.208 --> 00:02:55.898 The group that was walking on the treadmill 00:02:56.300 --> 00:02:58.260 did almost twice as well. 00:02:59.110 --> 00:03:01.040 And they were just walking on a treadmill 00:03:01.040 --> 00:03:02.570 in a windowless room. 00:03:04.461 --> 00:03:06.251 Remember, they took the test twice. 00:03:06.332 --> 00:03:08.872 The people who sat twice for that second test 00:03:08.872 --> 00:03:10.302 didn’t get any better; 00:03:10.302 --> 00:03:11.572 practice didn’t help. 00:03:12.235 --> 00:03:13.785 But these same people who were sitting 00:03:13.850 --> 00:03:15.050 and then went on the treadmill 00:03:15.076 --> 00:03:16.426 got a boost from walking. 00:03:17.017 --> 00:03:18.467 Here’s the interesting thing. 00:03:19.274 --> 00:03:21.064 The people who were walking on the treadmill 00:03:21.090 --> 00:03:24.240 still had a residue effect of the walking, 00:03:24.323 --> 00:03:25.883 and they were still creative afterwards. 00:03:26.255 --> 00:03:27.505 So the implication of this 00:03:27.505 --> 00:03:28.855 is that you should go for a walk 00:03:28.924 --> 00:03:30.334 before your next big meeting 00:03:30.761 --> 00:03:32.931 and just start brainstorming right away. 00:03:34.688 --> 00:03:36.188 We have five tips for you 00:03:36.332 --> 00:03:39.372 that will help make this the best effect possible. 00:03:40.125 --> 00:03:42.395 First, you want to pick a problem 00:03:42.557 --> 00:03:44.117 or a topic to brainstorm. 00:03:44.909 --> 00:03:46.619 So, this is not the shower effect, 00:03:46.636 --> 00:03:47.896 when you’re in the shower 00:03:47.896 --> 00:03:49.086 and all of a sudden, a new idea pops 00:03:49.086 --> 00:03:50.176 out of the shampoo bottle. 00:03:50.218 --> 00:03:51.718 This is something you’re thinking about 00:03:51.718 --> 00:03:52.638 ahead of time. 00:03:52.695 --> 00:03:54.975 They’re intentionally thinking about brainstorming 00:03:54.975 --> 00:03:56.725 a different perspective on the walk. 00:03:58.383 --> 00:04:00.233 Secondly — I get asked this a lot: 00:04:00.251 --> 00:04:01.901 Is this OK while running? 00:04:02.175 --> 00:04:03.625 Well, the answer for me 00:04:03.637 --> 00:04:05.057 is that if I were running, 00:04:05.065 --> 00:04:06.955 the only new idea I would have 00:04:06.955 --> 00:04:09.025 would be to stop running, so. 00:04:10.749 --> 00:04:12.049 But if running for you 00:04:12.058 --> 00:04:13.598 is a comfortable pace, good. 00:04:14.168 --> 00:04:16.898 It turns out, whatever physical activity 00:04:16.898 --> 00:04:18.518 is not taking a lot of attention. 00:04:18.518 --> 00:04:20.198 So just walking at a comfortable pace 00:04:20.198 --> 00:04:21.868 is a good choice. 00:04:22.472 --> 00:04:23.762 Also, you want to come up 00:04:23.762 --> 00:04:25.462 with as many ideas as you can. 00:04:25.462 --> 00:04:26.832 One key of creativity 00:04:26.832 --> 00:04:28.772 is to not lock on that first idea. 00:04:28.778 --> 00:04:29.658 Keep going. 00:04:29.676 --> 00:04:31.406 Keep coming up with new ones, 00:04:31.601 --> 00:04:33.701 until you pick one or two to pursue. 00:04:34.654 --> 00:04:37.004 You might worry that you don’t want 00:04:37.004 --> 00:04:38.114 to write them down, 00:04:38.114 --> 00:04:39.914 because what if you forget them? 00:04:39.944 --> 00:04:41.834 So the idea here is to speak them. 00:04:41.892 --> 00:04:43.825 Everybody was speaking their new ideas. 00:04:43.825 --> 00:04:45.685 So you can put your headphones on 00:04:45.685 --> 00:04:47.315 and record through your phone 00:04:47.315 --> 00:04:50.805 and then just pretend you’re having a creative conversation, right? 00:04:50.885 --> 00:04:52.945 Because the act of writing your idea down 00:04:52.945 --> 00:04:54.006 is already a filter. 00:04:54.006 --> 00:04:54.736 You’re going to be like, 00:04:54.736 --> 00:04:56.096 “Is this good enough to write down?” 00:04:56.096 --> 00:04:57.206 And then you write it down. 00:04:57.206 --> 00:04:58.836 So just speak as many as you can, 00:04:58.836 --> 00:05:00.976 record them and think about them later. 00:05:01.169 --> 00:05:03.359 And finally: don’t do this forever. 00:05:03.448 --> 00:05:04.258 Right? 00:05:04.283 --> 00:05:07.003 If you’re on the walk and that idea’s not coming to you, 00:05:07.003 --> 00:05:09.173 come back to it later at another time. 00:05:09.960 --> 00:05:12.680 So, I think we’re coming up on a break right now, 00:05:12.824 --> 00:05:13.994 so I have an idea: 00:05:14.219 --> 00:05:15.809 Why don’t you grab a leash 00:05:15.987 --> 00:05:18.257 and take your thoughts for a walk? 00:05:19.435 --> 00:05:21.965 Thank you.