GEA's Global HVAC Technology Blog

Who you callin' focused?

Good article! Makes some good points. I often get ideas while I'm out running a few miles for exercise. Some important things I've found about creativity are don't be afraid to break some rules, don't be afraid to use things for purposes for which they were never intended (I always enjoy this!), instead of looking at a problem in the logical, orderly method as taught in 6 Sigma, look at it from an upside down, bass-ackwards perspective for a different view that raises new questions. A little chaos and disorder is not a bad thing- it blurs the focus. I've heard that many breakthroughs came from scientists new to a field who had not yet fallen into the traditional ruts, and didn't know something wasn't supposed to work.

I always get ideas in the shower in the morning. To become more creative, you need to install a larger water heater.

Good Answer.

One of my maths teachers told us to always read all the questions in an exam before starting to answer any, because your subconscious mind starts working on the more difficult ones whilst your doing the earlier ones.

One more tip:

Think of something that will get you fired; then just modify it a bit.

I agree that the subconscious (or unconscious,depending on your details) can create, but the initiator of that creativity lies in the conscious. Normal people can pass by situations crying out for something new, better, or different, without a moment of interaction with that situation. Focus is not the enemy of creativity, it can be a path to creativity. Reading some threads on CR4 reveals patterns of responses: some provide answers to the questions, some provide alternatives to stated answers, some provide alternative questions. Even reading the question requires focus. Relaxation and alcohol are good for uptight, driven thinkers, but bad for those who already have access to other levels of their mind, through being emotionally or otherwise interested in the goal of the creativity. Of course, this assumes a focus. Unfocused creativity can be productive, but it is harder to make a living with it.

Some great comments. Reminds me of my younger days when I "justified" (at least to myself) longer lunch hour because I was so productive during my noontime run. Not focusing on my problems was highly effective and enjoyable.

I had copied my colleagues at GEA when I made this post since not everyone religiously checks our blog. I got a few feedback comments from my guys that I thought I would share with the rest.

Larry

To the GEA Team

Not being much of a blogger...I would like to share this with this small group. When the price of a stamp just went up from 44 cents to 45 cents...the brillance of the"forever" stamp finally hit me.

Regardless of what you paid for your postage stamps for mailing a 1 ounce letter, it is forever usable without having to run to the post office to purchase some 1 cent stamps. Also you cannot make a mistake when putting a stamp on an envelop with postage due at the receiving end or it is returned to you for insufficient postage because you did not know or forgot about the price increase. Finally, if the price goes up again in 3 months everyone is covered, right. I call this "creative" and most exciting, it came from a US Government agency !!!!! Now I ask, how can we apply this simple idea to our next project? In a way it is the old Engineering trick called "Form, Fit, and Function".

Regards Ed E

Hi all,

Cannot resist commenting on said topic.

The article could easily be used to justify why afternoon golf outings and company management brought in from outside the industry are good things. I dare say we ALL have encountered and suffered from such things in our tenures at big companies and would ALL beg to differ with such a viewpoint. Ok, I am preaching to the choir but it is fun to sometimes hear an 'amen'!!!!

My experience in training staff over the (35) years is that about 50% can become somewhat or very creative but not all. And creative is not necessarily a good thing. It is just one morally neutral attribute.

Yes we all can discover our hidden singing talent and we all can become rich selling soap to our neighbors. Let's not put false hopes and goals in front of those that are not destined for creativity. And perhaps those of you who are parents would wish that fewer of your two year olds were so creative with their mashed potatos!!

One time when facing some design challenges at a startup company I went to the hardware store and bought a half dozen 'things' then came back to the office and laid them down in front of the staff ( a half dozen at the time). They first looked aghast then a little disdainful but eventually began toying with the items and within the day had come up with more than one innovative solution including the final very successful outcome. The point of this small example is to point out, as mentioned above, that it is often the management (style) who can unleash creativity; but they can't do it if they don't even know an indoor unit from an outdoor unit and certainly not while they are on the golf course.

Bruce

so when i fall of the bar stool my creativity is at its peak?

The relaxed finding of the solution for the problem can only occur after absorption of the input parameters of the problem. How else to define the question?

I concur with the role of the subconcious in creativity and problem-solving.

I like to write down/draw a problem I'm trying to solve just before I sleep and I have noticed that in the morning I might have a completely new way of looking at it.

I "believe" that during sleep, the brain catalogues and sorts the information based on relations and contrast. The irrelevant information is selected for deletion but before this happens, the brain offers a "review" of the information in form of a dream. Immediately after I wake up, I remember the dream and if I keep thinking about it it will be stored. But if I don't think much of it it is permanently purged to never again occupy any precious neurons. I theorize that this is why dreams that are forgotten are never recovered even if I can recall that I had a certain dream.

Just a theory, however, Dmitri Mendelev reported that his idea that solved the mystery of the periodic table was concieved during/right after sleeping.

James Watt apparently invented the shot tower when he was woken up by a dread in which he was caught in a "rain storm" of molten lead.