The Secret of Unbridled Creativity

Dr. Yoshiro Nakamatsu is a Japanese inventor who holds more than 2,300 patents, that is, more than double the 1,093 patents held by Thomas Edison.  Among many other things, he invented the floppy disk and licensed the technology to IBM.  Some of his other inventions include the compact disc, the compact disc player, the digital watch, a unique golf putter, and the Love Jet Spray, which is a no-side-effect alternative to Viagra.

When developing ideas, Dr. Nakamatsu follows a very unique three-step process. He explains that in order to create you have to be relaxed.  So he created what he calls his “static” room, a place of peace and quiet.  The walls of the room are white and everything in the room is natural: a rock garden, natural running water, plants, a five-ton boulder from Kyoto, and so on.  The first step in his creativity process is to go into that room to free-associate, or throw out ideas and let his mind wander at will.  He indicates that free-association must be done before meditating, which is when he focuses his mind on one thing.

The second step is to go into the “dynamic” room, which is basically the opposite of the “static” room. The room is dark, with black-and-white-striped walls, leather furniture, and special audio and video equipment. He starts out by listening to jazz, then changes to what could be called “easy listening,” and then always ends with Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.  Here’s a picture of Dr. Nakamatsu’s “dynamic room” which I found at PingMag:

For the final stage he goes into his swimming pool for his “creative swimming”. He holds his breath and swims underwater, which is the point at which he claims that he comes up with his best ideas, basically, due to the effect that oxygen deprivation has on the brain.  In fact, he created a a Plexiglas writing pad which allows him to record his ideas under water. (Source).

So there you have it, the method for being incredibly prolific in coming up with new ideas.  For those of us who consider Dr. Nakamatsu’s creativity method rather extreme, here are three creativity techniques we can apply instead:

First Creativity Technique: Reverse Brainstorming

Reverse Brainstorming is a technique in which you state your problem in reverse: change a positive statement into a negative one, try to define what something is not, and so on.  Basically, it’s a combination of the well-known brainstorming technique with the technique of changing your perspective so that you can look at the problem or situation from a completely different angle.

For example, if there’s a customer service issue that you need to resolve, you can ask the following: “Let’s suppose we wanted to create the worst possible customer experience when anyone calls asking for assistance. An experience so bad that they would never want to do business with us again and would bad-mouth us to all their friends and family. What could we do to make this happen?” Once you complete reverse brainstorming, reverse all the negative ideas and these become your potential solutions.

Second Creativity Technique: SCAMPER

The SCAMPER technique was developed by Bob Eberle.  SCAMPER is an acronym which stands for questions relating to the following:

S - Substitute/Simplify

Think about substituting part of your product/process for something else. Typical questions include: What can I substitute to make an improvement? What if I swap this for that and see what happens?

C - Combine

Think about combining two or more parts of your problem to achieve a different product/process or to enhance synergy. Typical questions are: What materials, features, processes, people, products or components can I combine? Where can I build synergy?

A - Adapt

Think about which parts of the product/process could be adapted to remove the problem or think how you could change the nature of the product/process. Some typical questions that can be asked are: What part of the product could I change? And in exchange for what? What if I were to change the characteristics of a component?

M - Modify/distort

Think about distorting the product or process in an unusual way. Typical questions can include: What happens if I warp or exaggerate a feature or component? What will happen if I modify the process in some way?

P - Put to other Purposes

Think of how you might be able to put your current solution/ product/process to other purposes, or think of what you could reuse from somewhere else in order to solve your own problem. Typical questions are: What other market could I use this product in? Who or what else might be able to use it?

E - Eliminate

Think of what might happen if you eliminated various parts of the product/process/problem and consider what you might do in that situation.  You can ask the following questions: What would happen if I removed a component or part of it? How else would I achieve the solution without the normal way of doing it?

R - Rearrange

Think of what you would do if part of your problem/product/process worked in reverse or was done in a different order.  You can use this to see your problem from different angles and come up with new ideas. A typical question would be: What if I did it the other way round?

Third Creativity Technique: Use Visual Images

Sir Isaac Newton came up with the concept of universal gravitation when he noticed an apple falling from a tree and almost simultaneously saw the moon in the sky.  These two images appearing side by side led him to speculate whether the same laws governing the falling apple applied to the orbiting of the moon around the earth.

In order to apply this same idea to generate creative solutions to any problem you’re trying to resolve, make your own random picture cards. Cut out images from any advertising material or magazines that come across your desk. Choose images without text to allow a more right-brained approach. When you need to generate ideas simply shuffle through the cards and pick one at random. Now force associations between the image on the card you picked and your problem statement.

“The principle goal of education is to create men and women who are capable of doing new things, not simply of repeating what other generations have done - men and women who are creative, inventive, and discoverers.” — Jean Piaquet

photo credit: egarc2

Related Posts:

• 18 Ways to be Uber Creative
• Three Incredibly Effective Creativity Techniques
• Four Outstanding Thoughts on Innovation
• Thoughts to Get Your Creative Juices Flowing

Recommended Books:

• Cracking Creativity: The Secrets of Creative Genius
• A Whack on the Side of the Head: How You Can Be More Creative
• What a Great Idea! 2.0: Unlocking Your Creativity in Business and in Life

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Tagged as: Creativity, creativity techniques, Yoshiro Nakamatsu