I was raised Catholic so I am steeped in the art and cathartic experience of admitting and confessing things. It often feels good to get something off your chest. Note, there is a debate in psychology about having a cathartic experience of an emotional release and the idea that if you think and act a certain way, then you will feel that way. Both have some validity. Sometimes it is good to explore thoughts and express feelings. But, other times, doing so might increase the intensity and frequency of those thoughts and feelings. Ok, psychology lesson over.
Let’s go back to my confession. When I start writing these posts and episodes, I don’t actually know where they are going to end up. Oh, sometimes, when I start, I have an idea I want to explore and even a method or metaphor to explore it. But, once I start typing, I don’t know what will come out. To quote the eminent business philosopher of the mid 2000’s Michael Scott, “sometimes I’ll start a sentence and I don’t even know where it’s going.”
This goes against lots of instincts that have been instilled into me by countless teachers. I bet if you are reading this, the idea that before we start writing, we should have a clear thesis and an outline has been drilled into you. That is not wrong. It simply depends on the type of writing a person is doing.
If you have ever written fiction or a blog about where good ideas come from, I bet you have experienced (at least in short bursts) the zone. Where your fingers just kinda typed without you thinking. – without you consciously thinking. Quick little game for you to play. Next time you are typing, try to think about how you type as you type. It’s like trying to think not think about breathing. Your conscious mind can screw up the flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 2008). Being aware of being in the zone will bump you out of the zone.
So when I type these posts/episodes, my unconscious mind – which more accurately would be the procedural memory that is encoded in countless neurons in my cerebellum at the base of my brain, just kinda makes the muscles of my fingers flex and relax. And, if you are listening or reading this, then you surely have felt this. Whether it is typing, daydreaming on a walk, playing a pick-up game of ball, or painting a painting. Procedural or implicit memory is the label that we put onto physical tasks that we have learned so well that we do not have to consciously think.
Of course, to get into that zone, to not think about the minutiae of moving certain body parts, you would have to have learned the movements and skills so deeply, it transitions into overlearning. Basically, any physical task can be learned so well that a person can do it unconsciously. But we can’t do those tasks unconsciously if we haven’t done them enough for the information to move from the conscious cerebral cortex to the unconscious cerebellum. Let me sum that up, you can’t do it if you don’t know it. We’re going to come back to that simplistic phrase as we discuss why we can’t have a good idea in a domain that we know nothing about.
This is important for athletes, for performers, and for the rest of us, because if we think of doing those automatic tasks consciously, we usually screw it up. Now…. for the whole point of The Creativity Algorithm, can we make having good ideas as automatic as typing, walking, painting or whatever has become a procedural memory? Let me postpone giving a definitive answer on how the mind works. But I will say that just as consciously thinking about typing will lead to typos and a screeching halt to the flow, consciously trying to be creative will scare off any ideas that might peek into your mind from the unconscious.
Let me tell you a story from more than a decade ago that might have been the seed of The Creativity Algorithm. When my daughter was eight or so, she would lose herself for hours in her Lego sets. Of course, if she heard me talk about this, she’d be embarrassed, but, I’m a dad, so….She was most happy sitting on the floor under her bunk bed with a zillion pieces scattered around her. Well, like an over-organized, un-fun, psychologist dad who wanted to know what was going on in her mind, I asked her what she was making with her Legos. She said, ‘I don’t know, I’m not done yet.’ Wow…. I’m still writing and talking about that years later.
She had innocently said something that we all probably knew and then forgot as we stopped playing. Good ideas emerge from the unconscious through play. My research hasn’t taught me this, it reminded me of this. For her, playtime was process-oriented, not product oriented. She wasn’t consciously trying. Her unconscious was blending pieces and parts from several different lego sets and she didn’t know what amazing thing it would come up with. Just like me when I start writing these episodes/posts. What I found fascinating was she didn’t try to rush it and she certainly wasn’t consciously concentrating.
But, she couldn’t have assembled with her creation if her unconscious couldn’t find the right pieces. And, we can’t have a good idea if we don’t have the right “pieces” in our unconscious. The pieces I’m talking about are the knowledge, skills, and experiences we have gained through, living, learning, and practice. I know, know matter how I’ve tried, after countless examples of saying something dumb, I have not yet had an idea for a time machine. Why, I don’t know anything about quantum physics. Thus, I don’t have the right Lego pieces for my unconscious to assemble into a good idea.
Which brings us back to the fun in fundamentals. Do we have enough “Lego Pieces” knowledge, experience, expertise for our unconscious to play with? Before anyone answers that, ask any kid, you can never have enough Lego pieces. Also, the best Lego creations come from mixing and matching pieces from different sets. Pieces from a pirate set can go with a spiderman set, can go with a rocket ship set to create something completely new.
So going back to the question of do we have enough knowledge, let’s ask what type of knowledge. I said expertise a few sentences ago. That points us towards deep knowledge. Knowing lots and lots of facts in a particular area. That’s great, but good ideas often mix elements from different areas. Most plants cant pollinate themselves and following the directions to put together a Lego set is enjoyable. But letting your unconscious mix and match, that is where the real good ideas come from.
Writing this episode/blog has been enjoyable. Why did I write that last sentence? Well, because I didn’t know that I would be writing about Legos when I started it. It’s like, after 900 or so words, my conscious mind woke up after napping in a car and said where are we. Please, know, I did not write the bulk of this episode/post in an unbroken stream of consciousness. Nope. Not even close. Every sentence or so, heck maybe it was every word or so, I got distracted and watched random videos on YouTube.
I know, I know, I should stick with it, stay focused and not procrastinate. Well… just like with starting with a thesis and having an outline, not procrastinating and not taking frequent breaks might be good for some projects but not all. In a later post/episode, we’ll talk about the importance of procrastination and how the right type of procrastination is a skill that must be practiced.
Takeaway for this week: Get distracted. Give your conscious mind a break. Do your hobby, mown the lawn without headphones, go for a walk, boredom is the conscious mind trying to hang on. Go past that. Let your conscious mind let go and let your unconscious take over.
Spreading the Thoughts: Ask your friends what new hobby, if learned, would most improve their current situation. What you are really asking them which new Lego pieces they want to add the collection they already have. If they ask why, tell them about this post/episode.
Next Post: Telescope vs Microscope
For more information on how to help yourself and people in your organization learn how to access solutions more regularly, please go to:
Website: Joeswope-publicspeaker.com
Youtube: youtube.com/@joeswope-publicspeaker
Podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/joe-swope
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/joe-swope-speaker
References
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2008). Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. HarperCollins.
The Creativity Algorithm 
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