- My Favorites
- Search
- Subscribe via RSS
- Browse Articles
- All Articles
- Creativity Articles
- Vocabulary Articles
- Memory Articles
- Stress Articles
- Topics
- All Topics
- Creativity Topics
- Vocabulary Topics
- Memory Topics
- Stress Topics
- Special Topics
- Vocabulary
- Boost Memory
- Diet, Fitness & the Mind
- Most Popular Articles
Mentalrobics®
Mentalrobics®
- My Favorites
- Search
- Subscribe via RSS
- Browse Articles
- All Articles
- Creativity Articles
- Vocabulary Articles
- Memory Articles
- Stress Articles
- Topics
- All Topics
- Creativity Topics
- Vocabulary Topics
- Memory Topics
- Stress Topics
- Special Topics
- Vocabulary
- Boost Memory
- Diet, Fitness & the Mind
- Most Popular Articles
- My Favorites
- Search
- Subscribe via RSS
- Browse Articles
- All Articles
- Creativity Articles
- Vocabulary Articles
- Memory Articles
- Stress Articles
- Topics
- All Topics
- Creativity Topics
- Vocabulary Topics
- Memory Topics
- Stress Topics
- Special Topics
- Vocabulary
- Boost Memory
- Diet, Fitness & the Mind
- Most Popular Articles
You exercise your body to stay physically in shape, so why shouldn't you exercise your brain to stay mentally fit? With these daily exercises you will learn how to flex your mind, improve your creativity and boost your memory. As with any exercise, repetition is necessary for you to see improvement, so pick your favorite exercises from our daily suggestions and repeat them as desired. Try to do some mentalrobics every single day!
Have you ever had the problem where you have a deadline for a project and can't think of a satisfactory solution before the deadline, but then as soon as the deadline passes, a better solution springs to mind? This happens because your unconscious mind is an extremely important player when it comes to creativity. You must learn to start projects early and take breaks to give your unconscious mind time to ponder the problem. Pulling an "all-nighter" to finish up a project right before the deadline will never result in the best solution because your unconscious will never have a chance to process the problem.
It is also important to make sure that you allow your mind to relax during these breaks. If you are too stressed out, your mind will not be able to get into a state where your unconscious can freely think about the problem.
It is also important to make sure that you allow your mind to relax during these breaks. If you are too stressed out, your mind will not be able to get into a state where your unconscious can freely think about the problem.
Emotional blocks can affect our ability to communicate our creative ideas to others. One of these emotional blocks is a fear of taking risks and making a mistake. Another block is the predilection to judge ideas prematurely. This is why deferring judgment is a strategy used by creative people.
Another emotional block is the inability to tolerate chaos or ambiguity. New ideas are by nature not perfect. They are going to be rough around the edges and may have conflicting points. Through an iterative refinement process, you will be able to resolve these ambiguities.
The lack of a challenge can also be an emotional block. If you are not challenged, then you are not going to be interested in the outcome and it is unlikely that you will be able to put a lot of creative energy into new and interesting ideas. Picking problems that interest you, or finding ways to add excitement to uninteresting problems will help.
Another emotional block is the inability to tolerate chaos or ambiguity. New ideas are by nature not perfect. They are going to be rough around the edges and may have conflicting points. Through an iterative refinement process, you will be able to resolve these ambiguities.
The lack of a challenge can also be an emotional block. If you are not challenged, then you are not going to be interested in the outcome and it is unlikely that you will be able to put a lot of creative energy into new and interesting ideas. Picking problems that interest you, or finding ways to add excitement to uninteresting problems will help.
If you are ever stuck in a meeting or brainstorm session where people are out of ideas or unable to agree on an issue, ask this question to get people thinking differently:
What would your mother do in this situation?
Not only does this infuse some humor into the situation, but it usually makes people a little more agreeable and a little less judgmental. After all, it's not very polite to disparage someone's mother. By thinking about what your mother would do, you are also forcing yourself to think about alternate solutions which can help come up with interesting ideas.
What would your mother do in this situation?
Not only does this infuse some humor into the situation, but it usually makes people a little more agreeable and a little less judgmental. After all, it's not very polite to disparage someone's mother. By thinking about what your mother would do, you are also forcing yourself to think about alternate solutions which can help come up with interesting ideas.
Synectics is a problem solving technique similar to brainstorming, but with more complexity and structure. A leader is chosen to facilitate the session. The leader is not allowed to contribute to the solution; they are there only to facilitate and record what the group produces.
Define
The leader asks the group for a goal or problem statement to define the session. The leader chooses a keyword from this phrase and writes it down so everyone can see it.
Analogies
The leader now selects a topic that is completely unrelated to the discussion topic. The group is now asked to come up with examples of the keyword that relate to the new topic.
For example, lets say that the goal is to build a better toaster and that the keyword is "food". The leader might choose the topic of "music" and ask the group to come up with analogies and examples of how "food" and "music" are alike.
Associations
The leader instructs the group to ignore the goal for the moment and to focus on the examples produced by the "analogy" step. They are to work individually and write down any associations that they have with any of the examples that were produced about the unrelated topic.
Absurd Idea
The group is now asked to work in pairs and use these associations to come up with an idea that addresses the original problem from the "define" stage. This idea will likely be impossible, impractical or silly. Present these ideas to the group.
Refine
In this step, the group takes the absurd ideas from the previous step and combines and refines them to make them more practical and applicable to the goal. This step often produces some surprising and creative solutions to the original problem.
Define
The leader asks the group for a goal or problem statement to define the session. The leader chooses a keyword from this phrase and writes it down so everyone can see it.
Analogies
The leader now selects a topic that is completely unrelated to the discussion topic. The group is now asked to come up with examples of the keyword that relate to the new topic.
For example, lets say that the goal is to build a better toaster and that the keyword is "food". The leader might choose the topic of "music" and ask the group to come up with analogies and examples of how "food" and "music" are alike.
Associations
The leader instructs the group to ignore the goal for the moment and to focus on the examples produced by the "analogy" step. They are to work individually and write down any associations that they have with any of the examples that were produced about the unrelated topic.
Absurd Idea
The group is now asked to work in pairs and use these associations to come up with an idea that addresses the original problem from the "define" stage. This idea will likely be impossible, impractical or silly. Present these ideas to the group.
Refine
In this step, the group takes the absurd ideas from the previous step and combines and refines them to make them more practical and applicable to the goal. This step often produces some surprising and creative solutions to the original problem.
Close your eyes and try to recreate the following smells. This exercise helps improve your ability to form concrete impressions from memory.
1. A rotten egg
2. Pumpkin pie
3. Wet dog
4. Freshly cut grass
5. A new car
How well did you do at recreating the smells?
For more of these exercises try Mental Smells I.
1. A rotten egg
2. Pumpkin pie
3. Wet dog
4. Freshly cut grass
5. A new car
How well did you do at recreating the smells?
For more of these exercises try Mental Smells I.
Follow Braingle!