So let's talk about the process of creative thinking and
how that's different from the process of ordinary thinking.
Most of the time we are doing ordinary sort of habitual thinking right?
Yeah.
And we talked about that in the last section and actually that's a good thing,
because it helps us get through the day,
quickly and efficiently right?
Yeah. And I think the thing to realize there is that,
now I'm going to, do this task.
Here's what I'm going to do right now.
And then you start acting and making progress.
And so we're aware usually of the story that we're building while doing our work.
So if someone said to you hey, what have you been up to.
You can tell them the story.
But what's less obvious is the perspective that I took on to generate that story.
Right. So, in order to be creative,
you have to actually know how to change through perspectives right?
Which Can be challenging.
Right. So we need to separate the story of what we're doing,
from the perspective on what we're doing and that's how
we distinguish ordinary thinking, from creative thinking.
So, in order to understand creative thinking,
we first need to understand ordinary thinking and distinguish between the two.
So, once we understand ordinary thinking,
we can think about how to change our perspective.
So, I think the first really important question to ask is,
what does it mean to use our perspectives?
Yeah, absolutely.
So let's take an example right.
So let's say you work at a bank right.
Congratulations, you just got a promotion, you got a raise.
So you work in a bank and it's annual review time.
So you're going to go in and you're thinking,
hey, I did a great job this year.
You know, I had a wonderful time.
I was really productive.
I'm going to go in and have a really nice discussion with my boss,
and they're going to recognize how well I did
and give me a great bonus and whatever right?
So, that's what you're thinking.
You know, you've been through annual reviews before,
you have an idea of what you think counts as good performance at the bank.
And so, you're using that perspective to anticipate the discussion,
hold the discussion, and possibly even after you're done,
go on with your day right?
Yes I've completed another annual review.
Maybe it was painful,
maybe it was exciting,
but you know it's what I basically expected it would be.
And so in that case,
you're drawing on an experience you've had in the past.
You're putting that perspective together,
to make sense of what you're doing and how to go about it.
And so your story is advancing but your perspective isn't really changing, right?
So you're using how to have an annual review conversation with my boss,
that perspective to advance through the story
of that particular annual review conversation.
So, I've used an existing perspective to advance a story to get something done.
So, that would be an example of the kinds of
ordinary thinking we rely on to sort of get through our day.
Exactly.
And we just sort of fall through with our assumptions.
And so what does it mean then to add to our perspective?
Right. So sometimes, the world throws
something at us that we didn't necessarily anticipate or
et cetera but it's entirely consistent with
our perspective or our perspective can allow for that possibility.
So, in that case,
you're going to need to incrementally or add a little bit onto your existing perspective.
So for example maybe your boss says,
"You know we have a new forum to fill out for annual reviews."
And so you didn't realize there was going
to be a forum but it's not that hard to imagine,
it's like okay I'll put my performance down on the form and I'll submit the form.
So, it's a trivial addition to
an ordinary perspective or even something a little more dramatic.
The boss might say, "Hey you know what,
the firm as a whole did terribly this year.
We have no money. " So, bonuses are going to be thin.
You might be upset,
you might be frustrated but you understand and you can say,
"Okay, I'm going to go in and have my conversation,
I'll have low expectations.
I'm not going to get a big bonus and I'm done."
So my perspective has shifted.
Oh there's a new form,
oh the bonus will be big,
but I haven't changed how I really think about anything.
I'm just updating information.
So the world changes around us and we have to make
incremental changes to our existing perspective that sort of add on,
but don't really dramatically change our view of the world.
Exactly, we accommodate them,
we accommodate the change.
Right. So that's an example again of
their ordinary process of thinking through things as they happen.
Exactly.
Then that begs the question,
how do you change your perspective rather than just add to it.
Right. So now we get to the good stuff.
So this is creativity.
So using and adding to our perspective,
our ordinary thinking processes.
And so the difference with creativity is that,
we're going to change our perspective.
So all right.
So maybe you get the form from your boss and it says something like,
how many times did you help a colleague win a client?
And you're thinking, wait a minute,
my annual review is about my individual performance, what's this?
Or maybe you think,
well the the firm doesn't have any money to give out but what else could they do for me.
Is there something other than money that I could ask for?
And that could be a shocking revelation.
You could go wait a minute.
You know, I didn't know they were measuring this kind of performance.
And now I feel totally differently about what I
did last year and what I might do next year.
Or you know can I think of something other than make money as a bonus from the bank.
Now, I think wow,
that introduces a whole new set of conversations.
So I've had a change in perspective.
And that involves reaching out of your sort of narrow point of view and
into areas that maybe are unfamiliar and then using those to move forward.
And go backwards.
So what's interesting about perspective changes is
not only do they open new pathways going forwards,
but they can change where you think you are right now,
and where you think you've been.
And you can completely reinterpret where
you've been, based on this change in perspective.
Right. It's like a plot twist in a story right?
It makes you go, "Oh,
that was what was going on earlier."
That's why nobody sits with me at lunch because I dint know that was part of my job.
So then, but there there's yet another sort of layer here
which or step here which involves completely changing your perspective.
So what's the process there?
Building an entirely new perspective.
Yeah. So not only can I flip from one way of looking at it to another,
but I could say well my old way isn't working,
but I don't have a new way and I have to construct that right?
And so you know, wow,
maybe I don't know anything about
non-monetary financial compensation, because I'm a bank.
I don't think about that stuff.
And so you might have to go out and learn right.
Oh, there's maybe flex time arrangements.
Never thought of that. Or you know whatever it might be.
Maybe they can put me up at night in a hotel.
So, I don't have to drive all the way home if I have
a late meeting and an early morning the next day.
So, you know, maybe they can get me a membership to a golf course,
so that I can develop new clients because that's where those people are.
So you may have to build entirely new ways of thinking about that conversation,
what it might be so that you can invent new options.
Right. And at this point that's very far from
where we begin this conversation in terms of
merely sort of adding to what you already know
and moving on with your life in a very incremental way,
assuming that there aren't any big surprises.
You know, completely changing your perspective
requires re-thinking everything you think you know,
and moving into something completely new which can be pretty scary.
Absolutely. Well and it might mean you have to go learn, right.
You know it might be, I don't know.
You know, let me get back to you
next week and I'll figure out what I should even be talking about with you,
because right now, I'm blank.
I've got to build a new way to think about it.
Yeah. So, I think what we're building to is this really important distinction where we
can actually talk about what differentiates ordinary thinking from creative thinking.
Yeah. So using and adding to our perspective is ordinary thinking.
And what that means is,
our perspective is not changing very much at all,
but our stories are progressing.
Whereas when you change your perspective or you build a new perspective,
usually your story isn't advancing much at all.
But your perspective is changing like crazy,
because we're figuring out a different way to even understand what we're doing.
And so, our stories stop,
but our perspectives change or get built and then that in turn is going to allow us
to feed back and tell entirely different stories than we had before.
Assume given how easy it is to stick with our habits.
One important thing that we are going to talk about would be,
what even leads us down that path?
Right. Yeah well we're going to get to that in a bit.
But I think that's why it's really helpful to
think about the difference between a story and a perspective.
So we often think about the story.
What am I doing now,
what did I do before,
what am I going to do next.
But it's also important to remember,
that there's not just the story,
but also my perspective on what's happening in my story.
And creativity is really about turning our attention to the perspective,
away from the story to the perspective and then making changes or building
new perspective so that we can see things going on that we had left out of our stories,
and see new openings,
for where our stories can continue.
And so rather than continuing to push our stories forward,
we push our perspectives,
and that's really the heart of the creative process.
