The content for this session is born out of my personal journey as a musician, writer, and teacher. The session is built on a very simple idea: if you want to create something, you can.

Of course, if it were easy, everyone would do it. The easy stuff is forgettable. The challenging stuff is what we remember for a lifetime.

In our hour together we will do three things:

• Introduce ourselves and say why we care about creating and making things
• I will share some fundamental concepts about creative thinking, and we will talk about them
• You will practice coming up with ideas (divergent thinking) and then combining those ideas with other ideas (convergent thinking)

Educator
Musician
Writer
Aspiring creative genius

When Del asked me to lead a session on Divergent Thinking, my first thought was: “Uh. Did I really sign up for this topic??”

My second thought was, “the best way to learn something is to try and teach it to others.”

Am I the most divergent and creative thinker you will ever meet? No. Probably not. But I have been experimenting in the creative arts for over a decade, and I spend the bulk of my free time either thinking, working on creative projects, or helping others think and/or work on creative projects. So… why not? Let’s do this.

When you really think about, pretty much every single thing we are using right now is a result of divergent thinking. This whole city is a result of divergent thinking

Group activity:

• Pick an item that people use every day
• Come up with as many different ways to use that item

Wikipedia definition: Convergent thinking is a term coined by Joy Paul Guilford as the opposite of divergent thinking. It generally means the ability to give the "correct" answer to standard questions that do not require significant creativity, for instance in most tasks in school and on standardized multiple-choice tests for intelligence.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convergent_thinking

Technical

Examples:

Sorting ideas into categories
Summarizing key points
Coming to agreement
Exercising judgment

Wikipedia definition: Divergent thinking is a thought process or method used to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divergent_thinking

Adaptive

Examples:

Generating a list of creative ideas
Free-flowing discussion
Seeking diversity and diverse points of view
Suspending Judgement

Ask: how could this photo symbolize divergent thinking?

When you really think about, pretty much every single thing we are using right now is a result of divergent thinking.

"the thinking that got you here won't get you there."

What are we looking at here?

(family portrait, party, artistic rendering, census)

That's right. Cave art. Imagine what happened when the first tribe of people started using this? (Sinagua)

This innovation eventually led to written language.

Which paved the way for written books.

And written mathematics (computers don't work without math)

Then a guy named Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press. Until then, books were only for the elite. Now, everyone had access to ideas! And could easily print and share their own ideas.

Do you think the people who made this cave art had any idea what they were starting?

No. But it doesn't matter. Because their original innovation paved the way for a cascade of more innovations that completely reshaped the way we live.

What are we looking at here?

The world's first computer, the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Calculator (ENIAC).

Source: http://ebusinessinusa.com/3686-computer-industry-the-first-computers.html

Without this thing (which, by the way, also arguably never would have existed if not for those first cave painters), you would not have the computer you are working on now.

Isn't that wild?

Want to see something else wild?

Ken Olsen, founder of Digital Equipment Corporation, 1977

Digital Equipment Corporation was acquired by Compaq more than a decade ago, but in the 1970s the company was a major force in the world of computing. Within four years of Olsen's remark, the release of the IBM PC had enshrined this prediction in the high-tech hall of shame.

Ken thought of computers as tools of industry. He had this idea that computers were big and specialized tools, and he did not diverge from that idea.

But innovations need to keep being innovated on. Or else we get stuck. At some point, someone asked something like, 'what if this were smaller?'

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/155984/worst_tech_predictions.html

Here's a few more good ones, just for laughs

Steve Balmer, former CEO of Microsoft

It just goes to show you that divergent thinking is, by nature, controversial. People WILL nay say you. Always remember, just like cave art and computers, the people who started these ideas did not have any idea what they would lead to. The Wright brothers, who are credited with building the first airplane, were bicycle builders when they decided to tackle the challenge of manned flight. They had little money and no (obvious) experience. But they were creative, persistent, and they came at the problem in a DIVERGENT way. Everyone else trying to solve this puzzle assumed flying must be like a boat, except on air instead of water. They designed for STABILITY. A boat floats even when no one is on it. But the Wright brothers came to understand that flying was more like riding a bike. A bike doesn't stand up on its own. The rider is essential! In the end, the brothers even used a modified bicycle to get up to speed for takeoff. Sure, they crashed. A LOT. But they ultimately solved the problem no one else could. Now, we can send people to the moon, and SpaceX just successfully launched its first returnable rocket. All thanks to a couple of bicycle builders.
(worth pointing out that there is convergent thinking involved here too)

turtle and rabbit: the story we know is kind of baloney. Slow and steady is a fine lesson, and we could talk more about when it applies in life, but actually, that story is really about the rabbit. He had all he needed to win, but he squandered it. The moral of that story is, don't be like the rabbit. Just because you have talent, doesn't mean you are going to be the best if you don't put in the work. And that is a GREAT lesson.

But the ORIGINAL legend is about Terrapin. In this legend, he races a deer, not a rabbit. Doesn't really matter. Terrapin knew straightaway that he could not win a race! He was a friggin turtle. And, in this version, the deer was running to win. No naps for that dude.

So what did Terrapin do? He got his whole family involved and had them spread out across the whole race course. The first time the deer passed 'Terrapin' he was all like #Igotthis. Until he passed Terrapin again. And again. WTF?

Terrapin was waiting at the very end, and when he saw the deer coming, he popped out and crossed the finish line. Then he dropped the mic.

Ethical question: Was Terrapin cheating?

Follow up: If someone forces you to run a race that you have no way of winning, is it wrong to rewrite the rules?

Here's what I think: for a game to be fair, everyone needs to agree to the rules, and the rules need to give everyone a fair shake. This race was all about making the deer look good. Terrapin knew it was a rigged game, so he wrote his own rules.

(maybe, if the turtle and the rabbit/deer combined powers, they would be unstoppable).

Look. I know that white people love to talk about MLK. As if he had all the answers, and like, there is no more racism in America cause, you know, civil rights. And, um, we have a black president. So. Right? Yeah, not so much. Lot's of work still left to do.

But in the context of this session, this illustrates an important point. Divergent thinking challenges the status quo. And that is risky. For MLK, it was so risky, that he was killed. But, by then, it was too late.

You can't kill an idea once it is has taken root in the minds of many.

If he, and many many others alongside him, had not had the courage to stand in the face of convention, and challenge the status quo, you and I would not be in this room together, and a program like Resilient Coders would not exist.

I am grateful to MLK for what he sacrificed to take that risk

In our world, IDEAS are the greatest currency. Come up with ideas every day, and your life will change, and you will change the lives of those around you

think about stuff that could be better. think about HOW they could be better. solve problems for yourself and for others, and you WILL become more creative. And along the way, you might even come up with an idea that could one day change the world.

Someone who can do the things that you want to learn. Someone who inspires you. Someone who will push you past the edge of your comfort zone. Who will arm you with the fundamental skills and patterns of thinking to go from good to great. From zero to hero.

Seriously. Find what interests you. Read about it. Then read what those writers read. And on and on.

"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies… The man who never reads lives only one." ~George R.R. Martin

Every single book is a mentor, a whole life, distilled down to an artifact you can hold in your hands. It is a miracle.

Youtube is so much more than cat videos and movie trailers. If you can't find a mentor, watching and listening to experts online is an INCREDIBLE resource. There are also podcasts, with interviews and stories and information. And TED talks, with provocative and inspirational ideas. If you're going to putz around online, why not use that time to better your mind instead?

how many of you have ever seen an atom?

how many of you have seen the dark side of the moon?

with our limited senses and consciousness, we only experience a portion of reality. what's more, EVERYTHING in the universe is in a constant state of flux, even if it seems static and fixed.

simple words and thoughts cannot fully capture the complexity of the world around us. the longer you withhold judgment and pay attention to pure experience, the deeper your insight becomes.

avoid labeling something or someone for as long as possible

In every field, there are inevitable paradigms - accepted ways of explaining reality. Things that do not fit with this expected reality tend to get ignored, or in some cases, actively repressed.

For instance, almost everyone once believed that the earth was flat. Thinkers like Copernicus, who said otherwise, based on his mathematical observations of the movement of the sun, moon, and stars, were ridiculed and in some cases, even imprisoned.

But if you notice the anomalies that challenge the existing paradigm, you may open up a door to a whole new (round) world.

EVERYTHING that exists can be probed. Questioned. Just because things look one way now, don't assume it is always going to look that way. Ask why. Challenge authority. Take things apart and try to put them back together again, with your own modifications. Have more information than anyone else, because you have asked all of the questions that no one else thought to.

Or that no one has even noticed yet!! Think of creative ways to solve that problem.

make room for serendipity. cross-pollinate your knowledge and ideas. the brain is an instrument for making connections. every bit of information that comes in is constantly being compared with other information. the brain is constantly searching for similarities, differences, and relationships. You can feed this natural inclination in two main ways

in the first stage of a project, widen your search as far as possible. absorb any information that seems even the least bit related or just plain interesting, even if seemingly unrelated.

the second step is to maintain a loose, open mindset. in moments of great effort, allow yourself moments of release. Go for a walk or a run. Do something unrelated, like playing an instrument, or washing dishes, or staring out the window at the trees. Take a trip to a place you've never been before. Take a power nap.

And when a new idea comes (and it will) make sure you're ready to write it down!

studies of light - redefined painting
studies of anatomy - centuries ahead of his time - mastered the human form - able to create sense of movement and strength never seen before in a still image

And do it every day. Rinse. Repeat. Rinse. Repeat.

There is no magic here. You have to get your reps in. You have to make yourself sweat.

YOU CAN'T X IF YOU DON'T X

“The way to have good ideas is to get close to killing yourself. It’s like weightlifting. When you lift slightly more than you can handle, you get stronger. In life, when the gun is to your head, you either figure it out, or you die.”
― Claudia Azula Altucher, Become An Idea Machine: Because Ideas Are The Currency Of The 21st Century

potential activity to do together or solo or in pairs

(need marker board/flipchart or pieces of paper and writing utensils)

pick a word. think of associative words. think of associations for those words. see where you end up.

can demonstrate one on board then have all do solo, or can just do one together on board (quicker)

Activity:

• Come up with ten things that people use every day
• Now, pick one thing from your list of ten and come up with another ten ideas you could make that one thing better or different. Your ideas do not have to be relegated to computers, either as a domain or as a solution. The sky is big and blue
• Great work! Now, get in groups of ~three, and each of you share your top 1-3 ideas.

IF TIME: Group members: Your job is to ask a lot of questions. Not give advice. But ask questions. Push each other’s thinking (I will share example questions)

There is no right or wrong here, but ideas get better when they are introduced to other ideas, and when they are pressure tested by other people’s thinking