Why Thinking of Others Improves Our Creativity | David Burkus, The Creativity Post

Synopsis: Research indicates we're better at solving problems and being creative when we're thinking of others instead of ourselves.

Referring to that research, Burkus writes:

This isn’t just the creative power of altruism. The results strengthen the theory that when we think of the situations we are in, we tend to think more concretely and can struggle to generate new ideas, whereas when we think about the situations others are in, especially situations distant from our own reality, we tend to widen our perspective and generate ideas that are a little more abstract – more like the creative ideas we might need.

He describes another research exercise that involved taking a real situation and making it more abstract, thus freeing the mind to generate more abstract solutions.

Referring to the research studies, Burks writes:

Both are powerful reminders that if we want to make better and more creative decisions, it helps to broaden our perspective and get beyond our own problems.

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This article is featured in today's (July 27) Garbl's Creativity Connections -- available at the Creativity tab above and by free email subscription.