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"Now that AI systems can generate realistic images and convincing prose, are creative and knowledge workers endangered or poised for productivity gains? A panel of experts says it’s not so clear-cut ..."

Yesterday I walked into my home office and examined the space from a fresh perspective. It hasn't had a facelift in about ten years and I've hardly noticed its dingy appearance. Don't get me wrong, I love my office but it's simply out of date and no longer reflects my personality. It's time for a change.

Approaching the challenge like any diligent, problem-solving coach, I did my research. What does science say about an office space that boosts energy, creativity, and productivity, all while projecting a safe, calm feeling for clients? Yes, it's possible, and you can do it all on your own. Here's what I've learned.

Color psychology studies (and there are many) reveal changes in the body and brain when people view certain colors. These changes influence productivity, creativity, health, stress levels, focus, communication, and emotions. That's some powerful influence!

Color psychologist Angela Wright explains the phenomenon this way: "Color travels to us on wavelengths of photons from the sun. Those are converted into electrical impulses that pass to the part of the brain known as the hypothalamus, which governs our endocrine system and hormones, and much of our activity."

First decide what's most important about how color affects you, your employees, and your visitors. In an interview with Chris Bailey, Wright offered this simple breakdown of the effects of color on the mind: "The four psychological primaries are: red, blue, yellow, and green. And they affect the body (red), the mind (blue), the emotions, the ego, and self-confidence (yellow), and the essential balance between the mind, the body, and the emotions (green)." But it's not that simple. Bailey nicely breaks down the process of choosing just the right color in this article.

With logic you start out with certain ingredients just as in playing chess you start out with given pieces. But what are those pieces? In most real life situations the pieces are not given, we just assume they are there. We assume certain perceptions, certain concepts and certain boundaries. Lateral thinking is concerned not with playing with the existing pieces but with seeking to change those very pieces. Lateral thinking is concerned with the perception part of thinking. This is where we organise the external world into the pieces we can then 'process'.

A healthy human brain does not want to always be creative, it is designed to figure out how to do things or how to think about things and then 'locks' that automatic response or behaviour into a subconscious process so that your conscious brain can focus on other matters.

Learn more / En savoir plus / Mehr erfahren:

http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?&tag=Thinking

http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?&tag=Think-Different

http://www.scoop.it/t/21st-century-learning-and-teaching/?&tag=Think+outside+the+box

Given the choice between pushing our brains for creative solutions or following time-worn patterns, we tend to fall victim to lazy brain syndrome.

Scientific research has already uncovered some surprising facts about how creativity works. And this time of year especially, there's ample advice out there for those looking to adopt new and better habits and keep their New Year's resolutions going strong. The trouble is that much of that advice rests on carefully established routines—daily practices that some people just aren't wired (or simply aren't inclined) to stick with.

When it comes to creativity, though, a little less structure and predictability may actually work in your favor. Here's a look at five habits to improve your creative chops, backed by scientific research, that don't require committing to a specific daily practice.

Sarah Prevette, founder of Future Design School, explains why teaching creativity is as important as literacy and numeracy in schools.

Consider this: Dave Myers, an employee working for Gore-Tex fabric innovator W.L. Gore, was tinkering with some new ideas one workday—taking advantage of the company’s 10 percent daily allotment of creative time—when he wondered if one of their products, normally used to coat push-pull cables, could also be used to make guitar strings more comfortable.

While the coated guitar strings were only slightly easier on the fingertips, they did manage to keep their clear tone longer than guitar strings already on the market. Realizing this, Gore quickly launched its own brand of guitar strings. ELIXIR Strings are now the No. 1 selling acoustic guitar string currently on the market. It was because of the innovative mind of Mr. Myers, and that approved creativity time in his workday, that Gore was able to expand into an entirely new product market.

What could your company do with a little extra creative genius? By establishing a creativity-friendly work culture, the possibilities could be immeasurable. Here are four ways to encourage the best creativity from your employees.

Creativity is undoubtedly an asset in the workplace, not only just for individuals but also for organizations. It's positively correlated with job performance, leadership potential, career satisfaction, and well-being. In fact, creative people, on average, have even been found to get a leg up in the dating pool.

Still, no human quality is universally beneficial, and even a trait as appealing as creativity can have its downsides, particularly in certain work contexts. Here are a few reasons why being lesscreative at work might sometimes be a smart move.

"To equip yourself for success in the workplace of the future, you need more than technical knowledge. Find out which valuable soft skills employers will be looking for in the next ten years ..."

Ever try rushing from a solo project into a team brainstorm? Switching gears on the fly isn’t easy–even when the thing you were doing alone is just as much a creative task as the thing you’re suddenly try to do in a group.

Ayse Birsel understands why. “When we’re working alone, it’s more contemplative. You only have you and your ideas, and there’s not somebody else there to judge you,” says the cofounder and creative director of design studio Birsel + Seck. In collaborative environments, she points out, “It can get competitive [and] really chaotic,” so it’s smart to “let people know ahead of time that the process could get messy, so trust the process.”

How do you prepare people for creative collaboration, though? Birsel has a few warm-up techniques up her sleeve. Here are three of them, none of which take longer than three minutes.

For decades, the dominant view among psychologists was that constraints served as a barrier to creativity. Anybody who spends a short time working under a confining bureaucracy, dealing with a micromanaging boss, or sitting in a classroom that teaches to the test can grasp the appeal of this argument. But it isn’t the whole story.

Patricia Stokes is a Columbia University psychologist and an expert in the science of creativity. In one experiment she conducted back in 1993, rodents were forced to press a bar with only their right paws. Eventually, they not only learned to adapt to that constraint, but they figured out how to press the bar in more ways than a group that had free use of their limbs. This has come to be called "little ‘c’ creativity"—a form of creativity not focused on producing creative works but rather on solving practical problems through new uses and applications of resources. And it’s this form of creativity that tends to get short shrift.

The easiest thing in the world is to let go of your creativity. To say you’ve got a *real* job and give up the creative work that used to matter deeply to you. To find an excuse to prioritize Netflix over your artist’s studio. To find an excuse to stop painting, writing, filming, building, making, crafting and discovering.
That’s because being creative is the hard part. Giving it up forever is terrifyingly easy. But you don’t have to let it all go. You can live creatively and embrace your creativity every single day…

Do it for 30 days and your life will permanently change.

I believe that all human beings are creative, and that creative thinking is a central part of self-expression. Self-expression is a gift we give ourselves and the world. Creativity, therefore, is at the heart of being fully engaged in life and work. Creativity, like any other skill, can be fostered and developed. Under the right conditions, the muse (creative inspiration) will visit each and every one of us in its own unique way.

Rather than just fix what's ailing you, positive psychology looks to actively improve individual and organizational well-being. Here's ho