Why freaks create a more creative ideas and how they do it

What is the capacity of the most valuable? The ability to see innovations.

Look, who blew the market in recent decades: Uber, Airbnb, Amazon. At first glance, the idea of ​​the creation of these companies seemed crazy.

Who would have thought that the largest companies working with real estate, the property would not be? That one of the most popular carriers will buy trucks and hire drivers? A few years ago, the person who is offering, to put a straitjacket.

No matter what you do: write, build, develop. The status quo is killing any innovations. It is therefore important to be a freak.

Nonconformity, innovation... As Whatever you call these ideas, they will always be contrary to the popular belief. Being a freak - it means different things to look at, to compare the facts and draw conclusions that are usually obvious.

The other is not always better. But the best - always different.

Hedge Jessica (Jessica Hagy), illustrator

Why it works

psychologists noticedThat unexpected and new situations more easily stored.

Science says this effect more, but it all comes down to this: "unusual" events leading to the release of dopamine (A neurotransmitter associated with motivation) in the area of ​​the brain responsible for the research, processing and storage of new sensor impressions. This release of dopamine is not only fueling research interest, but also creates a connection with long-term memory.

That is our brain physically stores all the strange and unusual.

If the idea is not challenging, but only confirms already known, the public will devalue it, although he admits the truth.

Murray S. Davis (Murray S. davis)

Strange ideas not only linger in the memory, they also are more valuable than those that only confirm the truths.

Key moment

So you have to go against all social norms and against themselves to achieve recognition?

Of course not. In the end, the known ideas have become common not just.

Every day, the brain receives a huge amount of information, so we have developed filters that help to evaluate the new evidence and decide which ones are important.

A study by Google revealedThat new visitors appreciate the functionality and aesthetics of the site 0.02-0.05 fraction of a second. In the time it takes to blink, the brain receives information, filters it and decides whether or not it is important.

There is the idea of ​​easy learning: typical and common elements easier to handle, because we are already once used. They seem to us simple.

If you are faced with a lot of unusual or complex elements, the brain receives a signal that the task before you the task is too difficult, and it is better not to undertake it. The key to storing information - a balance between the old and the new.

Why freaks began to appreciate

Non-standard view appreciated, and companies seek to ensure that the use of new ideas.

Here are two examples:

• Online retailer Zappos in every interview includes the question "How do you estimate your unusual on a scale of 1 to 10?".
• The company gives employees Method homework: write an essay on "What to do, that the company remains a country?".

Oscar Wilde (But who exactly was strange and creative) said:

The imagination imitates. It creates a critical spirit.

Copying safely. It allows you to hide behind the approved ideas, but it also pulls the trap of mediocrity. Only openness to all that is different and unusual, allows you to create an outstanding job.

When you are looking for inspiration, try to grow a strange man.

How to generate creative ideas

1. Take inner freak

Psychologists have recently tied up with the idea of ​​cognitive disinhibition creativity.

Cognitive disinhibition - is the inability to ignore the details, unimportant for the current purposes. If we go back to the filters, which help to sort sensory information, it appears that they also prevent us to reach the moment of inspiration.

Although part of this ability depends on genetics, there are proven ways to let the supposedly unimportant information in mind: dream, let go of the thoughts float freely, walk.

As soon as you relax and shut off the filters, a good idea to take its place in your head.

2. Enhances the effect of Lady Gaga

In 1930, German psychologist Hedwig von Restorf (Hedwig von Restorff) discovered that we easily remember ordinary things.

For example, here in front of you with a list of words: apple, car, tomato, dog, rock, banana, pencil, Lady Gaga, helicopter, cat, cheese.

What do you remember? Tomato?

In the context of the list of Lady Gaga stands out as the next boot on the snow, it is atypical in comparison with the listed items.

Strange and unusual is remembered more easily than the standard background.

But it is necessary to go too far with all the "not so", and the unique idea It lost in the bright debris. The balance between the familiar and the new - a guarantee that your work noticed.

3. Plug Inner Critic

Self-censorship - the main barrier to the realization memorable ideas. Rather than immerse themselves in the creative process, we have to figure out how to stay in the familiar framework, asking yourself:

• Will people laugh at my idea?
• Will surrounding dissatisfied with the fact that we are talking about?

Self-censorship means conscious rejection of the present themselves. And the adoption of its wonderful features plays an important role in pumping creativity.

Not so much to learn, to take a crazy theory. Much will have to forget more.

Isaac Asimov

When you notice that once again criticizing yourself, think about why this is happening. And I do not what's going to.

4. Look for connections between weird things

When Steve Jobs (Steve Jobs) was asked how he finds the idea, Apple founder said: "Creativity - it is simply making connections between things."

A truly creative ideas are inseparable from the divergent thinking, able to find connections where others do not see them.

The greater the number of sources you use, the more amazing thoughts will come into your head.

Robert Sutton (Robert Sutton), a professor at Stanford University, advised the company that develops the software. When the work was necessary to find ideas, he advised to take two packs of cards. On one record technology, on the other - production resources. Then shuffle each of the packs and pull one card from different piles, trying to find a connection. And jot down ideas.

5. Love ups and downs. Only passive punishable

To create the best, you need to take a very strange idea. Especially one that runs counter to conventional wisdom.

When the going gets weird, strange stand at the helm.

Hunter Thompson (Hunter S. thompson)

People whose ideas we admire, losing more often than winning. To understand is your idea of ​​an unexpected work or not, you need to constantly check and test it.

Allow your differences become a hallmark. And remember that all the innovations and trends begin with crazy ideas.