The Mihaly & The Paradoxes

In the world of psychology, Mihaly Csíkszentmihály (God knows how to spell that) is quite a famous figure. He is noted for his work in the study of creativity and fun from the eye of psychology. He is considered nowadays as one of the most widely cited psychologist especially on the fields relation to psychology and business. One of his famous theory is the 10 Paradoxes of Creative People.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

What I will try to do is to list them below and try to seize my perspective on his 10 paradoxes.

One “Creative people have a great deal of physical energy, but they’re also often quiet and at rest.” — This one is true. The key to being creative is know when to start and when to stop at the right time, this gives your brain a pattern on when to start working and when to rest. If you imagine an athlete, one day before marathon and all he do is practice running. What will happen? He will get tired on the big day and lost his stamina during the actual race. But what if he practices constantly and know when to stop practicing in order to gain his vitality and stamina? His muscles will be able to know what its like to be under pressure and when to relax and gain the strength it needs to be under the pressure. So yes, timing is important and crucial. You can’t buy groceries at midnight can you?

Two  “Creative people tend to be smart yet naive at the same time.” — Why is being naive often considered as a bad thing while at some circumstances it is not. One of the definitions of naive taking from http://www.thefreedictionary.com is: ‘lacking worldly experience and understanding.‘ Being naive is a trigger for someone to be curious and curiosity creativity.Curiosity means: Why why and why? “Why the apple fall from the tree?” got Newton his gravity theories, while “Why can’t we see someone who is miles away?” got Daniel Gordon and Martyn Johnson their first world’s web camera. So yes, being naive is not a bad thing sometimes, especially regarding to creativity.

Three “Creative people combine playfulness and discipline, or responsibility and irresponsibility.” — This paradox is stricly related to the when to start and when to stop principal. Creative people knows when to put a playful and irresposibility side to something scientific and serious. Look what Steve Job did.

 

transformed into…

 

Four “Creative people alternate between imagination and fantasy, and a rooted sense of reality.” — This paradox shows that it’s perfectly normal to dream big. The difference between creative people and losers are that creative people know how to implement dreams into reality, how to sleep, dreams, wakes up and work while losers prefer to sleep and keeps on dreaming until they hit the floor. :p

Five “Creative people trend to be both extroverted and introverted.” — The key to being creative is know how to balance everything and put every single thing into the right proportion. You can be introvert, sitting alone catching your imagination and then be extrovert to tell the world all about it and make your imagination into reality.

Six “Creative people are humble and proud at the same time.” — If you are creative, no matter how hard you try to hide it, you will always stands out of the crowd. A creative person will always be red in a crowd of blues.

Seven “Creative people, to an extent, escape rigid gender role stereotyping.” — It doesn’t matter if it’s pink or blue, whether you’re a boy or a girl while infact gays are proven to be one of the most creative people on earth. So yes, a little bit of both adds the volume 😉

Eight “Creative people are both rebellious and conservative.” — You need to be out of line to know that you’re beyond the line, so the next time you’re near the line you will know when to stop and avoid the line. Be rebellious for once, learn from you mistakes and implement it the next time you’re facing the same problem.

Nine “Most creative people are very passionate about their work, yet they can be extremely objective about it as well.” — Who is the best to judge what you have done than you, the creator of it? You own critics and comments is you being honest to yourself, this way it adds the subjectiveness of your work thus you improve from being a creator to a critic as well. You work will be double the standard.

Ten “Creative people’s openness and sensitivity often exposes them to suffering and pain, yet also to a great deal of enjoyment.” — To be open and to be sensitive is risky. What makes the ride worth the while is to know that no matter how much pain it has caused you, it eventually will stop and you will gain something out of it. Like what they say, there’s always a rainbow after the rain.

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The man behind the box

“Think outside the box” is a common expression often being related to creative people. Why? Why to think outside the box? What box? and Why outside? These are the questions that often goes thru my mind and if some of you might also wonder, I hope these answers can help you out.

“Out of the box” is an expression that describes nonconformal, creative thinking. The term is used as an adverb to describe the thinking or as an adjective to describe the ideas. The term is said to derive from a famous puzzle created by early 20th century British mathematician Henry Ernest Dudeney, in which someone is asked to interconnect nine dots in a three-by-three grid by using four straight lines drawn without the pencil leaving the paper. In order to be successful, the puzzle solver has to realize that the boundries of the dot array are psychological. The only way to solve the puzzle is to extend the lines beyond the artificial boundry created by the nine dots.

The Famous Dudeney Drawings

One also thinks of the expression “boxed-in,” or having reduced choices. In the fast-paced world of information technology, employers often say they are looking for someone who “thinks out of the box.” Older, related but really different terms include blue sky, far out, and off the wall. A variation is “outside the box.”

As you might expect, the term “in the box” is sometimes used to describe conformal thinking. For example, in a recent magazine article about Mp3 and music pirating, a manager of some music groups is quoted as saying of major label recording companies who have been slow to adapt to the Internet, “They’re always thinking inside of the box.”

Any of you have any more theories on why the expression said “out of the box”, spill and share! Comments appreciated 😀

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The Barcode Breakthrough

This is why Japanese are considered the most creative.

Barcodes? Ah.. come on Indonesian. It’s a barcode. Why didn’t we think of this before? 

“Why???!!!”

Oh I see.. We were quite busy. We were doing..

also..

and more frequently….

Wake up, people!

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USB Attack

USB or flash memory has become one necessity of my college life. Why? Cause this little thing can carry around 1GB up to 8GB of memory in its le petite figure. This is innovation and technology, my friend.

Talking about them USBs, I just found out how cute they can really be while blogging and browsing around yesterday. These are beyond cuteness.. can’t I just have them all? (Again….)

Style 'em up!

 

Bear Me Inside

 

Baggy?

 

Fortunate today?

 

Charge Me

 

Feeling Japanese?

 

Doggy Style-in

 

Lego

 

Save Us Trees

 

Thumbs Up!

And this has to be my favorite…..

Feeling Naughty?

 

Can you come up with more ideas on how your USB would look like? 🙂 comments please.

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Quiz: Black+Blum

Dan Black and Martin Blum must be fun to work with; they run a design consultancy in London, but also sell a line of products that they designed and produced. Their approach to sustainability is to develop clever ways to use less materials, and to design and build their products to last a long time. Black met Blum at university from where they both graduated with degrees in design for industry. In the beginning funds were tight, so keeping it simple meant ‘not tooling costs’.

Black+Blum’s philosophy is to show that designed products can be made affordable without compromising their quality. The aim is to create innovative products that will charm and entertain. Their design input does not stop with the product itself. The packaging has also become part of the Black+Blum trademark. It either has a function beyond packaging or it is ultra minimal. The packaging of their wine rack for example turns into a bottle storage after its primary use. Most of their packing is made from undyed recycled cardboard. Talking about being creative and environmentalist! This is the most creative company according to me. Definitely.

Their products mostly are home appliances and decoration, but as silly as their names might be (Miss Money Penny, James the Bookend, James the Doorman, Gold Loop, etc) but the little things that B+B made has create a difference in someone’s daily life and you have no idea how cute James (the Bookend & Doorman) is… in green and orange Oh how can you resist!

 

   

James the Bookend

 

   

“Jimmy Keyring” Bottle Opener

 

   

Reading Light

 

   

Mr & Mrs Hang Up

 

   

“Loo Read” for Newspaper & Toilet Paper

 

   

“Climbing” Light

 

   

Salad Plant

Ahhhh… Can’t I just have them all? This is beyond IKEA for me, hee hee.. Well, everyone has their own taste but Black+Blum definitely is one of the most creative company there is. Also in addition, this is my favorite of them all……..

   

“Kind of Magic” Lamp

 For more info on Black+Blum, please do visit their website www.blackblum.com.

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Quiz: Theo Jansen

This is Theo Jansen. He is creative.

And this is his art.

And they move!

Theo Jansen (born March 17, 1948, in The Hague, Netherlands) is a Dutch artist and kinetic sculptor. He builds large works which resemble skeletons of animals and are able to walk using the wind on the beaches of the Netherlands. His animated works are a fusion ofart and engineering; in a BMW television commercial, Jansen says, “The walls between art and engineering exist only in our minds.“

Jansen is dedicated to creating artificial life through the use of genetic algorithms, which simulate evolution inside their code. Genetic algorithms can be modified to solve a variety of problems including circuit design, and in the case of Jansen’s creations, complex systems. Some measure of “fitness” is introduced into the algorithm; in Theo’s case it is to survive on the beach while moving around within two enclosing lines on the wet sand near the ocean and the dry sand at the edge of the beach. Those designs best at the assigned task within the modeled beach environment are bred together and graded again. Over time complex designs emerge which sprout wings and flap in the breeze pressurizing what look like plastic two liter soda bottles. Articulated legs sprout and scuttle across the sand like those of a crab. Jansen uses plastic electrical conduit to make some of the computer’s most promising designs; and he then lets them roam free on the beach, measures their success, and updates his model.

Since about ten years ago, Theo Jansen is occupied with the making of a new nature. Not pollen or seeds but plastic yellow tubes are used as the basic material of this new nature. He makes skeletons which are able to walk on the wind. Eventually he wants to put these animals out in herds on the beaches, so they will live their own lives.

You can visit www.strandbeest.com for more on Theo Jansen.

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CREATing positIVITY

Once, Dorye Roettger said, “There are no problems – only opportunities to be creative”. I believed in what he said that there are no actual problems in life. In my opinion, we should just call them ‘changes’. Changes, we can keep up and be a better person but problem, we can solve and just stop there.

For me, creativity is responding.

One of the most essential survival kits in life, that is. With each day passing by, we as human are being faced with a lot of changes. Changes in people, environment, ways of life, behavior, taste, choices and a lot more things that changes with every changing second of our life. These changes are inescapable, meaning that in order to live life you need to respond to change. Changes won’t compromise, they don’t tolerate and more often they won’t wait for you to keep up with them. This is where creativity takes place.

Creativity is surviving. Surviving you, getting through a lifetime ride. As changes occur, we are face to dig through our mind, jump into the best conclusion and solve the ABCs and 123s of life. We need to keep up with change, follow change, walk with change and run ahead of change. This ambition and attitude is what gets some of the world’s most successful people get to where they are, by being creative. 

For me, creativity is differentiation.

The ‘thinking out of the box’ perception has always been correlated with creativity all the time. But for me it’s the extension of the simple word: differentiation. Being creative requires you to be different, not some time, not most of the time, but all the time. 

I have heard of the name Jenna Jameson a lot. Either from my guy friend’s chit chats, some porn website that i accidentally popped in to, or even my brother’s personal folder in his laptop. Well, anyway.. Jenna Jameson has been known for her popular and famous talent, stripping off her clothes and doing adult scenes in front of the camera. But something really surprising caught my eye a few weeks ago. I was browsing and looking at the list of ‘Forbes Celebrity 100’ and the story of Miss Jameson caught my eye. She hasn’t posed nude and have sex with no one but her husband in 7 years! — Okay, that’s not the real essence of the story. The real essence of the story is that Jenna Jameson is considered as one of the most succesful entrepreneur in the entertainment industry nowadays. Why? 

By creating a differentiation. She thinks out of the box and see things from another perspective. She created a holding company called ClubJenna that expertise in porn. Yes, porn. This means she makes profit out of a Jenna-branded strip clubs, cosmetics, apparel line and even a ‘moan tone’ for your mobile phone. The biggest still comes from website, which makes sense cause a lot of people are still embarrassed to show their love for porn and prefer to do it at home. But, still, its profitable. Here Jenna Jameson is creating a differentiation, she exclude herself from all of the other production company and be the first woman to own a porn production house. And it takes creativity to do that, so bravo to Jenna Jameson (in some ways)

And lastly, for me, creativity is adding value.

This last one is simple. This is what i think the most when someone gave me the question: “What is creativity?”. “It’s adding value!” Here’s one simple example, taken not from Dorye Roettger or Jenna Jameson. This one comes from my ‘mbak’ at home, simple and close.

I always do things close to their due time. For examples school tasks, personal tasks and expecially paying bills. This also includes preparing myself to go out for some special occassion, like friend’s birthday, family dinner, date nights or even weddings. This habit of mine is not capable to be changed to adjusted in some way, I just do it. This one Friday night, I was in a rush to go to a party with my friends. I took a bath, picked up my clothes and thought that everything was settled. But then, I go down the stairs in a hurry and unexpectedly ripped a tiny part of my dress… on the chest part! Here’s the deal, I’ve been preparing this cute little black dress for a week to wear on the weekend and about 10 minutes until my friend pick me up, this occurs! I was furious and start to find another dress to wear, but then my ‘mbak’ look at me and gave me a box of brooches. It all sparkled my eye, I choose one, a pretty flowery one and attached it to the ripped part of my dress. I look at the mirror and even see the dress looking more attractive than before. On the way to the party, I think to myself and conclude that my ‘mbak’ has added value to my dress. It looked prettier and more attractive and more importantly, I don’t need to change into another dress. Creativity adds value.

In conclusion, everybody needs to be creative to stand out. Everybody needs to be creative to survive. Everybody needs to be creative in order to live. From Jenna Jameson to my little black dress, with creativity added everything will look a lot different and as I said before, the value will be added. Let’s start from ourself, let’s be creative in creating positivity.

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