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The source of all intuition and creativity

December 10, 2016 by Veit 19 Comments

you know how some people are “creative” or have “great intuition”, and others appear NOT to have those qualities?

Well, here’s my take:

Creativity and Intuition are ‘skills’ anyone can develop!

The recipe is simple:

look at the same problem long and hard enough – usually from as many different perspectives and angles, and your mind will suddenly and ‘unexpectedly’ come up with solutions that make no ‘logical’ sense. Aka: creativity and intuition.

Speaking from personal experience, I am extremely creative in some areas, and not creative at all in others.

And those where I am, guess what: it’s the stuff where I spend ages, sometimes months, sometimes ‘lifelong learning’ revisiting the same thing over and over again.

Yeah, I can be proud of the end-result (“oh look, he’s so creative”, or – even better for the ego: “oh look, he’s a genius”) …

… however: Really, there’s nothing genius going on, just persistence.

Your brain needs information, a LOT of information to come up with something ‘truly’ novel … despite the romantic image of Einstein just sitting there and suddenly THE BIG THEORY just came to him … it came to him, because he was so bored with his desk-job that he studied physics like a maniac – for YEARS. And kept looking at the same problem over, and over, and over, and over again.

Here’s an example:

Look at this picture:

6pens

6 pencils. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to arrange 6 pencils into 4 equal triangles. (yeah, yeah, I know, they’re not *exactly* the same length, just pretend they are – I borrowed them from my daughters)

The rules are simple:

6 pencils. Only the ends can touch. Meaning: no ‘crossing’. You must create 4 equal triangles.

(don’t ruin the fun by reading the comments, they give away the solution)

Most likely it’s hard for you. (it took me a good 5mins to figure it out … but then, my 10 year old daughter took only a fraction longer, so either she’s a genius, or it’s not that hard;-)

Statistically speaking (I’ve tried it with quite a few people), you’ll give up. (**)

And that’s precisely where you starve future ‘creativity’ and ‘intuition’.

Btw, when you figure it out (yes, it is possible!) it is immensely satisfying – and IMO it’s so satisfying precisely BECAUSE it’s a creative moment, and you only got there because you stuck with it!

thoughts?

Leave a comment!

[WPChatBot id=”16″ width=”responsive” height=”400″ showfrom=”50%”]

Veit

PS: (**) boo, bad Veit: now I’ve put the thought of ‘giving up’ in your head, and because statistically speaking most people give up, well, social psychology tells us your brain is going to tell you that it’s ok to give up. Well, most people in this world are mere statistics, give up far too early, and spend their lives admiring the bright shining stars. Don’t be a statistic! Figure out that darn 6-sticks-4-triangles thing yourself!

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Detlev says

    December 10, 2016 at 12:51 pm

    Hi Veit,
    yeah, about 5 minutes – most of them spent looking at the “thing” the old way, then so quickly after leaving a presumed limit behind and letting the mind rise above the problem’s plane. (hope this is cryptic enough to not give away the solution 🙂

    Reply
    • DigitalDave says

      December 10, 2016 at 3:45 pm

      As soon as I read you comment, Detlev, it jumped right up in front of me. Solved in seconds. However; it certainly would have been 5 minutes if I hadn’t read your comment.

      Reply
    • Veit says

      December 10, 2016 at 3:48 pm

      lol, nice cryptic hint;-)

      Reply
    • Alex says

      December 11, 2016 at 12:34 am

      Arrgh, Deltev, you ruined it for me! 🙂 …why did I decide to read comments?!
      …go on, Veit, next one please! 😉

      Reply
  2. Simon says

    December 10, 2016 at 1:21 pm

    12 seconds
    But then again I cannot figure out how to make a success of online marketing – yet

    Reply
    • Veit says

      December 10, 2016 at 3:56 pm

      lol, thanks for that 2nd part. The 12secs alone would’ve made me feel very inferior;-)

      Reply
  3. miko says

    December 10, 2016 at 2:09 pm

    Veit,
    Try this puzzle. What part of your message is doubly in congruent despite your tracking software?

    Reply
    • Veit says

      December 10, 2016 at 3:56 pm

      haha, I’ll let my mind mull that one for a while … over a mulled wine or two.

      Double in-congruent suggests it’s congruent. Congruency DESPITE the tracking software????

      Reply
      • miko says

        December 10, 2016 at 5:30 pm

        Rephrased: What parts contradict? There are two separate instances..
        I find myself overlooking the obvious all the time. I read what I meant instead of what I typed.
        Suppose it’s human nature.

        Reply
        • Veit says

          December 10, 2016 at 7:20 pm

          2???? the one I see one could argue as ‘contradiction’ is ‘sticking with it’ and then saying “don’t stick with admiring the stars”. If that’s what you mean, heck, I’m being judgemental, and I’ll say this: stick with something worth pursuing, something that actually makes the world a better place. Admiring stars isn’t one of them. Neither is developing a yet more refined iPhone (so people can waste their lives even more effectively). Developing cleaner energy, now we’re talking.

          either way, #2?????

          Anybody spot the 2nd contradiction (or perhaps even the first if the one I mention isn’t “the one”)

          Reply
          • miko says

            December 11, 2016 at 12:46 am

            I’ll leave you with one of the big ones:

            if you don’t have a clear, concise call to action at the end of your content … people get lost and confused.

            Literally like zombies …. you can almost hear the words “oh, and now …. I want to know more, but …. where?”

            —————————————————————————–
            where you also see the new plugin in action (it should be pretty obvious near the bottom;-), plus, the plugin ‘tells’ you about the upcoming “No Yuck Marketing” course.

            Would you like us to send you details on the workshops?
            (Blinking Cursor)
            —————————————————————————–

            IMHO you are smarter than the average bear and assume others are as intelligent as you.

            Where are the clear and concise links to both the plugin, and workshops notice optin. I’m guessing most folks will not post their interest but would readily click a link. Less friction = user friendly. Unless this was intentional to better qualify prospects for motivation.

          • Veit says

            December 11, 2016 at 7:40 am

            ah … well, now you’re weaving the email that led you to the post into it.

            well, the plugin is just a demo of it in action, not the actual plugin itself, hence no link (as I said in the email: still need to work on the ‘packaging’;-)

            as for the lost zombie-situation – yes, that’s intentional – if you’re not ‘fired up enough’ to type in the word ‘yes’ (or ‘no’) at the blinking cursor (granted, I could offer those as options e.g. to ‘tap on’ on a mobile), then probably not motivated enough.

            But, on that last point: if you didn’t type ‘yes’ (followed by email) – were you confused or not motivated? If too many people were confused, then that’s something I’ll have to fix in the question/add some functionality to the plugin

            good stuff, keep it coming Miko

  4. Steve says

    December 10, 2016 at 2:14 pm

    Gosh, I’m a genius, or I must play with triangles/pencils/ideas/philosophies all the time.

    Cheers

    Steve

    Reply
  5. martyn says

    December 10, 2016 at 4:36 pm

    This puzzle has been around since ancient egypt…or is that too great a clue? If you dont use muscles then they waste away…same as your creativity and learning to listen to one’s intuition and act upon it. wont always work the way you think it will but the more you try it the better you get. Thanks for making us think with your insights.

    Reply
    • Veit says

      December 10, 2016 at 7:13 pm

      😉

      Reply
  6. Miko says

    December 11, 2016 at 12:45 pm

    Veit,

    As our thread progressed the Reply indents were cumulatively cutting off the the right-side text.

    Yes I WAS confused. I tried to insert my own cursor to type behind the blinking cursor.
    Thought is this just a demo or am I doing something wrong?

    When I get confused in a personal data input situation (sign up or purchase) I generally bounce.

    Hope this helps.

    Reply
  7. Quentin Pain says

    December 11, 2016 at 5:41 pm

    Here’s my journey to WPChatBot:
    1. Got the email yesterday, intrigued, arrived at this post
    2. Because I’m a student of hieroglyphs, plus I met a prospect last week who told me her father was Egyptian, I loved the puzzle
    3. Noticed the “leave a comment” text and thought “that’s not the right place in normal WordPress posts…”
    4. Saw what I thought was a Giphy and ignored (not enough patience to wait for it to print out LOL)
    5. Read today’s email, bought the plugin right there on the spot (what a brilliantly simple idea)
    6. For some reason I returned to today’s email and clicked on the link that brought me back here…
    7. And then realised that was no Giphy, it was Robot Veit, and either way, just glad I’m on your list

    Reply
    • Veit says

      December 12, 2016 at 1:02 pm

      Quentin, one thing I didn’t mention in the ‘instruction video’ is that you can use subscriber names in the Chatbot – that way it perhaps gets past your “oh, it’s a Giphy” filter.

      but great feedback, and super-useful for designing these: start out with a super-short text, typed out quickly, then start the interaction.

      something along the lines: “Mind if I ask you a question?”

      I’ll certainly test that

      Cheers

      Veit

      Reply
      • Quentin says

        December 13, 2016 at 11:48 am

        Thanks Veit, that’s a great idea (incidentally, the Reply box text font size is around 4pts and in light grey – certainly focuses the eyes 🙂 – being viewed on a Chromebook – the New Apple.

        Reply

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