Listen to the Quiet Guy

Imagine walking into a room with two persons inside. One of them is highly creative but very shy. The other is clever, but not as creative and much more domineering than the shy guy.

Now, you have an upcoming assignment due in 2 weeks that needs high levels of creativity. So, you approach these two persons for help.

As expected, the loud and not-as-creative person dominates the conversation and never allows the shy guy to participate. So, while the ideas generated are good, they are not incredibly innovative.

The question now is: How do you get the loud guy to shut up so that you can hear the shy guy??

By distracting him.

When you approach the two persons in the room again, get the loud guy to watch a movie or give him a puzzle to solve. Under such circumstances, the quiet guy can get his voice heard and you benefit from much more creative ideas and suggestions.

Why should this matter to you?

Well, this is how you mind works. Specifically, this is how  your conscious mind (the loud but not as creative guy) and your subconscious mind (the highly creative yet shy guy) are related.

Your subconscious mind is capable of far more wonderful ideas and innovative solutions to problems. However, what it tries to tell us is often drowned out by its loud and logical counterpart – the conscious mind.

All of us can be a lot more creative than we are now. And the best part of it is that you don’t need to exert much effort or time to “make” yourself more creative.

All it takes is to let the quiet guy speak up by keeping the loud guy busy.

Here’s an action plan the next time you need creative solutions to problems:

1. Become clear and specific about the problem you are trying to solve. It helps to write them down on paper.

2. Work on a word, or jig-saw, puzzle, or even Sodoku will do, for several minutes.

3. Without thinking much about it, note down the thoughts, ideas and possible solutions that come to you concerning the problem you are trying to solve.