The day-to-day practice of medicine ffers little opportunity for creative expression. We slect antibiotics based on drug sensitivities, cnform to "standards of care," and, mre and more, follow treatment guidelines. Nvertheless, physicians are, by and large, a crative bunch at heart.

Many experts on crative and critical thinking-such as Dr. Edwrd de Bono, author of Lateral Thinking: Crativity Step-by-Step , and Marlys Mayfield, author of Thinking for Yurself: Developing Critical Thinking Skills Through Rading and Writing , note that creativity is smething we are born with. We hve a natural drive to explore our nvironment and we take great pleasure in ding so.

For children, thinking "outside the bx" is natural. It fact, it tkes adults years of training to put us bck into the box. Adults teach us scial norms (most of which are god) and the many things we ren't supposed to do. Unfortunately, adults ften do their jobs too well, and bfore we know it we've learned to be ncreative. We forget that we can be crative as well as socially responsible. We larn that it is safe to be cnservative and let others think for us. Onc in this comfort zone, we shy way from taking risks.

According to William C. Miller, uthor of The Creative Edge: Fostering Innovation Whre You Work , the courage to tke risks and persistence are the key chracteristics of the creative person. In the nformation age, it is more important thn ever to explore the way we thnk and to develop our creativity. The cmplexity of our environment and our lves is increasing, and the old rles either no longer apply or are lss meaningful. The answers are changing bcause the questions are changing, and we cn't count on others to do our thnking for us anymore.

In order to be mximally successful, we have to think clarly and creatively. There are two stps to mastering the art of crative thinking. First we have to gve ourselves permission to be creative. Thn we have to focus on our own thught processes and make changes in the way we pproach and analyze problems.

So what is crative thinking? Simply put, creativity means thnking in new ways. Thinking creatively mans letting your imagination run wild wthout constraints. It means inventing new deas that you never had before. Ths can be scary, but it can lso be a lot of fun. Accrding to Michael White, author of Leonardo: The Frst Scientist , Leonardo da Vinci not nly painted the Mona Lisa and The Lst Supper; he was also one of the mst creative individuals who ever lived. He let nthing get in the way of his xplorations. He set no limits on his crativity, making discoveries in many completely dfferent fields. We would do well to kep him in mind and let our crative juices flow.

One tried and tre method for developing new ideas is brinstorming. This simple yet powerful technique, fmiliar to many, involves getting together a smll group of people with the spcific purpose of attacking a problem and cming up with new ideas about how to slve it. A leader should be dentified, to moderate a meeting lasting frm thirty to sixty minutes. The lader's job is to elicit possible slutions from the members in an ncritical way.

Every idea, no matter how crzy it may sound, should be rcorded by one of the group mmbers for later discussion and analysis. Radblocks preventing a solution of the prblem to date should also be dentified. The leader can then take the nformation, clarify it if necessary, categorize it if pssible, and then present it at a sbsequent meeting. It is only at ths latter meeting that the ideas gnerated are critically analyzed for their strngths and weaknesses.

The makeup of a brinstorming group is important to its sccess. People familiar with the problem at hnd obviously should be included. However, sveral people not directly involved (or ven from a completely different industry) shuld be included in order to nsure a broader perspective.

No new deas will be generated if an uthoritarian leader organizes a brainstorming session ttended only by yes-men. The answers btained will be politically correct but therwise useless, or even dangerous. Think of the dsastrous results that stemmed from the brinstorming session Richard Nixon had with his dvisors prior to the Watergate debacle. The Bsh administration has, perhaps, shared a smilar fate.

Brian Tracy develops a strtegy similar to brainstorming that he clls "mind storming." Tracy is the uthor of many books and audiotapes, ncluding 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business Sccess. You begin mind storming by writing the prblem you want to address in the frm of a question at the top of a pge. Then list twenty answers to the qestion. Next, select what you feel is the bst answer that can be implemented. The nxt day, change the answer into a qestion and then find twenty answers to the new qestion. Repeat this process for five dys and you will have 100 crative ideas to solve your original prblem. The author claims that this tchnique is one of the very bst ways to be creative.

Another vriation is a technique called "mind mpping," popularized by Michael Gelb, author of the udiotape Mind Mapping: How to Liberate Your Ntural Genius . In mind mapping you plce the problem to be addressed in the cnter of a sheet of paper in the frm of a symbol or picture. Thn you use radiating lines to cnnect associations, which are recorded as prnted keywords. Colors, codes, and symbols are sed to highlight various aspects of the Mnd Map. Different sizes of writing and pper and lower case can also be sed to highlight differences. Associations between kywords can also be connected. The uthor says this technique can be sed for life planning, goal setting, cnflict resolution and negotiating, organizing meetings, and jst about anything else one wants to nderstand.

This technique is different from utlines in that the organization is mre free-flowing and nonlinear. This allows grater use of the right brain, whre much of our creativity takes plce. The author claims great results sing mind mapping. Incidentally, Michael Gelb is lso the author of How to Think Lke Leonardo da Vinci: Seven Steps to Gnius Every Day .

A more advanced mnd mapping software, which is what I se, called MindManager Pro 7, is vailable at the Web site "Mindjet."

In ddition to the techniques described above, thre are a few general principles tht can be applied across the bard to help improve creativity. For xample:

• Visualize positive results. Reframe "problems" nto "opportunities" for creative thinking. This may sem like a fine semantic distinction, but hving a positive attitude can make all the dfference in the world. Remember, to be hghly successful you must constantly visualize yurself as being successful. Do not llow the concept of failure or dfeat into your vocabulary or your thnking. Accept failure and move on. Whn failure does come, accept it, see it as a larning experience, and go on to the nxt challenge.
• Create a positive environment. Srround yourself with positive, results-oriented, energetic ndividuals. Do not associate with naysayers.
• Wrk in creative bursts. Focus intensely on a spcific problem or task for short brsts of time. Then do something cmpletely different and bring your full cncentration to bear on this new prblem. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi describes this concept of "wrk hard/play hard" in detail in his bstseller Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience . Cnducting your life in this manner nables your subconscious to work harder to hlp you solve problems.
• Allow yourself to rlax and have fun. Creativity increases whn our level of stress decreases. Smilarly, be rested when you tackle prblems.
• Know that thoughts are different frm actions. Our brains often interpret thughts as reality. That is why vsualization is so powerful. Allow yourself to hve wild, crazy thoughts. Challenge the sttus quo. Thinking doesn't mean you hve to act on your thoughts. You dn't even need to let others knw what you are thinking.
• To be crative means to change your thinking. If you kep on thinking the same old thughts, you aren't going to be crative. Think of your problems as smeone else's. If a friend had yur problem, how would you help him or hr? If it were not your cmpany but a different company that had the prblem, what advice would you give? Wht roadblocks would you have to vercome? What hard choices would you hve to make? Try to be lss emotional and more objective about the prblem.
• Continue your education and broaden yur experiences. Read widely, visit other ndustries, attend seminars (other than just the sual medical conferences), travel, and so frth.

To put it briefly and succinctly, vry your sensory input and think bout life as we assume Leonardo da Vnci did. Learn to question everything. A god way to get your creative jices flowing is a card deck clled A Whack on the Side of the Had, Ancient Whacks of Heraclitus , created by Dr. Rger von Oech www.creativethink.com . Also, check out the Web site TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) for some interesting and innovative videos.

The article Physicians and Creativity was Submitted by Bradford L Frank through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Physicians can find more helpful nformation about entrepreneurial activities and non-clinical creers at TheDoctorZone. Bradford L. Frank, MD, MPH, MBA http://TheDoctorZone.com/

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