Insight is defined by OED as “an accurate or deep understanding; illumination; revelation.” My definition goes a bit farther, as I consider insight to be all of the above but also “a truth that seems obvious once stated.” Insight for me is that Ah-ha moment that you get when you realize something that was probably staring you in the face the whole time. It’s the lightning strike during a creative brainstorm. It’s the foundational nugget of wisdom that makes you reevaluate your method of thinking a little. It gives you goosebumps and makes you excited and it’s pretty much what advertisers live and die for.
So how can a person like you or me develop their ability to find insight, to reach enlightenment or revelation? When your craft is creativity, how do you hone it? How do you ‘practice’ discovering ideas? Well, that question is actually fascinating to neuroscientists because creativity involves creating NEW connections between synapses. We get inspiration, we have ideas, and it makes us smarter! When we learn new things, we create new dots for our brains to connect when we need it. I’ve sort of always had this hunch and I even found a quote by Steve Jobs about it. He put it really well:
“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences or they have thought more about their experiences than other people.”
And there are lots of ways to do that. Reading books that challenge our current knowledge and understanding of concepts helps us make new dots to connect. Talking to new people can do the job too. Sometimes we have all but one important piece to a puzzle and talking to a designer friend, reading a news article, looking at a piece of art, or just about any seemingly random experience can be just what we need to discover that final missing aspect of a great idea. Because creativity doesn’t happen in a vacuum. So go to that new exhibit at the museum! Listen to new music, explore the places you visit, and gather new experiences like an artist gathers raw materials for a new project. Fill your toolkit with unique and interesting endeavors so you’ll have that much more to work with when you need a brain blast. Take a class, learn a new skill, have fun improving yourself and become a better creative in the process. It’s a new year, after all, so go for it!
Copy Write Paste 