Creativity tools

Everyone is, or can be, creative. It appears to be part of the human condition. Many of us would like to become even more creative. Here's a couple of things that have increased my creativity.

• Teach your non-dominant hand to do something new. If you are very dominant with one hand, this will be difficult, time consuming and frustrating. If you perservere, you will find a host of subtle benefits. Breaking my dominant arm forced this on me, which I don't recommend. Daily writing with your 'off' hand will work in a few weeks, if you do some each day. Which hand do you pick up your coffee cup with? Does it feel odd to use the wrong hand?
• Buy yourself some crayons and a sketch pad. Don't expect to produce 'art', but do enjoy exploring drawing or playing around with the colours. Abstract or photorealistic, the point is how it makes you feel, not what the end result looks like.
• Buy a drum, or use a found object such as a tupperware container, a bucket or a pot. Small Pringles (tm) potato chip containers are particularly nice. Explore the different sound effects you can make. Copy the beat of your favourite rock song - then see if you can improvise your own rhythmic line.

In each activity, your brain will forge or reinforce new neural pathways. When it comes to brains, more connectivity means more creativity.

What creativity tools do you use?

A bit of professional fun

Who decided that fun is unprofessional?

And am I allowed to give that person a resounding kick in the pants?

It's a minority opinion in most successful workplaces, but its adherents can be found in the most unexpected places. For these sad souls, the words 'a not-quite pompous bureaucratic gravitas suitable to Sir Humphrey Appleby of Yes Minister fame' and 'professional' are synonymous.

I'm not in favour of fun that distracts workers from the task in hand. In general, we are not paid to play solitaire or minesweeper, for example (although I think five minutes break with a game is no more theft of an employer's time than is fussing over a task for five minutes longer than necessary in an attempt to look busy the boss is coming).

Humans are game players, it appears that our brains have evolved to love challenges, to love competition, to love creative exercise and play. Some humans have fun when they're making pots of lovely money for themselves and their shareholders. Richard Branson would be one example. Some humans have fun when they're researching the latest cancer treatments. Using their brains to explore one option after another, the puzzle of what works and what doesn't, that's fun to research scientists and I think we're all grateful for that. Indeed some of the most ground-breaking medical discoveries of the past were made by amateurs.

Mr O once worked in the funeral industry, and it often surprises people to discover that funeral directors usually have a great sense of humour. They don't inflict that sense of humour on the grieving families, of course, but among themselves they laugh and have fun in any way they can while maintaining the utmost respect in their behaviour to and speaking of their, er, late client.

The Fish! philosophy offers a unique recipe for work productivity - especially in roles and tasks that are necessary but not exciting or appealing - of which one of the four pillars is Play.

What part of your work do you find fun? Few of us like every aspect of our work, but if your answer is 'nothing whatsoever', I do wonder how good you are at your job.

This is post 47 of 100 posts in 100 days.