Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: Boosting Your Creativity

Thriving Creativity

Creativity thrives on four key ideas: learning from the greats, combining ideas, staying curious, and adding your unique twist. It is not just about creating something that has never been made before. It is more about building on things that already exist. I see it summed up by the famous quote by Sir Isaac Newton, the English scientist:

“If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”

But, how does one take advantage of this insight to unlock our own creative potential?

Well, there are many ways in which one can use this to boost one’s creativity. Here are a few that resonate with me.

Learn from the Greats: Dive into Existing Knowledge

Whether it’s science, art, writing, athletics, or business, explore the work of the most innovative minds and understand their thought processes. What techniques, principles, or habits made their work exceptional? How did they use existing knowledge or experience to develop their own abilities or projects?

Leonardo da Vinci was a great example of this. His meticulous studies of anatomy, nature, and physics profoundly influenced his artistic and inventive efforts. His anatomical research directly inspired his iconic work, Vitruvian Man, which illustrates the harmony of human proportions. Meanwhile, his exploration of physics and the natural world led him to design flying machines, drawing inspiration from birds and delving into the mechanics of flight.

Ask yourself: who are the “giants” in your field, and what can you learn from their work?

Combine and Remix Ideas

Novel creations often arise from blending ideas across different fields. For example, blending fashion, health, and technology led to innovations in wearable health technologies, like the Oura ring, Apple watch, and other devices. These innovations not only track fitness, but also provide insights into personal health and may inform medical decisions.

A good way to inspire idea combination or remixing is by keeping a “swipe file” where you collect materials, information, and ideas from things you encounter or an inspiration journal where you can jot down ideas from books, articles, ideas, or conversations to revisit later. You never know when an idea will come to you Revisiting these snippets can help you connect seemingly unrelated ideas into something entirely new.

Try this: Take two unrelated interests or fields and brainstorm ways to combine them. What unique creations could emerge?

Cultivate a Curious Mindset

Curiosity leads to discovery. Practice the "5 Whys" technique to dig deeper into any subject. The "5 whys" mindset is a problem-solving approach that involves repeatedly asking "why" about a problem, typically five times, to progressively peel back layers and uncover the root cause of an issue. Rather than just addressing surface-level symptoms, it encourages a deep dive into understanding the underlying reasons behind a problem by systematically exploring cause-and-effect relationships through repeated questioning. It is often used for investigations into a root cause analysis of a problem, but can be used to explore an issue where you want to develop a creative solution.

An example of using the “5 Whys” technique can be illustrated with patients receiving incorrect dosages of medications.

1. Why? The prescribed dosages are being miscommunicated to the nurses.

2. Why? Doctors are handwriting prescriptions, and some handwriting is difficult to read.

3. Why? The hospital's electronic prescribing system is not being consistently used by all physicians.

4. Why? Some physicians find the system difficult to navigate and prefer traditional methods.

5. Why? The system was implemented without sufficient training or user-friendly design considerations.

Root Cause Identified: A lack of proper training and usability in the hospital’s electronic prescribing system leads to a reliance on handwritten prescriptions, resulting in medication errors.

Solution: Redesign the electronic prescribing system to be more user-friendly and provide mandatory, comprehensive training for all healthcare staff.

Once you discover what the root cause is, then you can devise a solution. Once you identify a possible solution, then you can investigate creative answers, such as voice-recognition software for prescribing to reduce manual input errors or implement AI-powered checks in the system to flag potentially dangerous dosages or drug interactions.

Ask yourself: What are you curious about, and how can you explore it further?

Borrow, but Add Your Twist

Artists, scientists, writers, entrepreneurs, and other often take existing concepts and redefined them. I like to refer to the entertainment industry because exciting, beloved movies that have amazing storylines are simply adaptations from prior movies or literature. For example, many movies have been based on William Shakespeare's plays, either as direct adaptations or as modern interpretations inspired by his work.

• “West Side Story”, was inspired by Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, but placed in the setting of two rival gangs in New York.
• Disney’s “The Lion King” was inspired by Hamlet, but reimagined with animals in the African savannah.
• Shakespeare's play, The Comedy of Errors, can be seen in the 1993 movie, “Dave”, where Kevin Kline portrays a presidential look-alike who is recruited to impersonate the President after the real leader falls into a coma.

Revisit your favorite works (books, movies, art, science, etc.) and brainstorm how you would put your unique spin on them. A great tool for this is a mind map to jot down elements that you would change, exaggerate, remove, or add to make the idea your own. A mind map involves creating a visual diagram to organize information, ideas, or concepts around a central theme, idea, or topic. It involves branching out related ideas from the central idea.

• Central Idea: At the center of the diagram is the main topic or theme. For example, "Shakespeare's Plays" might be a central idea.
• Branches: Subtopics or related ideas radiate outward from the central idea. Each branch can have smaller sub-branches for more detailed connections.
• Keywords and Images: Use of single words, phrases, or visuals to represent ideas concisely. Colors, icons, or pictures are often included to enhance engagement and memory.
• Connections: Links between branches show relationships, fostering a deeper understanding of how ideas interrelate.

Challenge: What is one of your favorite works, and how would you put your own spin on it?

The Creative Boost

Creativity is about connecting, building upon, and reimagining what already exists. By learning from the greats, like Leonardo da Vinci, we can understand how curiosity and interdisciplinary exploration drive innovation. Combining and remixing ideas from different fields can lead to groundbreaking creations. Cultivating curiosity through techniques like the "5 Whys" enables deeper insights and fresh solutions, while keeping a swipe file or inspiration journal ensures that ideas are never lost. By revisiting and reshaping your favorite works and ideas, you can create something uniquely yours, harnessing the power of creativity to see further—just as Newton described, by standing on the shoulders of giants.

What tools or strategies (i.e., mind maps, brainstorming techniques) do you find most effective for organizing and developing your ideas?