Your Creative Brain: Seven Steps to Maximize Imagination, Productivity, and Innovation in Your Life

Preface vii

Acknowledgments xi

part 1 Meet Your Creative Brain 1

1 Wanted: Your Creative Brain 3

Why activating your creativity is important to individual and societal well-being

2 Your Mental Comfort Zone 13

Introduction to the seven brainsets Fun quizzes to determine which brainset is your mental comfort zone

3 Tour Your Creative Brain 39

Brief introduction to the parts of brain that are important to the creative process

4 Brainsets and the Creative Process 55

Description of the stages that comprise both the deliberate and the spontaneous creative process

part 2 Training Your Creative Brain 71

5 Opening the Mind: Accessing the Absorb Brainset 73

Access externally and internally generated information with an uncritical eye

6 Imagining the Possibilities: Accessing the Envision Brainset 103

Use the power of mental imagery to construct creative ideas

7 Thinking Divergently: Accessing the Connect Brainset 123

Associate novel information to produce a multitude of ideas

8 Shaping the Creative Idea: Accessing the Reason Brainset 155

Consciously work through a creative “problem”

9 Recognizing Useful Ideas: Accessing the Evaluate Brainset 181

Evaluate creative ideas for appropriateness

10 Using Emotion Creatively: Accessing the Transform Brainset 207

Put your negative emotions to work for you

11 Performing Creatively: Accessing the Stream Brainset 233

Practice skill-appropriate improvisation

part 3 Putting the CREATES Strategies to Work 257

12 Flexing Your Creative Brain 259

Exercises for switching between brainsets to enhance cognitive flexibility

13 Applying the Brainsets to Real-World Creativity 279

Tips for using the brainsets in all stages of the creative process

Appendixes 293

1 How to Score the CREATES Brainsets Assessment 293

2 Th e Token Economy System 305

3 Th e Daily Activities Calendar 309

Notes 311

References 339

About the Author 357

About Harvard Medical School 358

Index 359