Creativity Central [Marty Baker]

One day in 1948, a Swiss amateur-mountaineer and inventor named George de Mestral decided to take his dog for a nature hike. They both came back with burrs, the plant seed-sacs that cling to animal fur in order to travel to fertile new planting grounds. de Mestral became curious.  He took a burr and put it under a microscope and inspected one of the many burrs stuck to his pants. The magnified image revealed small hooks that enabled the seed-bearing burr to cling so tenaciously to the tiny loops in the fabric of his pants. George de Mestral raised his head from the microscope and smiled. He designed a unique, two-sided fastener, one side with stiff hooks like the burrs and the other side with soft loops like the fabric of his pants. He called his brainstorm 'velcro' a combination of the word velour and crochet.

The Chinese Fortune Cookie cracks open another truth -- fortune favors the prepared mind.  It means that creativity is often re(mix) of a stimulus that collides with the knowledge bandwidth of your brain.   For de Mestral it was the mechanism of clinging burrs.  For someone else, the stimulus might be to create "burr" proof pants.  The key is to be in a creative mindset.  Make a habit of turning this mindset on verbally.  Say "remix" and look around.  There may be something in that moment and place that will be a stimulus to creativity.  That trigger word allows your mind to be turned on like switch. 

Creative people cultivate a creative mindset -- they typically have the switch in the on position.   So remix and see what happens.

Over a decade ago, Bryan Mattimore wrote a wonderful book called 99% Inspiration.  One of his chapters puts a lot of creative leaps and their stimuli together.   So here's a test for you courtesy of Bryan.  Answers at end.

1. What was Dr. Rene Laennec's stimulus for inventing the stethoscope?

1.     A beret tossed in the air by one of his neighbors
2.     Children sending signals to each other by tapping on the ends of logs
3.     A woodpecker pecking on a tree outside a hospital

2. Samuel Colt's stimulus for his six-shooter revolver was?

1. The Big Dipper
2. A pitchfork he threw into the side of a barn
3. A ships wheel

3. John Dunlop got the idea for rubber tires from:

1. A garden hose
2. A snake skin
3. A raincoat

4. Henry Ford conceived a better way to mass produce his cars after a visit to?

1. A supermarket
2. A slaughterhouse
3. A tobacco farm

5. Samuel Morse conceived the telegraph relay system  when he saw?

1.  A snake in the grass
2. A drawing of women earing lighting rod hats in the 1820's
3. Fresh horses being substituted at relay stations

6. Maxim's stimulus for the design of the gun silencer was?

1.  A whistle
2. The whirlpool  effect of water flowing down a drain
3. A fireplace bellows

7. Carrier got the idea for the air conditioner when he?

1. Took a steam bath at the Yale Club in Manhattan
2. Bought a completely sealed Japanese glass terrarium
3. Saw water condensing on the side of a glass
   

1. (answer) 2

2. (answer) 3

3. (answer) 1

4. (answer) 2

5. (answer) 3

6. (answer) 2

7. (answer) 3