Your Highly Improbable Brain

Being creative – as an artist, writer, entrepreneur, programmer, accountant, at anything – is a herculean task.  I really like Sir Ken Robinson’s definition of creativity: “The process of having original ideas which have value.”  The problem with creativity is that consistently being creative requires new fuel (inspiration) all the time.  To grok something new, you must change your perspectives.

Your brain is wired to be an Infinite Improbability Engine (henceforth referred to as an IIE), with the ability to take you anywhere and everywhere simultaneously, dropping you off where you may or may not need to be.  So why would you not let your brain be the incredible IIE that it is, and instead stick to running your think tank on unleaded?

Let’s back up a step.  Infinite Improbability Engine?  Yes.  Infinite Improbability Engine.  I’m not making it up.  This guy did, and he is smarter than me, so I’ll go with it.

Have you ever read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy?  If not, that is forgivable.  I’m a pretty big sci-fi buff, and it took me years to get around to it.  I highly recommend it, and if you use this link to pick it up, you’ll be doing something improbably nice to support Grokkery.

In The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, they get around in a pretty cool ship.  There is something not quite normal about it: it runs on an Infinite Improbability Engine.  I won’t pretend to have any idea how fictional physics work, but the premise is interesting – the engine can get you anywhere in the conceivable (or inconceivable) universe in a matter of seconds by calculating and passing through every conceivable (or inconceivable) point simultaneously.  Highly improbable.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide suggests dressing appropriately when traveling via the Infinite Improbability Engine.  I would say that is good advice when you have no idea where you will be ending up.

When pondering creativity this morning, my brain somehow related the Infinite Improbability Engine to creativity – as this was quite improbable, I just went with it and trusted that my brain knew what it was doing.

Improbable is Effective

When you get into a creative rut, you are probably trying to solve it the same way you always have.  I don’t know what that is for you, but I AM sure that you have some habits or methods that usually work.  For some improbable reason, they choose not to help you out sometimes.  Damn.

So if those methods are improbably ineffectual, why not undertake a new method which may be improbably more interesting and most likely more effective?

Scientifically speaking, our brains are literally wired to acquire and recall information.  Every time that you learn something new, you are forging brand spanking new neural pathways. Your neural pathways are super highways for your thoughts.  By making a new one, you have just potentially given yourself a new source of inspiration.  Who knows what your brain will see as it takes that highway – it could be anything.

“Anything” is the point though.

When you are stuck in a creative rut, having new improbable thoughts is exactly what you need.  Don’t get stuck treading the same loop you always have.  That won’t help you find inspiration or motivation.

I would be willing to bet that even if you did find inspiration while walking that worn circle, it would be because something flew in and distracted you for just a moment.  That little distraction allowed your brain to find some new and improbable tangent to run down.  Your brain wants to be its true self: an Infinite Improbability Engine.

How Do You Do The Improbable?

OK, you have seen the main dish that is the improbable, and may or may not agree to take a bite and agree that it can help get you to creative nirvana.  How do you go about trying out the improbable?

Easier said than done, right?  Hardly.  Doing the improbable is one of the easiest things out there if you are open to it.  Here is a completely incomplete list of steps to get you started:

• Get away! Remove yourself completely from what you are trying to do and go do something unrelated.  Don’t focus on the issue – this has an improbable way of letting your brain give you the answer.
• Wiggle. What is the opposite of excessive brain activity?  No, it is not being brain dead.  In this context, it means you need to get your body moving.  Blood flow is proven to help make your brain work better.
• Do/learn something new. You know that book you’ve been meaning to start reading or that hobby you’ve been meaning to pick up?  Go do it.  Now.  Run, don’t walk.  Giving your brain new types of food allows it to make the connections you need it to.
• Breathe! Chances are, if you are stressing out about not being able to find a creative solution, you are probably forgetting to breathe fully.  Take some time and just breathe in the universe.
• Call someone. Find out what is going on in their lives recently.  This goes back to getting away – the more wholly you can focus your brain elsewhere, the more charged your Infinite Improbability Engine will be.
• Turn it upside down. Drawing on my experience as an artist, the first thing you should do is turn a problem upside down.  This works metaphorically and literally.  See it from a new and unexpected angle.
• Make it up. This is one of the most fun – you don’t have the answer, so why not make it up?  Tell yourself a story about the solution and get as wild and crazy as possible.  This is your IIE we’re talking about.  Infinite possibility.  You’ll find that even in the nonsense, your brain will start to give you helpful little hints.
• Walk and chew gum. Chewing stimulates the brain (proven fact).  The point is not to blow money on Dentyne Ice, but that by doing two seemingly unrelated things together, your brain won’t be able to focus it’s attention on the other problem.  From the unfocused void, may come an improbable solution.
• Confuse yourself. Befuddle yourself so bad that you go cross-eyed.  Go look at something so complex that there is no possible way you could figure it out.  Then take a guess at how it works anyway.  Who cares about being wrong?  This mental exercise will expand your curiosity and your brain.
• Get off balance. I don’t mean doing advanced yoga blindfolded, or even standing on one foot (hint: look at a single spot for better balance).  Find a way to push your edges just a little, or put yourself in a situation where you are slightly uncomfortable.  This will force you to find new solutions in your present moment.
• Have fun. You may work more effectively and quickly under stress, but I promise that your brain will be just as effective if it has fun, too.  If you have fun, it is like giving your IIE a tuneup – you’ll be loose and ready for any improbability it can throw at you.

Life is a (Neural) Highway

The point is this: If you are looking to be creative, you cannot keep doing the same thing.  Those neural highways that you’ll be reinforcing will develop potholes, broken down cars, and even become completely useless.  That is not bad; it is natural.  You do not grow by endlessly repeating what isn’t working.  Even if you repeat what is working for you, you are bound to run into a wall eventually.

You have this magnificent improbability engine inside your head.  It can literally take you anywhere you desire (if only in imagination).   Not only is it great for travel, it is great for dreaming up what seem to be random connections.  Creativity and an Infinite Improbability Engine? Sure, why not.

It is a useful analogy, and the idea of having your brain be everywhere at once simultaneously, hence open to any useful possibility, seems great. Because this is an engine we’re talking about, it is going to take you SOMEWHERE, and how you creatively choose to use the results of those adventures are completely up to you.

No matter where you go, there is now a new neural pathway for you to travel along, and that ladies and gentleman, is why your creative brain is an Infinite Improbability Engine.

How do you find creative solutions when your creativity stalls?  Leave a comment and let’s make a resource of ideas for people to use!

Tagged as: brain, Creativity, douglas adams, grok, growth, hhgg, hitchhikers guide, Personal Development, self improvement