Laughter and Creativity

Ritch Davidson has an unusual title for a businessman. He is the senior vice emperor of Playfair, Inc. He is a creativity consultant to major corporations. When asked for his take on creativity, he sites a study by Dr. Alice Isen of Cornell University. In her study, Dr. Isen gave three groups of people matchboxes, candles, and thumbtacks. Each group was to come up with ways to attach the candle to the wall.

The first group was shown a funny movie before they started their assignment. The second group was shown a film about Mother Theresa. The third group was not shown anything, and told to begin the task immediately. The first group, the group that started their assignment by laughing at a funny movie, came up with more creative solutions and a broader range of possibilities than either of the other groups.

"That shows there is clearly a connection between having fun and creativity," says Davidson. "In my company, we stress that fun and play are valuable in the workplace (and everywhere else, too). It supports creativity. When people are in the middle of an intense problem or facing the kind of crisis that comes up all the time, the best thing they can do is take a break and have some fun. It allows people to get into a looser frame of mind, which actually opens up creative channels.

"Your brain keeps working all the time. Everyone has experienced this situation: you're faced with a seemingly unsolvable problem. You scrutinize it from every angle and come up with nothing. At the end of the day, you're home playing with your kids or your pet, thinking about what to have for dinner, when suddenly the solution, or at least part of the solution, pops right into your mind. Without even knowing it, your brain has made an association with something going on around you, and suddenly creativity breaks the wall you've been hitting your head against, and you're on your way to solving the problem. When you take a break from a problem to have some fun, it may seem as if you're avoiding your responsibilities. What's actually going on is that you're giving your brain time to process information and put it together in a new and unexpected way."

There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of the people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will have truly defeated age.

—Sophia Loren,
actress

Creativity is not the finding of a thing, but the making something out of it after it is found.

—James Russell Lowell,
U.S. diplomat and writer

Nothing is easy. Even the creative process. It's hard work in action. Sometimes, however, we try too hard and get burnt out. How do we recharge our batteries and get the energy we need? The next chapter will explain what energy is, why we need it, and how we get it.