Creativity

The Homemade Gadget that made Me a Hero

By Diana Gardner Robinson Leave a Comment

Today I became almost a hero – no doubt for a very short time but it felt good to be able to help someone. I was reminded just how useful a small, simple gadget that I made long ago can be. Perhaps you will need one at some point in the future…

As the elevator arrived I stood aside for an older woman in a wheelchair and a younger one, probably her daughter, pushing the wheelchair and laden down with packages. Just as it seemed we were safely inside I heard a slightly out-of-place clink, assumed it to relate to the wheel chair, thought nothing of it, and reached for the door close button.

“Oh, said the wheelchair pusher,” I think I dropped something. She checked around, then “My car keys!”

I re-opened the doors. We both looked around, no keys. I looked at the little gap between elevator and hallway. So did she. “That’s where the sound came from she said.” Her voice pitched a little higher as she realized the problem that faced her.

I knew how near the security folk were, and that I had to be ready to head out to an appointment in less than 15 minutes. I thought, then, that there was nothing I could do, so I wished her the best of luck and hurried to my apartment… thinking.

By the time I was ready to head out, the thinking had clicked. I went to the refrigerator and took with me the simplest and cheapest of gadgets.

As I headed toward the lobby, I passed the two-level elevator, where the lady and two security people were sitting on the floor, reaching through the elevator gap with bits of wire. (I am sure that an elevator mechanic could have solved the problem in ten minutes flat, but I am not sure how long it would have taken them to get there, and how much it would have cost. I suspect both numbers are fairly high.) Clearly our very resourceful security folk were determined to solve the problem themselves.

I handed them my gadget, told them I wanted it returned when they were done with it, and left.

On my return, one of the team was on duty in the lobby, and I learned that I was a hero. My gadget had enabled the keys to be retrieved and I was thanked enthusiastically! Sometimes becoming a hero is so easy it is ridiculous.

That little hero-maker consists of a round magnet about the size and shape of a quarter or other medium sized coin, glued firmly to a very, very long piece of string. I had made it after dropping my car keys into the exact spot in a car, between the seat and the center block, that is impossible to reach no matter how far back or forward you move the seat. Why I had attached so long a piece of string I have no idea, but it seemed like a good idea at the time – as it turned out to be.

So… do you have a handy magnet attached to any kind of string or cord? Or something similar? And if not… why not? Remember, I made mine not for such drama as car keys dropped beneath an elevator, but for an inconvenience that can happen to almost anyone. It is really easy. Again, all you need is a long piece of string, some kind of super strong glue, and a magnet small enough to get into tight spaces. I think mine came in a pack of six. In order to both preserve the power of the magnet and have it easily reached, it belongs on the side of the refrigerator.

I hope you never need one, but if you do… maybe it would be good to be prepared? Who knows, yours might some day make you, too, a hero.

DianaR

P.S. It’s pretty good for picking up paperclips, screws, etc. without having to bend down, too.

Creativity – A New Source of Inspiration

By Diana Gardner Robinson Leave a Comment

A New (to me) Source of Creative Ideas

Today I found a new source of inspiration for creativity that lit up my thinking so much that I want to share it with you. Although I studied creativity for my doctorate degree, there is always more to learn. I know from experience that creativity may feel reluctant to sparkle when life is getting in the way. For me, that happens particularly at this time of year, perhaps as a result of seasonal affective disorder. My thinking slows to a snail’s pace just as I want it to gear up in advance of the New Year.

I was searching for some graphics for a new version of my website. My goal was to find some illustrations relating to choice, because I will soon be going back to my original domain name of ChoiceCoach.com for this website. (Regular viewers may notice changes already, and there are many more to come. If my plans work out, what you see in early December will not be what visitors will see by January 1.)

As I began to browse through the many thousands of choice-related graphics that might or might not work for me, I started to think about their varying messages about choice, and away my mind went… Within minutes I was writing notes about ways that people have difficulty with choice, ways I could look at choice, ways I could write about it… I almost (but not quite) forgot to make my selections of possible images because I was so busy writing notes.

An idea for you

It’s just a thought, just a suggestion for any time you are looking for something to spark creative ways of thinking about any specific topic. You can find more graphics than you ever imaged if you go to one of the many graphics sources. I’m including a few below but a search on “graphics sources” will show even more. Simply enter the topic you are trying to think about in their search box, and browse through what they have to offer. It does not cost to look, although if you decide to download something there may or may not be a fee, depending on what site you are perusing.

And I hope you will enjoy whichever of the holidays may be a part of your life, from the many that are celebrated around the world at this time of year, up to and including the secular New Year on January 1. And that includes my New Zealand cousins, who often celebrate Christmas in the sun, on the beach.

Enjoy!

DianaR

A very small sampling, without recommendations, of the many internet sources of graphics:

Ten ways to enhance your creativity.

By Diana Gardner Robinson Leave a Comment

Creativity is generally regarded as desirable, and something to be enhanced. With this view in mind, below are some steps to help the development of your creativity. Remember that creativity is not confined to the fine arts – it can take many forms and solve many problems.

1. Insist on giving yourself daydreaming time. Schedule it if necessary. During that time allow no shoulds or musts to intrude. Give your mind this time to float freely, untethered to tasks. Do not think of what you will be doing when this time is over. Allow yourself to gaze out of the window, stare at the clouds, daydream.

2. Be curious. Ask why? How? How come? Don’t accept easy answers if they don’t make sense to you. Keep digging.

3. Ignore tradition. Just because something has always been done that way, or used for that purpose, doesn’t mean things can’t change.

4. Play a game with yourself–or with others–in trying to find the most uses other than the obvious ones for every-day items like paperclips, bricks, anything that comes to mind. Like most of these points, this will stretch and develop your creativity muscles. Feel free to get crazy with your answers.

5. Ask “What if?” Pick one aspect of an ordinary situation and imagine what would change if that one aspect were different. Follow this through in all its implications.

6. Widen the range of material that you read. The Queen of Hearts advised Alice to believe one impossible thing every day before breakfast. It was good advice. Allow yourself to become immersed in the worlds depicted by science fiction, history, authors from different countries. Stretch your imagination by contemplating impossible things and parallel universes.

7. Accept your initial ideas without judgment. Give them time to grow and develop before you test them. Butterflies that have just emerged from the chrysalis have wet, crumpled wings that are easily damaged. Give ideas time to develop before you decide if they can fly. The reason brainstorming has become such a standby when group creativity is involved is that all criticism is put on hold during the initial idea-generating phase. Allow yourself the same freedom.

8. Take risks. It is okay to be wrong. By definition, to be creative you must consider new, and therefore untested, ideas. Einstein said that he could have ninety-nine ideas that were wrong before he got the one that was right.

9. Enjoy the PROCESS of creation. Do not focus on the result. The secret and ecstasy of creating is being in the flow, of losing yourself in the process. If you constantly break the flow to check to how the end result will look to others, to ask yourself, “Will it sell?” or “Will it win?” you will subvert the process and possibly damage your creation.

10. Go ahead and DO IT! Don’t wait for the perfect moment – it probably won’t arrive. Painters paint, scrape the paint off and paint again. Writers write and delete. They don’t wait until they can do it perfectly before they start. You do not need twelve sharpened pencils and perfect silence before you put pen to paper. Remember that Shakespeare wrote in an age when the whole family sat at the same table and shared the same oil lamp. It is unlikely that he had a separate study or could wait until the family had gone to bed in order to write. You CAN follow your muse.