Unleashing INTP creativity

[Architect]

In the past my creativity has been unleashed when there's a new system to understand and develop. The spark is less when simply developing on an understood or existing system. Unfortunately most opportunities and success in this world are the latter. This seems the explanation for much of INTP work angst. We need ideas for how to cheat the setup and work around it.

 

[Cognisant]

I hear making unintuitive connections helps when looking for new vistas of opportunity, alternatively look for problems, they say every problem is an opportunity in disguise.

For example wikipedia doesn't always have the links I need on the right page, perhaps there should be some kind of link making methodology so every page on every subject has the appropriate links for any given purpose which I know sounds daunting but I think a good start would be to collate a list of five purposes wikipedia is used for (essays/assignments, general interest, field entry, trivia research, information verification) and for each of these purposes find five relevant links, I think the result would be significantly more helpful than the current ad hoc by intuition approach.

I got that from making an otherwise unintuitive connection between "unintuitive" and "connections"

 

[Tunes]

you could treat things like a new system, disregard the understood system and try to make your own out of it. also, drugs might help unleash creativity no matter what you're working on. I know they do for me, but to each his own.

 

[pernoctator]

Refactor.

 

[themirror]

I think the best time to see this happen is after a day of moderate stimulation.

Put yourself in a situation where you're not in control of the outcomes, but your mind is relaxed and open. For instance, take a day trip with others to somewhere you've never been, and spend your day observing your environment and making decisions as you go along. Get a lot of fresh air and steadily tire yourself out physically through a full day of adventuring and exploring. Watch the sunset. Refrain from engaging in debates, arguments, or overly detailed analysis of any sort. Just take as much in as you can through your Ne.

When you return to your home or otherwise get back, reflect on the activities of the day and how you felt during them, what they mean philosophically to you, etc. This should come naturally, and it's where your Ti kicks in to integrate the Ne exposure. In my experience, during conversations and ruminations during this time, I come up really great ideas and perceive most clearly and profoundly. I think giving Ti a rest for an extended period of time and then summoning it after Ne is let loose sets up the ultimate creative atmosphere for INTPs. While ENTPs would seek ways to perpetuate the stimulation into the night on a day like this, INTPs will naturally recede into their mind, where Ti will take over and a synergy will flow.

If, however, the INTP is left to his own devices, the Ti will be parsimonious with Ne and comfort zones won't be breached. Instead, tried and true patterns will consume the day. These can be important for times when the INTP is sorting through facts or breaking down a tough problem, but his creativity will be reserved, albeit present.

 

[Architect]

Interesting ideas. While I wasn't looking for specific personal advice this resonated with me

you could treat things like a new system, disregard the understood system and try to make your own out of it.

Going for some greenfield (a new area I've not studied before) is easier, but at this point in my life I've about explored as many different areas as I care to and there's really only one left that holds my sustained interest - namely computers. I should cultivate the habit of seeing the system in everything I do to help pique my interest.

 

[finalTruthSage]

Ne and Ti can work at the same time (literally simultaneously) with incredible harmony. One key to this state is music. Preferably, advanced music. I'm a software developer, and I listen to smooth jazz while working during the day with my team. Here is a link to free smooth jazz: http://www.sky.fm/play/smoothjazz . When I am alone late at night (my creativity is significantly increased for some reason at this time), I listen to Coltrane exclusively. Something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4D7eYSD3IJ0.

Also, don't work for too long during the day with people. I work for a maximum of 3 hours straight during the day with my team. Then I take a break and watch the history channel for about 2 hours, while thinking about what we worked on/discussed and creating efficient and new ideas for reaching those goals. My team calls this the TV time. They know me enough to let me be alone during this time. I reached several new realizations during the TV time and late at Night.

Capitalize on "the zone". At Night, I get into what I call "the zone". My creativity is at its peak, I am seeing so many connections, I gain a significant amount of focus and completely lose track of time. Try to capitalize on this state. It becomes harder when you have things like family commitments e.t.c. However, you would gain a significant amount of working knowledge if you capitalize on this time and not restrict yourself. I leave the office at 3:00am sometimes.

Solve other people's problems! This sounds crazy, but it works so well for me. During the TV time/at Night, I spend the first 10% of time on my problems without reaching solutions, then about 80% of the time thinking of my teammates' road-blocks and finding a way around them. When I get back to my problems, the solutions are trivial and easy to reach; and they are often very efficient.

Pause to celebrate your new creative thoughts! You can find ways to do this by yourself, or you can do it with someone (one person) who would understand and benefit from the creation. I do this all the time, and it often leads to even better creations.

Lastly, don't drink coffee: sleep instead! My MINIMUM daily sleep duration is 8 hours; on average, about 9 hours. You would wake up with several new insights after a good long rest.

 

[Architect]

Phenomenal post!

Ne and Ti can work at the same time (literally simultaneously) with incredible harmony. One key to this state is music. Preferably, advanced music. I'm a software developer, and I listen to smooth jazz while working during the day with my team.

Software developer here too, but I prefer classical (ex musician). I have the complete works of Haydn, Bach, Mozart, ... I prefer pre-Romantic for working. I do like your thought on Ne/Ti working together, I've thought of them as working separately - must think about that.

Also, don't work for too long during the day with people. I work for a maximum of 3 hours straight during the day with my team.

Completely agree - I happen to work with my team for only three hours daily also. I get so much more done at home, while in the office I get bogged down with socialization and whatnot.

Then I take a break and watch the history channel for about 2 hours, while thinking about what we worked on/discussed and creating efficient and new ideas for reaching those goals. My team calls this the TV time. They know me enough to let me be alone during this time. I reached several new realizations during the TV time and late at Night.

Same here, I use TV (Discovery Channel is best) for thinking and unwinding, mostly it's a different pace in my thinking process.

Capitalize on "the zone". At Night, I get into what I call "the zone". My creativity is at its peak, I am seeing so many connections, I gain a significant amount of focus and completely lose track of time. Try to capitalize on this state.

It becomes harder when you have things like family commitments e.t.c. However, you would gain a significant amount of working knowledge if you capitalize on this time and not restrict yourself. I leave the office at 3:00am sometimes.

I'm a morning person, it started in college when I took early calculus classes to avoid parking problems. I get up at 3AM and the world is mine.

Solve other people's problems! This sounds crazy, but it works so well for me. During the TV time/at Night, I spend the first 10% of time on my problems without reaching solutions, then about 80% of the time thinking of my teammates' road-blocks and finding a way around them. When I get back to my problems, the solutions are trivial and easy to reach; and they are often very efficient.

Interesting - yes I can see that it's a change of pace for the thinking process. I'll try it.

Pause to celebrate your new creative thoughts! You can find ways to do this by yourself, or you can do it with someone (one person) who would understand and benefit from the creation. I do this all the time, and it often leads to even better creations.

Interesting, will consider this.

Lastly, don't drink coffee: sleep instead! My MINIMUM daily sleep duration is 8 hours; on average, about 9 hours. You would wake up with several new insights after a good long rest.

Good idea, I've gone off tea for the most part. Sometimes I drink a cup again.

 

[pjoa09]

I don't know why I don't like Coltrane. I only have one jazz album to adore, Darn That Dream.

 

[scorpiomover]

In the past my creativity has been unleashed when there's a new system to understand and develop. The spark is less when simply developing on an understood or existing system. Unfortunately most opportunities and success in this world are the latter. This seems the explanation for much of INTP work angst. We need ideas for how to cheat the setup and work around it.

I have the most creativity when there is an existing system that can be understood more deeply. Whenever I come across the slightest of anomalies, I stop, think "This is important", and then focus on trying to understand how that anomaly fits in with the rest of the system. Sometimes the answer is obvious. Sometimes the answer reveals a much deeper understanding of the system. To understand the system in greater depth, all I then need to do, is study all aspects of the system, and keep an eye out for what seems to be an anomaly to the system as I understand it.

 

[Sorlaize]

Ne and Ti can work at the same time (literally simultaneously) with incredible harmony. One key to this state is music. Preferably, advanced music. I'm a software developer, and I listen to smooth jazz while working during the day with my team. Here is a link to free smooth jazz: http://www.sky.fm/play/smoothjazz . When I am alone late at night (my creativity is significantly increased for some reason at this time), I listen to Coltrane exclusively. Something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4D7eYSD3IJ0.

Also, don't work for too long during the day with people. I work for a maximum of 3 hours straight during the day with my team. Then I take a break and watch the history channel for about 2 hours, while thinking about what we worked on/discussed and creating efficient and new ideas for reaching those goals. My team calls this the TV time. They know me enough to let me be alone during this time. I reached several new realizations during the TV time and late at Night.

Capitalize on "the zone". At Night, I get into what I call "the zone". My creativity is at its peak, I am seeing so many connections, I gain a significant amount of focus and completely lose track of time. Try to capitalize on this state. It becomes harder when you have things like family commitments e.t.c. However, you would gain a significant amount of working knowledge if you capitalize on this time and not restrict yourself. I leave the office at 3:00am sometimes.

Solve other people's problems! This sounds crazy, but it works so well for me. During the TV time/at Night, I spend the first 10% of time on my problems without reaching solutions, then about 80% of the time thinking of my teammates' road-blocks and finding a way around them. When I get back to my problems, the solutions are trivial and easy to reach; and they are often very efficient.

Pause to celebrate your new creative thoughts! You can find ways to do this by yourself, or you can do it with someone (one person) who would understand and benefit from the creation. I do this all the time, and it often leads to even better creations.

Lastly, don't drink coffee: sleep instead! My MINIMUM daily sleep duration is 8 hours; on average, about 9 hours. You would wake up with several new insights after a good long rest.

Great advice, thanks


I make it my business to understand creativity, along with other parts of my psychology

some useful stuff here-
http://sanity-death.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/creativity

Great video-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VShmtsLhkQg

also there is a really insightful piece about creativity in Game Design: A Book Of Lenses.. I'll have to post it to the blog there


--

>I'm a software developer, and I listen to smooth jazz while working during the day with my team.

I've heard music can work with art too. I've had periods of music playing constantly, but sometimes with programming it can be distracting. Lyrics can be distracting. But, maybe that's because I'm a bad programmer and can't concentrate on it well. I've done fine the last few days with music & philosophy, and for me the music is great to tune in/out of every now and then.. I get a rush from the music's feel coinciding with a great thinking moment haha.

Another thing about music-- I've heard someone mention it before, and what I can do is visualize a game design/concept or a (film/game) trailer from an epic piece of music. It's awesome, and I do it with songs I really like. It's weird, because I want to cling to that "meaning" of the song, after that.. you read the lyrics and you think of the song differently, so that can be.. "dangerous".

Also today I felt the influence of this song while writing..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8MeGBPr-xY


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>Solve other people's problems! This sounds crazy, but it works so well for me.

I try to entertain any problem (even ones that are really my own but "bounced off myself as if external"..)

It doesn't matter if it's not so useful. Thinking prompts are always good IMO


>Pause to celebrate your new creative thoughts!

Yeah I think reinforcing that the idea was helpful is important.


also have a look at lateral thinking.



--

I'm most creative when... when I immerse myself in ideas and I think of what's possible..?

I spend a lot of time alone, so the introverted thinking is all I do really.

I have this ritual I do, where I play guitar hero on expert and I think "in the background" / subconsciously. I call it genius time.. because I come out with several awesome ideas, every time. Takes about 15 minutes. It works so well because I associate guitar hero completely with that now, and because I don't often take breaks like that.

From what I gather people seem to think meditation is about sitting on your ass and suddenly knowing everything, but that's idiotic. You can think in a deep, introverted state if you are relaxed, I try to do it most of the day but it's not really a conscious effort.

 

[Sorlaize]

Phenomenal post! Software developer here too, but I prefer classical (ex musician).

Just a thought- this is the only "classical"-like thing I listen to religiously (the whole album)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfpyNs9-up4

oh and this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLQ0gs_f8_I

 

[BigApplePi]

In the past my creativity has been unleashed when there's a new system to understand and develop. The spark is less when simply developing on an understood or existing system. Unfortunately most opportunities and success in this world are the latter. This seems the explanation for much of INTP work angst. We need ideas for how to cheat the setup and work around it.

A new system can be unfinished. An old one has been worked over. One can piggyback on either, but the new one is fresh creativity. Isn't that more inspiring? Gaps are easier to find.

The history channel was mentioned. Another approach to creativity could be to take in a new perspective ... any one of modest substance ... inspired by anything apparently unrelated. Then relate that. Isn't that bound to be "new" if not creative?

 

[Sorlaize]

These quotes are both from the 2nd book.

There is a muse (traditionally, the muses were women, but mine’s a guy; I’m afraid we’ll just have to live with that), but he’s not going to come fluttering down into your writing room and scatter creative fairy-dust all over your type-writer or computer station. He lives in the ground. He’s a basement guy. You have to descend to his level, and once you get down there you have to furnish an apartment for him to live in. You have to do all the grunt labor, in other words, while the muse sits and smokes cigars and admires his bowling trophies and pretends to ignore you. Do you think this is fair? I think it’s fair. He may not be much to look at, that muse-guy, and he may not be much of a conversationalist (what I get out of mine is mostly surly grunts, unless he’s on duty), but he’s got the inspiration. It’s right that you should do all the work and burn all the midnight oil, because the guy with the cigar and the little wings has got a bag of magic. There’s stuff in there that can change your life. Believe me, I know.

Subconscious Tip #1: Pay Attention

As usual, the key is listening, this time to your self(sort of). The subconscious is no different than anyone else: If you get in the habit of ignoring it, it is going to stop making suggestions. If you get in the habit of listening to it, seriously considering its ideas, and thanking it when you get a good one, it will start to offer more and better suggestions. So, how do you listen to something that can’t talk? What you must do is pay closer attention to your thoughts, your feelings, your emotions, and your dreams, for those are the ways the subconscious communicates. This sounds really strange, but it really does work — the more you pay attention to what the subconscious has to say, the more work it will do for you.

For example, say you are brainstorming ideas for a surfing game. You are thinking about which beaches it should be set at and what kind of camera systems are going to be best for a surfing game. Suddenly, you have this inkling of an idea: “What if the surfboards were bananas? ” which is crazy, of course — and where do you think it came from? Now, you could say to yourself, “That’s stupid — let’s constrain this to reality, please.” Or, you could take a few moments, and seriously consider the idea: “Okay, so what if the surfboards were bananas? ”

 

[VroumVroum]

To unleash my creativity :


I need enough freedom to be able to set my own rules.


I also need new inputs. I can study a new system. But brainstorming with the right people is better. It brings a lot of new ideas that lead to new possibilities and my ideas are challenges so I don’t run in circle.