Creativity is the abbreviation for creative consciousness or innovative consciousness, also known as “intentional”. It refers to a new kind of abstract thinking and behavioral potential derived from the understanding and cognition of reality. Creativity is to connect things together. When you ask creative people how they do it, they feel a little vain, because they are not really “creating creativity”, they just see something and connect them.

One day when Belle Beth Cooper shared this picture on Twitter through the official account of the blog buffer, there were more than 1,000 retweets very quickly, indicating that it was quite resonant with the public and also made her think about it. How to link knowledge. This picture clearly shows the difference between knowledge and experience:

The image is by cartoonist Hugh MacLeod, and conveys this not-so-understood concept in a fairly clear and clever way. The figure clearly points out: A single knowledge cannot be effective unless we can connect it with other knowledge we have accumulated in the past.

Many excellent writers, artists, or scientists have talked about the importance of collecting ideas and knowledge, and they treat each knowledge and idea as a point, and find ways to connect them to generate more creative ideas.

Belle Beth Cooper thinks this type of article is quite interesting and instructive, so she collected some sentences and suggestions related to the creation of connections in the brain from her favorite creative thinkers, and sorted out the key points for readers’ reference. At the same time , She encourages readers to read a lot and discover the mystery of the connection that connects the knowledge and ideas in the brain by themselves!

Use links to add unlimited creativity: nothing is original

Steve Jobs is undoubtedly full of innovation and creative ideas. He once said in an interview in 1996:

Creativity is to connect things together. When you ask creative people how they do it, they feel a little vain, because they are not really “creating creativity”, they just see something and connect them.

Then Jobs further said that the secret to steadily connecting ideas and knowledge is experience:

Because once you have experience, you can link the past experience and synthesize it into a brand new thing. The reason why some people can easily connect is because they have more experience, or they know how to use past experience better than others.

Maria Popova, the founder of Brain Pickings, can be said to be the best expression of “combined creativity”, that is, to connect certain things and create new ideas:

In order for us to truly create or contribute to the world, we must connect those countless points, interact with the vast amount of knowledge in the past to generate new ideas, and combine and recombine the ideas to create a richer and larger idea. .

Maria Popova shared her thoughts on connection in a creative morning gathering. She believes that reading a large number of articles on different topics is the key to enhancing the ability to connect. She also talked about how each person’s self influences our willingness to invest in those What others are already doing:

Some things are justified to us, but our creative self is sometimes reluctant to accept it, and this is precisely combined creativity-nothing is original, all new ideas are based on things that happened in the past. .

Finally, Maria Popova uses Lego bricks as a metaphor. She compares each knowledge point to pieces of Lego bricks waiting to be pieced together:

When we have more building blocks, we will have more shapes and colors, and the building block castle that we put together will be richer and more interesting!

Austin Kleon, author of “The Ideas Are Stole: 10 Creative Skimmings No One Told You” was the person Belle Beth Cooper immediately thought of when he decided to write this topic. A book whose ideas are all stolen starts like this:

Every artist asks: “Where do I get ideas?”

An honest artist will say, “I stole it.”

Austin Kleon also believes:

Each seemingly brand new idea is just a mix and match of past ideas.

If you are looking for more suggestions to help you connect the knowledge in your mind and collect more knowledge, Austin Kleon’s book is a good start. He provides many suggestions, such as taking a notebook with you and reading a lot. and many more.

What do scientists think about connection

In the book “The Art of Scientific Investigation”, WIB Beveridge from the University of Cambridge wrote that successful scientists are usually people who are curious and have broad interests:

Originality (Originality) usually comes from connecting various ideas, and the method of connection is not easy to be guessed.

He suggested that scientists should read more articles outside their field of expertise to increase the richness of their knowledge (so there will be more and more diverse knowledge points when connecting in the future).

Start connecting and become more creative!

Next, Belle Beth Cooper provides some suggestions to help users improve their abilities and generate links:

1. Increase knowledge-the power of new experiences

In any case, when you have more knowledge, you can make more connections. Start with reading, larger and more extensive. And explore every opportunity to gather knowledge (try new experiences, such as traveling, attending parties, or cultivating new interests).

Only new things can stimulate strong activity in the midbrain area.

So, try to challenge new things, put a little pressure on your brain, and overload it a little bit! Not only will it help to develop the brain, it may also provoke unexpected results!

Regarding the channels for extensive research, I just recently saw an answer on Zhihu. Students can refer to: http://www.zhihu.com

2. Keep paying attention to everything-especially when taking a shower

Just like the advice provided by Austin Kleon, take a notebook (or your smartphone) with you and take notes at any time. Don’t expect your brain to remember everything, and jot down the ideas or thoughts that flashed in your mind. When you start to do this, you may remember what you wrote down yesterday and in the past, which will help you connect in the future!

You can even do this while taking a shower. According to research, taking a shower is a very creative moment!

3. Review your notes every day-Franklin Method

Reviewing your notes every day will help you recall them more easily when you need them in the future. This is exactly one of Franklin’s methods of cultivating 13 virtues. The picture shows Franklin reviewing his own forms every day. Every morning and evening he would re-examine what he did in a day and answer a simple question:

What good things did I do today?