WASHINGTON 鈥� Back in 2001, Adam Grant鈥檚 Harvard roommate dreamed up the idea for an internet platform that would allow people to connect with their friends and share updates on life鈥檚 events. 聽
But he never did anything with that idea.
鈥淎nd a few years later, Mark Zuckerberg started Facebook in the dorm next door,鈥� said Grant, a 35-year-old tenured professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. 鈥淎nd that happens all the time. I know so many people who have great ideas who were just afraid to speak up or just thought that nobody would listen if they did.鈥�
This example, and many like it, sparked Grant鈥檚 interest in studying the habits of those he鈥檚 come to call 鈥渙riginals鈥� 鈥� nonconforming entrepreneurs, investors and artists who are comfortable standing out, speaking up and sharing their ideas.
鈥淚 thought that these people were just cut from a different cloth than the rest of us. And it turns out, many of them are surprisingly ordinary,鈥� said Grant, author of 鈥�.鈥�
In writing his book, Grant鈥檚 research led him to one big question: How can we all become a little more original? Here are his best tips.
Start generating more ideas 鈥� even bad ideas
Creative people generate a lot of bad ideas, but Grant says those 鈥渢hrowaway thoughts鈥� are an important part of the creative process.
鈥淚t takes a huge volume of ideas to stumble on something brand-new,鈥� he added. 鈥淲hat distinguished the Einsteins and Shakespeares and Thomas Edisons of the world from their peers is they just produced a lot more work. And a lot of the stuff they came up with was not considered great.鈥�
The key is to push past the bad ideas. If you鈥檙e working on a new solution, don鈥檛 limit yourself to 10 concepts; aim for hundreds, Grant said. This is because the ideas that come to mind first tend to be the most conventional.
鈥淭hat moment when you feel like you鈥檙e out of ideas is the moment when you鈥檙e ready to start thinking differently,鈥� he added.
There are a few ways to provoke more creative thoughts. Setting aside a few extra minutes of quiet time can help 鈥� so can working when you鈥檙e most tired.
鈥淎nd which ideas do you stay most silent about? The ones that are most creative.”
鈥� Adam Grant
鈥淭here鈥檚 evidence that people are more creative when they鈥檙e a little less alert,鈥� Grant said, adding morning people may produce more creative ideas at night, and vice versa.
鈥淲hen you鈥檙e most alert, that鈥檚 when your thinking is most structured and you tend to follow a very logical, straightforward path. Part of being creative is allowing yourself to think in nonlinear ways and have intuitive leaps.鈥�
Speak up
Once you have an idea, share it. Don鈥檛 keep it to yourself. 聽
鈥淚f you ask people about the boldest idea they鈥檝e ever had, across industries, 85 percent of people stayed silent and never told anybody about the idea,鈥� Grant said.
鈥淚 think that鈥檚 a travesty. I think we have tons of great ideas in the world that nobody ends up acting on, and I鈥檇 like to see that change.鈥�
Work in pairs, not in groups
If your job requires frequent brainstorming sessions and group work, Grant suggests pairing off with one co-worker, rather than several.
Generating ideas in a group can lead to 鈥減roduction blocking,鈥� where some people鈥檚 voices go unheard, since not everyone can speak at once. There鈥檚 also 鈥渆go threat,鈥� in which some might shy away from speaking up for fear of sounding foolish.
鈥淎nd which ideas do you stay most silent about? The ones that are most creative,鈥� Grant said.
鈥淧ractice does make perfect, but it doesn鈥檛 make new.”聽
鈥� Adam Grant聽
Groups also face the basic conformity problem. This happens when an idea gets circulated among a group 鈥渁nd everybody wants to jump on the bandwagon,鈥� Grant explained.
鈥淎s opposed to continuing with divergent thinking, they start to converge,鈥� he said.
Working alone or with one other person is the best way to avoid these creative obstacles.
鈥淚 think, especially, if you can find someone whose skills and background is different from yours, but who might share some common interests or goals, then that鈥檚 a person who鈥檚 really great to connect with and collaborate with,鈥� Grant said.
Procrastination isn鈥檛 all that bad
Grant is very clear about one thing: He doesn鈥檛 want to encourage people to become serious procrastinators. He does, however, want to re-frame its definition and normalize it.
A former student of his ran several studies which showed that people who procrastinate tend to be more creative than people who rarely postpone their work.
鈥淪ome of the procrastination that we all do is part of the creative process. Sometimes we just haven鈥檛 figured a problem out yet,鈥� said Grant, adding that people often beat themselves up over delayed deadlines since procrastination is associated with laziness or a lack of motivation.
Instead, he likes to tell people, 鈥淏e quick to start but slow to finish.鈥�
鈥淵ou want to dive into a problem early, but you don鈥檛 want to foreclose too soon on what kinds of solutions you might consider,鈥� Grant said.
Da Vinci, he points out, was often distracted from his work and spent years 鈥� sometimes decades 鈥� completing his masterpieces. Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. finished their most famous speeches at the last minute.
鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 that they were lazy; it wasn鈥檛 that they didn鈥檛 care. They were working on the speeches much further in advance. But in both cases, they wanted to keep themselves open as long as possible to new ideas as opposed to just settling on those early ones.鈥�
Grant says creative procrastination is all about making sure you give yourself enough time to incubate.
Encourage 鈥榬enaissance,鈥� not perfection
As a parent and a social scientist, Grant has spent a lot of time reading and researching the influence parents can have on their children鈥檚 creativity and originality. He says rather than focusing on facilitating creativity, parents should concentrate on not undermining it.
One mistake parents make is that they often encourage their kids to practice a skill or craft until they become experts.
鈥淧ractice does make perfect, but it doesn鈥檛 make new. And if you force your kids to over-specialize and go too deep into one area, they might be able to play a great game of chess, but then they鈥檝e never thought about what it means to create their own game with their own rules,鈥� Grant said.
鈥淭hey might be able to play a beautiful violin piece, but they don鈥檛 know how to compose their own scores and write their own music.鈥� 聽
His best piece of parenting advice is to give kids the time and space they need in order to think about doing things their own way, instead of learning from the way it鈥檚 been done by others.
