The Routine Habits of Breakthrough Thinkers, with Jeremy Utley

#410: You face plenty of problems.

But you have a scarcity of good solutions.

Stanford Professor Jeremy Utley can help.

He says that solving complex problems requires creativity. And creativity comes from deliberate practice.

It’s not an innate talent. It’s a skill. And it’s useful in any occupation, from accounting to zookeeping.

Jeremy speaks and writes on the history of invention, discovery, creativity, and innovation. He also leads Stanford d.school's work with professionals.

Today he talks to us about how some of the greatest innovators produce new ideas. He tells us about their creative process.

He describes how researchers and authors improve their skills.

And he shares pointers to help you understand how to do the same.

Timing of discussion points as per November 2022:

3:00: How to focus while staying open to creativity

6:23: Definition of creativity

14:02: Different cognitive biases faced

17:35: The idea quota

19:28: Where ideas come from: the Lego analogy 

21:32: How Ben Franklin honed his creativity

28:36: Capturing inspiration

46:04: The importance of reviewing the problems in your life

50:24: The roles of creative collaboration and distributed reasoning

54:49: The argument for quantity over quality 

56:07: The value of bad ideas

For more information, visit the show notes at https://affordanything.com/episode410

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