Goblins in Thongs: The 5 Rules of Creativity Explained

Rule1: "The rule of Fusion" This is where the title of this article becomes clear. Addition is the rule of adding two things together. This is a fundamental skill of creativity. Taking one thing and adding it to another to come up with a totally new thing, idea, concept, or thought. Often times these additions might at first seem extremely incongruous but it is through these incongruities that the most creative ideas emerge. Aren't we all so glad that somebody used this rule on peanut butter and chocolate? Don't dismiss even the craziest addition. It may lead to other, better, ideas. Which is what the second rule of creativity is about.

Rule 2: "The logical progression" Every single thing came from an earlier thing. No thought, idea, product, story, painting ever was brought into existence from nothing. It derived from something earlier. This brings up an interesting bit of trivia about Picasso. A Woman, meeting him in a restaurant asked him to draw something for her and she said that she would pay him anything. He quickly drew out a sketch on a napkin and said "That will be six thousand dollars please." She was shocked at this and retorted: "But it only took you five minutes to draw it!" To which he replied: "No Madame, it took me forty years and five minutes to draw it!" Picasso was proving the point that he didn't just draw it out of nothing. He drew it out of the progression of artistic ability and skill he developed over 40 years of learning. Think about something and then try to peek back into where it originated from then try to extrapolate this into what could be next for it. You will be surprised where this takes you.

Rule 3: "The rule of scattershot" Edison is famous for his quote that inventing is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. What he meant was that you have to just try a whole bunch of things, no matter how crazy it might seem because sooner or later something special will come out of it. The trick here is to be observant enough to know what is working. This is a famous technique used in Brainstorming where you just come up with as many things as possible regardless of their initial apparent relevance or worth. It does lubricate creativity and generate lots of good stuff.

Rule 4: "The rule of discipline" While creativity has the bad reputation of being something for dreamy types who lounge under a tree waiting for an apple to fall it is just not true. Creativity follows the "opportunity comes to the prepared" rule in that if you want to be creative you have to do and learn. From this you will grow in your creativity. If you want to be a more creative painter you have to paint - a lot. Through this practice your mind will generate creative thoughts. The same is true for any pursuit. The more you do it the more prepared you will be to receive creative inspiration and more importantly the more prepared you will be to realize them.

Rule 5: "Transferrance" Every invention, thought, idea, product, or other thing was created for a purpose but every one of these things can be applied in other ways. A hammer is much more than just a tool for pounding nails. If you are working on a creative problem look at other similar or even dissimilar solutions to problems and see how you can apply these solutions to your problem. This brings us right back to the goblins. Some goblin saw the success of thongs on human beaches and thought "maybe this will work on goblin beaches."

It is true that creativity is a bit of a mystery but these five rules help you to understand what creativity really is and how you can harness it and develop your creativity to a fuller potential.