Children have an incredibly inquisitive mind. “Why?” they keep asking. They explore new things for no other reason except that they just want to know. Researchers tried to figure out how often kids ask questions. Turns out, a lot: on average, children ask 107 questions per hour! But it seems that as adults we tend … Read More
A new generation of AI tools is taking the world by storm. These tools can help you write better, code faster, and generate unique imagery at scale. People are using AI tools to produce entire blog posts, create content for their company’s social media channels, and craft enticing sales emails. The advent of such powerful … Read More
Blank page syndrome, writer’s block—call it whatever you want, most creators have once faced this overwhelming lack of inspiration. If you do experience writer’s block from time to time, the best reaction is to go do something else: going for a walk, journaling, talking it out with a friend. Better yet, though, is to avoid … Read More
Liminality (from the Latin word līmen, “threshold”) is the ambiguity that emerges in the middle of a fundamental transition. Liminality is the “in-between”, where the space and the participants no longer hold their past status, but have not yet fully transformed to their post-transition self. Liminality can be applied to a person standing at the … Read More
The advent of modern creativity means that everyone, not just those few inspired by the Muses, is invited to transform and shape the world. Each day, people connect ideas together, solve problems, and invent novel solutions. However, the explosion in individual innovation has also led to the proliferation of structured creativity — neatly compartmentalized pockets … Read More
Do you think of yourself as someone who is not creative? Creative work can be challenging, and many people lack confidence in their own ability. Psychologists have reported that being unsure, anxious or defeatist about your creative potential can become a self-fulfilling prophecy that hinders your performance. Creative self-efficacy is the internal belief that you … Read More
Whether you are trying to create an online course or write an article, it can be hard to generate good ideas. Whenever you feel stuck, it can be helpful to boost your creativity with a systematic approach. The Zwicky box is a simple and effective way to create many unique ideas by breaking the problem … Read More
Creativity is everywhere around us — in the random colors of an artist’s painting, the verses of profound poetry, or an inspiring sculpture crafted from muddy clay. However, being creative is not just related to the arts, and artists are not the only custodians of creativity. Solving challenging problems, coming up with new technology, finding … Read More
People who can both innovate and optimize are an extremely rare breed. Innovating requires a taste for risk taking and experimentation; optimizing calls for an altogether different skill set, mostly reliant on refinement and efficiency. That’s known as the exploration-exploitation dilemma. Great innovators are not always great managers. This is a common story: a founder … Read More
Today, the Maker Mind newsletter just hit 25,000 subscribers! To celebrate, I asked you to share your questions about launching and managing a newsletter. Here are my thoughts. Wherever you are in your journey, I hope you find these answers helpful. How long did it take you to build up that audience? (David) I launched … Read More