You Are Getting Very Sleepy

Our minds work in mysterious ways. We have yet to figure out this maze of neurons and grey matter that we call a brain. Yet, psychologists have come a little bit closer to unlocking one mystery of the brain and how it works on sleep deprivation, but it is not what most people would expect. We are more likely to think of creative solutions when we are sleep deprived.

Think about it.

I know I have had an issue on my mind, and someone tells me to sleep on it. Often the opposite will end up happening, and I stay up all night problem solving. To me this is when I put so much pressure on that idea that eventually it explodes into a solution like a volcano. A volcano that is very chaotic, many solutions spew out all at once. That is how creativity often works. 

Found on "Can I Change My Life"

There are many reasons as to why this happens. The main reason is, functional fixedness finally becomes secondary to creativity. Your mind is not running as efficiently as it should and that is exactly what your creativity needs. Your brain has been preoccupied with categorizing all day. Finding neat little boxes to put things in. Once something is in a box it is hard to look at it in any other way and that is how someone can get stuck in functional fixedness. Pure analytical work is done when your brain is running on all cylinders. Often the analytical unit (the side that creates functional fixedness) of your brain conflicts with the creative side of your brain. Most people use there analytical unit more, so the creative part takes a back seat. 

This is a lot of work for your brain. The process is so taxing that when you are tired, your brain finds it not worth the energy it takes to be functionally fixed. Your brain tells yourself all day this is the way things are; this is the way things make sense. Your brain on sleep deprivation, does not have to make sense. Your brain does not have to except things as they are. Finally, your brain can start to entertain fascinating, innovative, and sometimes ridiculous solutions (even the most ridiculous solutions can sometimes be the best part of the brain storming process).

Our minds become more easily distracted, and go off on tangents. These tangents are ideas that creativity craves. You are more likely to think out of that box that your brain has spent all day organizing things in. Information is no longer crammed but is free to flow. Finally an idea surfaces. Thanks to a fatigued brain, creativity has finally managed to drown functional fixedness and you have a great problem solving idea that you will conquer your world with...or at least conquer a problem that keeps you up at night.

Testing Your Functional Fixedness

This is a classic test that shows just how functionally fixed most people are.  If you can solve this then you are probably an excellent problem solver. However, if you remain perplexed by this little riddle, then I will post how to solve it next week (or you can be like me, and cheat by Googling it).

The Candle Problem



Imagine I sit you down at a table and give you these three things:

Thanks to David Jones for the picture from his blog

1) A candlestick
2) Several Matches
3) A Box of Thumbtacks

Your challenge is to find a way to attach the candle to a corkboard in order to stop the wax from dripping on to the table. You must be able to still light the candle so that everyone can still smell its delightful scent. How do you do it? The answer can be found here.



Get Off the Escalator

The following video was posted on Youtube by:   

Motivating Success - Videos to Inspire & Motivate and is the reason my url is getofftheescalator.

 

 

 It is an extreme and I think rather humorous way of showing exactly what functional fixedness is. To these people the escalator means stand there and wait tell it gets to the top. There is no other way to get to the top than to just stand their. Because they are fixed on the idea that all you can do is stand on the elevator, they are stuck.

 

The solution seems so simple when we are able to look at it from an observers point of view, but many people do get stuck (perhaps not physically like the two on the escalator are but at least mentally). It maybe not be in this particular circumstance, but in situations that are similar to this. Even though the answer is right there looking them in the face, they are stuck. As you can see even the maintenance man, an expert on elevators is not sure how to get out of his current position. Functional fixedness can and will happen to everyone no matter how experienced they are. Everyone can get to the top. All they simply need to do is walk off the escalator.

Greetings!

Hello lovely people,
My name is Natalie and you are currently reading the first blog that I have ever created (so pardon any novice mistakes that may be made on my behalf).

I believe that one of the largest obstacles that man has ever had to overcome is functional fixedness. The worst part is, functional fixedness is something that is created within ones self. What is this diabolical beast that dwells inside of us all? Well, when someone has a problem that they cant solve, functional fixedness is there to tell you there is no answer. When you have writers block, or something is stopping you from innovation, functional fixedness is there smiling through its jagged teeth because its job is already done.

Psychology Dictionary, the worlds most comprehensive online psychology dictionary defines functional fixedness as "a term used in problem solving where there is a tendency to cling to set patterns and overlook possible new approaches. May overlook different uses for an object."
Functional fixedness is a mental bias that locks you into only thinking about objects, concepts, and people in one way.

Functional fixedness keeps the human race at a stand still. It says that there is nothing better than the wheel, and we shouldn't even go about thinking of the hovercraft. On a smaller scale, functional fixedness creates an obstinate individual who claims to be pragmatic. This pragmatism is at great cost though, as many of those same people that are faced with a task that requires just an ounce of creativity simply say "I am not creative enough to do this."

So many people do not understand that is not them themselves that are uncreative but their mind. The mind can be trained to be more creative. No one has to except being uncreative. This is one of the things that I hope to help people with in this blog. I will also celebrate what happens when this functional fixedness is finally subdued. As well as little tests to see how functionally fixed you are. I hope that you will enjoy it as much as I hope I will enjoy writing it.