Segmentation in 21 day Creativity Challenge
Presentation Unit Three
I am attaching my presentation slides and the script I wrote for the presentation to share (in five minutes) what I did for over three months. Enjoy!
Today, I’m excited to share with you a glimpse into my research journey. My focus has been on reawakening creativity in adults and the methods I’ve employed to uncover insights in this area. Before I delve into my findings, let’s start with the fundamental question that guided my exploration.
How can we reignite creativity, given its decline in adulthood?
To tackle this, I embraced a Mixed Research Methodology:
- Action Research: to actively intervene and observe the effects of
creativity-enhancing activities. - Qualitative Methods: These allowed me to deeply explore participants’ perceptions,
experiences, and attitudes. - Questionnaires and Interviews: By collecting both structured and open-ended
responses, I gained a broader perspective on creativity. - Interventions: I conducted three creative workshops to test the impact of
interactive activities. - Longitudinal Research: Over two months, I maintained continuous
interactions with stakeholders to capture evolving insights.
My Interventions and Initial Evidence:
- Creativity Continuity Workshop: This one-hour workshop targeted UAL students. Through improv and artistic games, participants reported improved problem-solving using creativity. The need for ongoing sessions was highlighted.
- 21 day CREATIVITY CHALLENGE – which I will delve into more deeply during the presentation.
- Relaxed Creativity Workshop: A 1.5-hour workshop for diverse age groups yielded positive outcomes, with participants experiencing connection, innovation, and a shift in perspective.
The 21 day Creativity Challenge…..
- 21 ActivitIes
- 5 minutes a day
- 140 participants
- From 11 countries
- 4 Surveys. 2 polls, 2 surveys and individual conversations.
EVERY DAY HAD A CHALLENGE
EVERY CHALLENGE A NAME AND A PURPOSE.
FOR EXAMPLE.
Sounds of your day.
Stakeholders were told to: Not use headphones or take calls when taking a walk. Instead notice the sounds around you, write them down after the five minutes are up.
Positive feedback and anecdotal evidence revealed transformative shifts in participants’ self-perceptions and creativity.
For example, one participant told me at the beginning: “I am joining because it’s you. I was not born creative.” Throughout the challenge, she connected almost every day. At the end, she called and thanked me. “I realised at age 52 that in fact I am creative. I just didn’t know.” A month later, she sent me photos of her son’s dorm in college, which she had just decorated, saying: “Look at what I achieved after the creativity course!!!! I feel like Picaso!!.”
What did I learn?
My research led me to several key insights:
- Creativity does indeed decline in adulthood, with the need for rekindling becoming more pressing.
- Misconceptions about creativity- PEOPLE STILL TEND TO BELIEVE IT IS A TALENT
- Trust is crucial for individuals to embrace creative thinking.
- Curious individuals are more receptive to change.
Building on these findings, I plan to develop interventions tailored for specific groups, such as artists, teachers, and businesses. BOTH IN PERSON AND DIGITAL, WITH TARGETED GAMES FOR EACH GROUP, SMALLER GROUPS, AND WITH EXPERTS HELPING ME DEVELOP THE GAMES.
In conclusion, my research journey has provided me with a deeper understanding of reawakening creativity in adults. Through a comprehensive methodology, I’ve uncovered initial evidence that interventions and interactive challenges have the potential to transform perceptions of creativity. As I continue this exploration, I am excited about the potential to make a broader impact on how we perceive and nurture creativity in various aspects of life.
Relaxed Creativity. Intervention Three
As I was doing the 21 day challenge I felt the need to have more contact with participants in a relaxed setting. I wanted to see how people react to an “impromptu” set of creative challenges. If this affected the way they thought or felt, and it it had an imprint for the future.
I organised a dinner party, there were 9 guests and me. After dinner- in what we call in Spanish “la sobremesa” (after dinner discussion), I asked it they would be willing to play a simple game. Arielle had an intervention that involved small window frames and had given me some to ask my friends to do. It was a creative challenge, I had included a version of it in my 21 day 5 minute a day Creativity challenge. It was a perfect opportunity to try to get my guests to do her challenge, which would also help in my research.
The activity: Give everyone a small cardboard frame. Ask them to find a frame in the room, think of a word or phrase to go with the frame and take a photo. Move frame to another part of the room, using the phrase you wrote down on the frame- what would be your next photo? Did the text influence what you took a photo of? Do you feel you were more creative because you had the text? The fact that we were all going to share our photos after, did that make you want to behave differently? Were you more afraid to make a mistake? to not get it right?
Many things happened. It was really interesting how one person (18 years old) became utterly stressed under the setting of sharing. She felt pressured to do something “perfect”, she kept asking questions about the rules. Another went right to the obvious, but than saw what other people were doing and became more competitive and decided to evaluate his photos to make them more “different.” Another went off on his own and took his time, but really enjoyed the process, a fourth person laughed by themselves through the whole creative process. Keep in mind each person acted individually, none made teams or tried to “break the rules.” Overall I had 9 people react in different ways, some positive and some negative. The 18 year old needed a push to hurry and finish- she could not make up her mind. After some gentle pressuring (timer rang), she delivered.
We all shared our photos and our experience and more importantly how we felt. Although there was stress involved- everyone felt they had used a side of the brain they were not used to using. Everyone laughed. Everyone was proud of their work. Everyone wanted to do more games….which I did….”impromptu.” People in games that followed felt more relaxed and with less stress.
I would like to do more of these, in person, creative challenges. Maybe even have a monthly group of Creative challenges and evaluate how we grow and how we feel and if it has an effect on our daily personal and profesional lives.
Three examples of very clever outcomes:
Emails Received
During the 21 day Creativity challenge I received over 100 emails from participants telling me about their creativity. I also received calls, DMs, IG posts that tagged me. These are some of the things people shared. For more detailed explanation of each day and more comments and photos visit each individual day.
Day 21 Just Dance
Day 21
We started with a stretch and we end with a dance….
“You dance love, and you dance joy, and you dance dreams.”
– Gene Kelly
- Set a Timer for 5 minutes
- Turn on your favorite dance song.
- Wiggle your arms
- Do the twist.
- Or simply get up and jump around: anything to get your body moving.
- Make it even more fun by inviting a friend or coworker to dance along with you.
Extra points: Send me a photo of you dancing to IG, DM or unpackyourcreativity@gmail.com
In one study conducted by Rhode Island College, scientists found that small amounts of exercise can boost creative potential both during and after the exercise is performed. Another study from Baruch College, showed that dancing specifically improves creativity.
This exercise uses divergent Thinking.
Tomorrow I will open the chat for comments hoping you can share one thought, one reflection of how the exercises made you feel. Wether you did one or all 21!
Have a great Monday! Kudos to all!
Day 20 – Unrealistic Goals
Day 20
“A creative life is an amplified life. It’s a bigger life, a happier life, an expanded life, and a hell of a lot more interesting life” – Elizabeth Gilbert
Set an Unrealistic Goal for yourself today.
An unrealistic goal could be to come up with 1,000 ideas in one minute, to write 20,000 words by lunch, to talk to a friend and pay attention with no words for 5 full minutes.
Extra points: Share your Unrealistic goal with and tell me if you’ve achieved it. unpackyourcreativity@gmail.com
Intense pressure can hinder creativity, but embracing extreme pressure can have surprising benefits. When a task seems impossible, doubts and fears fade away, allowing for fearless creative thinking. This environment encourages giving it your all, knowing failure is inevitable. In the process, you might even accomplish the seemingly impossible, surprising yourself along the way.
This exercise uses convergent thinking.
Comments
MON: My goal was to listen to every word said in church, I have difficulty sometimes hearing and paying full attention. So I sat in the front and I think I got about 90% of the information, which for me is a win since it’s a lot more than usual.
And I’m also setting an intention for more focused hearing because it’s one of the senses I’m hoping to strengthen.
ISA: Run around the world today
CARO: Walk 20,000 steps in one day. I made it to 15,000. I definitely pushed myself to do more because of the unrealistic goal.
Day 19 Copy Someone else’s idea
“It’s not where you take things from, it’s where you take them to.” Jean-Luc Godard
- Read poem
MY SELF-PORTRAIT
I’m 12 years old
and I wear glasses and don’t
talk to nobody.
I’m 5 foot 3 and I weigh 90 pounds.
I’m in the sixth grade.
I’m weird and happy and
sad at the same time.
My eyes are light brown, and my hair
is the same color as my eyes.
MY SECRET SELF-PORTRAIT
I feel so trapped inside,
but I have peace on my face.
I love to eat candy and Chinese food.
I’m wild like a lion and sweet as
a butterfly.
- Copy the structure and make it your own, however you can in 5 minutes.
- Share your poem with someone.
Extra points: Share your Poem with me. unpackyourcreativity@gmail.com
If you prefer you can choose a drawing, a photograph, a song, a business idea.
This exercise uses convergent thinking.
Comments
AG My self Portrait
I am 60 years old, and I wear sneakers and like short conversations.
I am 180 cm tall and weight 85 kilos.
I am the co-owner of a VC firm, and unfocused, but brilliant and trustworthy at the same.
My eyes are light brown and my hair as well but beginning to turn gray and fall.
My secret self-portrait
I feel like an impostor sometimes but I command respect.
I love red wine, cheese and ham.
I am independent like a tiger, but reliable like an elephant
MON:
My hair
a perennial favorite,
thick, strong, good.
Mercurial,
wavy
like ocean water
hitting the shore
on a windy day,
rigid
as a block of wood
in an assembly line,
undamaged
because
my mom told me
never to
color it.
About a year ago,
some gray strands
came in.
And I discovered
my hair
like everything
is not perennial.
Now it changes
by the minute,
nothing will
stop
the
passage
of
time.
“I hate gray hair,”
my mom says.
I wince
and muffle
the sound,
focus instead
on the softness
in her eyes
the heated warning
transformed
into
a
love
song.
I recently discovered
a new type of flower
in my garden
agapantos –
an African word
meaning love.
They bloom
here
in Madrid,
and also
in my mom’s hometown
of Chiriquí.
Its lavender petals
open
during the first week in July,
(my birthday).
I watch the petals
spread wide,
purple legs parting,
like my perennial hair
and its new
gray limbs,
magically sprouting.
LAU:
Self Portrait
I am 50 years old and just turned
My size is Medium and my complexion is small.
My hair is brunette, my brown eyes and my olive complexion
I am a mother, wife, daughter, sister and friend
I am reading and curious
Secret self portrait
I am a mother, wife, daughter, sister, friend and sometimes myself
I’m a shy convert
I am freethinker
I enjoy my life, here and now
I feel pushed to achieve greater achievements that I do not aspire to
I live in a world with other values
ISA:
MY SELF-PORTRAIT
I’m 7 years old,
I wear glasses and cant do gymnastics.
I’m 3 foot tall and I weigh too many pounds.
I’m in the first grade.
I’m spiritual and happy yet
completely un content about my life.
I am trapped and tried to scape.
My eyes are light blue and green altogether, and my hair is in the same position every day.
MY SECRET SELF-PORTRAIT
I feel challenged inside,
but I have peace, and always keep a smile
on my face.
I love to eat strawberries and chocolate.
I’m curious like a monkey and move fast as
a hummingbird.
CAR:
My Self Portrait
I am 51 years old but feel 25,
Except for my glasses to see small words on a book and talk to everyone.
I am the shortest in my family and weigh more than I should.
I am a student.
I’m creative and energetic and can be weird sometimes.
My eyes are green like my favorite color and my hair changes color all the time.
My Secret Self Portrait
I feel full of joy and about to explode but I am also sometimes sad and insecure.
I love my chewable vitamin Cs and carrot cake.
I’m curious like a cat and merry like a Hiena.
Day 18 – Get Bored
“Daydream, imagine, and reflect. It’s the source of infinite creativity.” Deepak Chopra
A break from your phone, computer, all electronics.
- Don’t take your phone to a place you usually take it. (the bathroom, a walk, while eating).
- Allow yourself to get bored for a little. Create space for nothingness.
- Instead observe your surrounding. Do nothing.
Extra: Send me a quick not how it made you feel.
This exercise uses: Emergent Thinking
Emergent thinking is a natural process that comes as a result of rumination. It is the most common form of creativity you may be familiar with because it happens when you daydream. “AHA!” moments typically come from here.
Comments
AG: Today I did not take my phone or any reading material when I went to the bathroom. I wouldn’t say it was hard, but it was different. I decided to stay there as long as I stay when I do have my phone and it felt long.
Rosario:
I usually do today’s challenge regularly. I like to stay without communication at home, for example, because I move forward with everything I have to do, without distraction.
When I go to Madrid by train I also try to put my mobile aside so that I can enjoy the landscape, nature, which I love and gives me peace.
When I’m with people around eating or drinking something, I also leave it. Sometimes it is difficult but the important thing is to achieve it and really enjoy the moment.
When I forget it at home I never go back to look for it. In the end I feel that I am calmer without him.
Mon:
I’d been making time for about 20 mins of doing nothing until summertime rolled around. With the kids home I feel more pressure to be doing something all the time, I feel it’s harder to stop, I feel like I won’t get everything done (even though there’s actually not that much to do!!)
Every day this summer I’ve been waking up early to meditate, study for an exam I have to take, and write. Today I decided to change things up and spend the first hour of my day being really mindful. So I kept the meditation but refrained from multi tasking and paid attention while drinking coffee, eating breakfast, etc. What I found is that pockets of time opened up later in the day and that my study time was much more successful. I was also more open to spontaneity and let the day lead me, instead of me forcing everything to happen and then just feeling drained. I will attempt to take this attitude with me throughout the rest of the summer!
So, a couple more things clicked:
1- only by making space for nothing can I really follow my intuition, the little voice I hear but don’t always listen to because I’m too busy following self-imposed routines that lead me nowhere except to exhaustion
2- had an aha! moment about how to structure and move forward with my book, thanks to this attitude of nothingness I welcomed today 🙂
Day 16 Upside Down World
Day 16
““We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
- Find a piece of paper and a pencil or pen.
- Look at yourself in the mirror
- Set your 5 minute timer
- Draw a detailed portrait of your face- upside down.
- If possible, use a photo you can flip upside down as reference.
- Note the areas of struggle to draw most and why the change in perspective make them difficult to draw.
If you are at the beach- draw it in the sand.
Extra points: Share your drawing with me. IG, DM or unpackyourcreativity@gmail.com
When we flip things upside down, our brains have to struggle to spot the features we are used to seeing. Viewing familiar things from a new perspective (like being upside down) is an effective way to help you notice all the details you usually take for granted.
Comments
MON:
What would happen if everyone wore the same clothes?
There would be less shopping, fewer stores, less waste. There might be more space to plant trees. We might all start to look beyond our material personas and start to notice basic shapes and colors, like each other’s pupils. We might begin to connect with each other more, or we might become more creative with other body parts, like our hair. A certain kind or color or hairstyle may suddenly be the defining factor between you and the next person.
Our minds might be more clear. What would happen if we never had to think about what shirt or skirt or dress to wear? What would happen if we collectively released all clothing-related thoughts and decided to concentrate our attention on something wild, like love? What if we chose to express ourselves through art, using our words and hands and song?
Or, we might all just get really bored. We may decide to give up clothing all together and go back to being naked. We may start to appreciate what God gave us, stop covering ourselves up and feel shame, start to notice our individuality, our sameness, our beauty.
CECI:
What would happen if there was no gravity?
Without gravity, everything that stands on this Earth would go floating into space, humans, animals, stones, water, etc. Furthermore, the Earth itself could not exist as a planet, nor have an atmosphere.
Grateful to have the pull of gravity
JESS: What would happen if…
…everybody wore the same clothes.
Andar desnudar seria la única opción para mostrar algo diferente
…everybody over 20 could fly, caminar o nadar seria lo más cool
…all the trees in the world had no leaves. Seria el día más triste de la humanidad
…no one ever cleaned their house.las casas se parecerían al océano hoy
…all the cars disappeared. Podriamos btrletransportarnos holograficamente a donde quisiéramos con dolo cerrar los ojos
…there was no gravity.llevaría de abajo hacia arriba
Day 14 Laugh Out Loud
Day 14
“If you get in the habit of your life being fun, if you move through life believing it’s supposed to be that way, you’ll notice when it’s not.” Humor Seriously -Jen Arker, Naomi Bagdonas
- Close your eyes
- Extend your mouth from side to side- as a smile. Be sure to show your teeth.
- Count in your head to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 in that position.
- In that position…Laugh out loud, like out loud, out loud. At least eight HA, HA, HA.
- Repeat.
- Repeat.
- Repeat.
Extra points: Send me note telling me how that made you feel. DM, IG or email unpackyourcreativity@gmail.com
Comments
JP: Feelings and sensations…
Good energy
Mix of feeling silly and feeling a high
I felt tense at the start and then a soothing , calm sensation.
My body wanted to keep going and I lost myself in my head and just felt heart.
Rocio: My experience with todays’ challenge: First I felt silly, I was alone and feared someone could see me and think I was insane but….it felt better every time I repeated the exercise and I ended up laughing spontaneously instead of forced… It felt great!
Thank you!
ISA:
MON: This happened to be my birthday and i did this with the family before taking a picture…i just started laughing for no reason and everyone started laughing too and we got a great, super natural pic 🙂