[24 August 2006 - The Stanford Daily - Opinion By Andrea Runyan] Creativity breeds happiness. At least Psychology Today says so. But Robert Hanson writes in Business Week Online that “most people are inclined to be more creative on the job than would be truly productive,” and thus “to succeed in academia, my graduate students and I had to learn to be less creative than we were initially inclined to be.” I think he has a point there. As much as people talk about the importance of creativity in research or schoolwork or a job, the purpose of these institutions is something other than nurturing our natural ingenuity. Perhaps, even at Stanford, we can’t depend on our work to provide us with sufficient opportunities to be imaginative. The purpose of jobs is production, not fun. But I think the purpose of humans, if there is one, would include creative expression. I’d even suggest a Recommended Daily Output (RDO) of creative products and ideas, just as the Produce for Better Health Foundation recommends five servings of fruits and vegetables per day. Here are some ways to get servings of creativity in daily life. More
Great article, Steve. I'm going to recommend that my readers come up with their own 5-a-days. Never hurts to keep nimble...
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