to be at our most efficient we need to be able to switch backwards and forwards between the two modes.

To play is experiment: “What happens if I do this? What would happen if we did that? What if…?”

I always find that if two (or more) of us throw ideas backwards and forwards I get to more interesting and original places than I could have ever have gotten to on my own.

In fact, the only thing from the research that I could tell you about how to be creative is the sort of childhood that you should have had..

Time. It's not enough to create space, you have to create your space for a specific period of time...And it's only by having a specific moment when your space starts and an equally specific moment when your space stops that you can seal yourself off from the every day closed mode in which we all habitually operate.

once we've taken a decision we should narrow our focus while we're implementing it, and then after it's been carried out we should once again switch back to the open mode to review the feedback rising from our action, in order to decide whether the course that we have taken is successful, or whether we should continue with the next stage of our... See more

We need to be in the open mode when we're pondering a problem but once we come up with a solution, we must then switch to the closed mode to implement it. Because once we've made a decision, we are efficient only if we go through with it decisively, undistracted by doubts about its correctness.

The third factor that facilitates creativity is time, giving your mind as long as possible to come up with something original.

Well, look, the very last thing that I can say about creativity is this: it's like humor. In a joke, the laugh comes at a moment when you connect two different frameworks of reference in a new way.