Have you ever listened to a wonderfully constructed piece of music? You are drenched in dopamine wondering how such a piece was conceived. Or have you driven a super car and you imagined what the engineers had done?
Do you remember the first time you used a tablet computer and you were swiping away pleasurably? Yes, that talk you listened to and you just fell in love with the speaker.
Wikipedia defines art as "a diverse range of human activities and the products of those activities, usually involving imaginative or technical skill". So what do you do? Do you see art in your job?
Take a look at the fictional detective Patrick Jane in the television series The Mentalist. And don't forget Dr. Gregory House in House.
Creativity is a key ingredient in art. Creativity works in mysterious and often paradoxical ways. Creative thinking is a stable, defining characteristic in some personalities, but it may also change based on situation and context. Inspiration and ideas often arise seemingly out of nowhere, and creative thinking requires complex cognition yet is completely distinct from the thinking process. Creativity is the connection between the evolution of the submarine and Gucci.
How can we increase our inspiration? Inspiration can be defined as a new and better way of answering a question, or solving a problem. Professor Preston Ni offers the following suggestions:
1. Change Your "I Don't Know" or "I Can't" Thinking to "What If...?"
2. Take a Break from the Mundane
3. Listen to Complex Music
4. Get Out of Your Head with Exercise and Movement
5. Immerse Yourself in Nature and Colors
6. Consult Your Board of Advisors (you need to understand this)
7. Read or Watch Biographies of Inspiring, Creative People
We can be an artist at the workplace or our private practice. The next time you have a problem on the job and you need inspiration, try out some of the aforementioned tips.
So when are you going to create something awesome as a mathematician?
