Mind salsa

Without rhythm, our brains wouldn’t defer breathing to the unconscious. Rhythm means we’ve figured out how to make something work, every time.

And when it comes to breathing, that’s great. But when it comes to creativity, which only appears when we try things that might not work, we have what Einstein would call ‘insanity’ – doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

Creativity needs an extra step to shake things up. How can we be consistently creative? I call it ‘mind salsa’:

1. Find the beat. This salsa beat has five steps instead of four: a consistently odd number of steps. Breaking out of your normal rhythm makes space for creativity.
2. Move. Watching the same moves over and over gets boring. Changing your approach, changing your environment, driving straight instead of turning right, forces your mind to figure out what happens next.

Rhythm carries you, for better or worse. If you choose to ‘mind salsa’, you might unlock more of your creative genius. How would your work benefit if you were consistently more creative?