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"open and closed"
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creativity thrives when we are "open" and playful, not stressed and time-constrained
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alfred hitchcock mistrusted working under pressure: "we're pressing, we're working too hard"
- co-writer: when we came to a blocker, hitchcock would suddenly stop and tell a story that was almost completely unrelated. He did this deliberately!
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switching between "open" and "closed" is a way to be both creative & productive, for optimal efficiency
- open: play, experiment, go on tangents
- closed: focus on 1 thing
- open: review how that went, look at the big picture
- closed: refine and refocus
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the problem is, we all too often get stuck in the closed mode. Creativity is not possible in the closed mode
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a laugh happens when 2 ideas are connected in a new way, that generates some unexpected meaning or significance
- computers can generate billions of possible connections and juxtapositions, but they will not be able to tell which ones "smell interesting" (intuition)