 while he switches over to my presentation. I was gonna say something, I can't remember what it is. Thank you for being here, and I'm really excited about this. I loved Teresa's presentation, but I have to say that I'm gonna say something slightly different and add on to what she's talking about. So, with this whole kind of boredom thing, I actually thought that the three kind of tenants, the three pillars upon which this conference is based, power, disruption, and lies, is actually a really great way to think about boredom and creativity, so I wanna share that with you. If you're tweeting, and I know she just talked about social networking and being over-networked, and I'm actually gonna talk about being over-networked too, but just in case you're tweeting, my Twitter handle's Denise Jacobs, and you know all of the Twitter stuff for, and I keep feeling like if I walk in front of this, I'm gonna like block it, and then the hashtag that I made up for this is board creativity, go figure. So, power, let's talk about power for a little bit. So, here's what I think about creativity and boredom and power. Basically, right now what I feel like is we're giving all of our power away when it comes to creativity. Basically, because we live in a world where we're so wrapped up with everything, we're so kind of bombarded with many kinds of distractions and all kinds of formats, especially in the format of being hyper-connected through, yeah, isn't that great? I love that picture. Being hyper-connected through social networking on the computer with cell phones, and by the way, I actually have my cell phone, that's what I was gonna do. I actually was gonna time this. Being bombarded with notifications of all sorts, Twitter, Facebook, emails, being addicted to emails, et cetera. It's almost not our fault. When I say we're addicted, I actually mean we're addicted. There is a study and the people who took my master class heard this already, but there has been a study that talks about rats. As anybody heard this, it's called intermittent reinforcement. Rats were put into a cage and they were given a lever and they would hit the lever and they would get food and every time they hit the lever, they would get food and then it started being that when they hit the lever, they wouldn't get the food, but they were so used to getting the food that they kept hitting the lever, hoping that at some point they were gonna get food. Every time they got food, they got a little rush of dopamine in their heads. Has anybody been to a casino? Has anybody seen somebody just, I went to a casino once, my grandmother gave me $10, bless her heart, to go and gamble with. I got up to $45. I was so excited, I kept playing and playing and then it started dwindling down to 25 and I started getting sick to my stomach and that's when I stopped and my grandmother and all of her great wisdom said, oh, you can't gamble. Now, instead of gambling, however, I will sit and refresh the browser button to see if I've gotten any new emails because every time I get email, whoop, a little rush of dopamine, every time somebody sends a tweet, ding ding, I get a little rush and I know I'm not the only one. Unfortunately, what ends up happening is when we do this, the problem is is that every time we start something online, we start an email, we start working on something, we start a thought, we have these loops that get started in our head. This woman named Zagarnik found that when basically you start a thought or you start a thought process, you start this loop, this attention loop, but then when you get interrupted, you start another attention loop and then that one gets interrupted and that starts another attention loop and the next thing you know, you've got a lot of loops that are going that aren't being completed and aren't being finished and that ends up kind of channeling a lot of excess energy into these processes that never quite get completed and then you wonder why you're tired at the end of the day, why you're frustrated, why you didn't get Jack done, right? Jack is a technical term in the United States for not a whole lot. So, Jonathan Fields, who wrote a book called Uncertainty has this wonderful quote that says that hyperconnectivity, which we're all experiencing these days, gives us the perception of getting more done. It makes us feel like we're doing more because we're using every moment of every waking hour but the fact of the matter is that we're getting done less and our creativity is suffering greatly for it. Now, my theory is that one of the reasons we're so attracted to this hyperconnectivity and we're so attracted to kind of being busy all the time and not having any spare moments is because we're actually afraid. We're afraid of our own power. I love that picture too. We're afraid of our own power. We actually realize deep down inside that we are immensely powerful, that our brains have this immense capacity to get things done, to create things, to develop things, to change what's already in front of us. That has happened historically through time and it continues to happen today. The web actually being a perfect example of it because 20 years ago, none of our jobs existed, right? Or most of our jobs didn't exist. My job didn't exist, okay? So, we know we're powerful but I think that partially what ends up happening is we're kind of afraid of this power because we're afraid we're gonna be overwhelmed maybe with ideas. So many ideas that we don't know what we're gonna do with them and instead of really fully using our power to create and to create something new, and I wish that wasn't so pixelated but what can you do? Instead, we try to contain our power and contain it, right? And then we distract ourselves. Oh, I just couldn't get to that because I didn't have enough time, quote unquote, where we all know that we actually have as much time as we want to devote to something if we really, really decide to choose to. So, the question is how do we unleash it, right? And then how do we get to this power? Now, I'm talking about boredom but I have to say that for me, boredom is actually, I actually take umbrage with that term. Boredom is not the term that I like to use. As Teresa said earlier, I actually feel that boredom by definition and there's the good boredom and the bad boredom and I'm talking about the bad boredom and I think most boredom is the bad boredom is that by definition, when somebody says they're bored, they're not saying, oh, I wanna just have nothing to do and when's the last time you had nothing to do? That's what I thought. Most of the time when you say, I'm bored, it means that you want to be distracted. It means that you want to be entertained, that you're seeking being out of that place of not having anything to do or being uncomfortable with the fact that you have to sit with yourself. And so I am going to propose that we talk about something a little different. I'm talking about something else and that leads me in to disruption. Oh, it was really pretty. It didn't have the N on the other side. Oh, you know, whatever. What can you do? I'm sharing my process with you. So what I wanna talk about is less of boredom and kind of what she calls the good boredom is what I think of as the in-between time, right? And that I propose that what we really actually need to do is we need to change our thinking and instead of trying to keep filling our time with tasks that we think are gonna get us somewhere, that we actually embrace the idea that we're going to be more productive and that we're gonna be able to create more by expanding those moments in-between the times when we're doing something, right? So having that in-between time, like Teresa suggested, allows creativity to really blossom. And that, I believe, is the true goal because that will enable us to actually access that power that I was talking about. Jonathan Fields, again, sorry, he wrote a lot of really great articles, has said that genius is the offspring of the in-between and I actually believe that. And so I believe what we really need to do, like I was saying before, is really seek to maximize our brains and maximize something that our brains are producing all the time, which is brainwaves. Now, if you're not familiar with brainwaves, I talked about this again in my master class, we have five different brainwave states. The one that we're normally in is beta. That's where your focus, your kind of concentration, et cetera, et cetera. But then right underneath that is alpha. And alpha is that wonderful place when you're kind of floating right before you go to sleep, where you feel warm and heavy and relaxed and everything, or when you wake up in the morning and you kind of remember that last little snatch of the dream that you had before you woke up. That usually is alpha state. And that is actually a place where super learning happens, where hyper creativity comes in, that sort of thing. Theta is usually for meditators and when you're going into a deep sleep, theta is a super-duper deep sleep, usually only very experienced meditators like Buddhist monks and whatnot can get into delta state at will. Gamma comes a lot of times, right before you come a really, when you have a really aha moment, when you have an intense idea, kind of a lightning strike of inspiration. Now what I recommend that we do is to try to integrate our brains and try to integrate how our brains, the different sides of our brains work together so that the neurons fire well together. And one of this is by leveraging alpha and alpha states. And so here's the part about being bored, the good boredom, or as I would like to say instead, that in-between state. That when you're in that in-between state and when you're in alpha state, what happens is when your brain is supposedly doing nothing, it's actually doing quite a great deal. That's when your right brain starts to access the information that's stored in your left brain, starts to make new associations and helps you come up with new ideas. And so there are a lot of great ways, and Teresa was talking about this earlier, lots of great ways that are really enjoyable and that aren't painful and that help you be more creative and more productive even when you're not doing anything. Like spacing out. How many of you, when's the last time you spaced out? Like last couple of weeks, they're like now. Now doesn't count. Spacing out right now. I wish you'd talked about something interesting. So how many times do you allow yourself? I mean actually give yourself permission to stare out the window, not feel guilty about it, not feel ashamed, like oh my God, I should have been working. But to just look out the window and just kind of let your brain go. And how many times have you done that and then found that you actually could go back to the task that you were working on and you actually came up with an idea, probably a lot more easily after that than you did when you're sitting there trying to focus and trying to figure it out and trying to think. Spacing out is good, okay? Daydreaming is wonderful. It gives your brain an opportunity to access all this information that you can't access normally. That it helps you notice new connections between things and make new associations. It's wonderful, mindless activity, gardening, raking the leaves, I say. Most people hate doing that. But still, washing the dishes, something like that will actually encourage your brain to kind of go into a nice relaxed mode and start to have ideas play together and come to the forefront. Laying down, actually, even if you just want a quick hit of alpha brainwave mode, if you lay down, your brain actually automatically starts to go into alpha mode when you're prone. Taking showers is great. Sometimes I think if you really want to try to get a good idea, if you have the time, you might want to just go and take a nice warm shower and have that, hopefully, that that helps bring the idea to the forefront. How many of you guys have gotten a good idea in the shower? Admit it. Yeah, that's what I thought. Walking, wonderful, meditation, phenomenal. If you don't have the patience for it, even just taking a few moments, closing your eyes and breathing through your nose is worth it. And one of the other things, laughing is great. Laughter actually helps the right side of your brain sink with the left side of your brain and actually helps you be able to do a whole lot more. And playing and fun is great. There's a guy in India who actually calls himself the laughter guru, and he has this great quote, when you're playful, you're activating the right side of your brain. The logical brain is the limited brain, but the right side is unlimited and you can do and be anything you want. And I highly recommend that. So when you think that the answer is being serious and focusing and concentrating and getting your work done, try actually laughing for once. Go and find somebody and tell a joke. Watch something funny on YouTube. Sorry, it's the connected thing, but it works. That will actually help shift your brain into a different place where you can come up with ideas a lot better. So instead of trying to do the equivalent, mental equivalent of going through an obstacle course with a spoon in your mouth with an egg on it, and I'm sure everybody has experienced that. That's what most people call work a lot of times. That's what my job used to be like. Instead, I recommend that you intend alpha, that you choose some activities that will automatically or help you facilitate getting into the process of getting into alpha in order to have that in between time and then therefore in order to start being able to create and generate new ideas. That's the disruption. Let's talk about some lies now. Now, when I say lies, I'm not saying so much of something that is malicious. It's more about, if you saw the program, embracing fiction. And so in terms of embracing fiction, let me tell you a little bit of a story. Back when I had just finished school, I lived in an apartment building and down on the bottom floor in the basement was a woman who was a single mother who had a little girl whose name was Natalie, and Natalie was about four. By the way, this isn't really Natalie, it's just a description, a descriptive picture of her. Natalie was adorable and she took a shine to me and she would come and knock on the door and say, can we play? And I would say, sure. So I'd get out some papers and some crayons and some pencils and we would draw together. Natalie drew me a picture one day and she gave it to me and I said, Natalie, what is it? And she said, it's a chicken cave. And I said, so it's like a chicken inside of a cave? And she said, no, it's a chicken cave. And I was like, so it's like a cave shaped like a kitchen? Chicken? And she said, no, it's a chicken cave. Of course it's a chicken cave. Natalie, like I think a lot of four year olds has a wonderful imagination. And I think that having that kind of access to that kind of imagination, we can take a cue from children. A lot of us, if not all of us maybe, most of us probably had imaginary friends when we were little kids, right? And we would play with the imaginary friends and we would listen to them and everything. So I say, maybe we can have a little bit of that four year old infusion and we can think about having imaginary friends. Carl King wrote a book, So You're a Creative Genius, So What? And he said, sometimes dabbling a little mysticism is a fun way to understand and solve a problem. So let's dabble in a little bit of mysticism and invite some imaginary friends to help us with our creative process. The first one I think is could be your subconscious. I took a writing class about 75,000 years ago after I got out of college, I mean before I went into college. And one of the things that the instructor told us was a story of a writer who used to, when she wanted to get ideas, she would take long walks in the morning through her home in London and she would listen to the songs in her head and she would listen to the songs in her head and she would listen to the lyrics and she would take the lyrics as an indication of something that she was supposed to be thinking about that her subconscious was trying to tell her. I think that is a wonderful idea. Take walks and listen to the songs in your head and see what they're trying to tell you because they're probably trying to tell you something. The other thing that we can invite, not just our subconscious but maybe something more externalized couldn't be a genius. If anybody has seen Elizabeth Gilbert's TED talk about nurturing your creativity, she talks about a genius and how the Greeks believed that the genius was an attendant spirit that artists had that lived in the walls of the artist's house that came out to help the artists with their artistic projects and endeavors. And so instead of trying to be a genius and try to come up with amazing ideas that you allow this attendant spirit to give you the ideas and to help guide your work. I think that's a really great idea. Also, we can talk about muses. So there's three original muses. There is one for memory, there is one for practice of or occasion and there are one for voice. They were all thought to kind of be like the speakers, the kind of mouthpiece of the gods for an artist or for somebody who was creating. So when you think about memory, think about all the times where you've created something wonderful and know that that means that you can create something wonderful in the future. When you think about practice and occasion, think about showing up to your craft or showing up to the task at hand all the time every day and really bringing your creativity along there with it and making sure that you know that that practice is going to be the thing that speaks to you, that gives you your information, it gives you your ideas. And then lastly, voice is kind of expressing something in your own way, in your own manner that's very, very unique to you and that your own uniqueness will come through and will provide your ideas and your inspiration. Finally, last, there is the spirit of the idea and the spirit of the idea, like I like to say, is that when we're trying to come up with something, instead of the ideas actually coming up with us coming up with the ideas, that the ideas choose us and we are just a vessel for the ideas. Elizabeth Gilbert says that the world is being encircled by ideas and it just is looking for portals to come through and so the ideas need us to bring them into a physical form and that we're kind of like avatars for the ideas, that they actually choose us and then they ride us, they use our limbs and they use our brains and they use everything to make it so that they can come into the world and be made manifest. And then once they're done with us, they're done with us. So, when you have any of these entities that you're gonna be working with, make sure you really listen to them. Give it up, give up your ego, it's not your idea, it's the idea using you, right? It's your subconscious talking to you, it's your genius and it is your muses and you are just there to take note and take distation and do what they want you to do out into the world. Make sure that you converse with them, ask them for clarity, do you want me to do this or do you want me to do that? Do you want me to do the other thing or do you want me, how about this, what color? It will tell you. And then voila, you have accessed your creativity. So, to finish up, I say you have the choice and you need to choose that you have the option to realize that power, realizing that we're powerful, plus disruption, doing things that are unusual ways of accessing creativity, plus engaging in a little bit of fiction and helpful mysticism can actually equal creative flow and that you are creative and you matter and that doing so can actually allow you to access this kind of truer, wiser, powerful, challenging and disruptive form of creativity that you may not have been able to access before. And so I encourage you, try to be bored or as I like to say, use that space in between to be able to access and embrace your creativity. Thank you.