Tim Harford, an English economist and journalist, shared his views on how frustration can make us more creative, on Ted Talk. The talk was based on some examples from daily life with regards to situations that may not be to our liking, but adjusting to those situations can help uncover the inner creative side by unfolding creative solutions to problems (Harford).
The premise of Ted Talk is to provide a platform to leaders from different sectors, with the main topic of discussion on the ‘TED’, i.e. technology, entertainment and design, and ongoing discussion on global issues, science and business issues.
The story about how the initial reaction of Keith Jarret was to forgo the concert, because of the issue with the piano, as the wrong instrument was set up by the Opera House, however, when Vera Brandes the youngest concert promoter in Germany, who was arranging the concert for 1400 people at the revered Cologne Opera House, pleaded incessantly, out of pity Kieth Jarret agreed by saying ‘Never forget only for you’.
When Jarret started it instantly connected a magical chord, due to the mess from the wrong instrument and the whole dynamics made the recording of the concert the best piano selling album in history and best selling solo jazz album in ‘History’.
The premise of the story was that Keith Jarret was handed a mess and with his talent and his intent he embraced the mess and created something magical that as mentioned above is for all ages, the story does illustrate on the fact that to achieve something magical and to be truly successful, it is imperative to embrace the uncomfortable zone, since, only then once can think out of the box to come up with a creative solution.
The unexpected advantages as shared in examples by Tim Harford, really made sense, in terms of having to manage difficult situations, from a cognitive psychology perspective, the students who were handed a formatted handout with difficult fonts did well due to the concentration they had to give to understand thus slowing them down, to understand on a more deeper level.
Similarly, the case of attention filter’s of psychologist Shelley Carson’s students’ showcase that it is more likely for student with weak attention filters to achieve something in life due to their tendency to think outside of the box.
Complexity science gives an idea on the value of adding randomness to a complex procedure like the jet engine development, to make the creative thinking more robust and avoiding the possible dead end in step by step gain.
The social psychologist Katherine Phillips experiment showcases complacency as the main factor that led the group with a stranger to solve the murder problem more effectively and still there were in doubt regarding the effort.
The Ted Talk, brilliantly, proves that the effort to create random awkwardness, case in point the unplayable piano, the ugly font, the stranger, the random moves for jet engine may help in solving the problem in a more creative manner.
Brian Eno’s disruptive cards nails the idea of awkwardness providing a creative spur, by challenging the norms and inviting randomness and awkwardness that helped in giving the world the greatest music albums and stars (TED).
On a concluding note, it has to be said that, just because you don’t like it, does not mean it isn’t helping you.
Works Cited
Harford, Tim. How frustration can make us more creative. Ted Talk 2016. Web 21 April, 2016.
TED. Subtitles and Transcript. Tim Harford Ted Talk 2016. Web 21 April, 2016
