Prevent Conceptus Interruptus

How Math Can Improve Your Creativity

By Robert Moss LinkedIn

You’re creating something new

A movie script

An ad campaign

An app

A website

Or some other creative project

And using the right side of your brain

How often have you been told?

Use your sub-conscious to come up with better ideas

Stop what you’re working on and do something different

Take a break

Take a shower or bath

Take a walk

Visit a museum

Your subconscious will get to work

Your subconscious will get to work, unless you suffer from

Conceptus Interruptus

When what you’re working on pushes its way back into your head before your subconscious has done its job

Conceptus Interruptus

How to prevent Conceptus Interruptus

How to prevent Conceptus Interruptus

Give the left side of your brain something else to do

What does that look like?

It might look like math

If you think in words and images

If you think in words and images, math can be a foreign language

“But I’m not a math person”

Perfect! Use math <and the left side of your brain> to keep your right side from getting back to work too soon

“But I’m not a math person”

Play 24 to prevent Conceptus Interruptus

Remove all jacks, queens and kings from a deck of cards

Place four cards from the top, face up

Calculate “24″ from the numbers on the four cards

Use a combination of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division

In your head

No calculator

No pencil, no paper

Start with these

Solution on next page

Subtract 4 from 10 to get 6

Divide 8 by 2 to get 4

Multiply 6 times 4 to produce 24

To write it as an equation,

(8 / 2) x (10 – 4) = 24

Here’s another one

Need a hint?

First, subtract 7 from 8

See next page for solution

Take 7 from 8, that’s 1

Now take that 1 from 9, that’s 8

Then multiply that 8 times the 3 to get 24

Or the whole thing in equation form,

3 x (9 – (8 – 7)) = 24

But there’s more than one solution, see next page

Here’s another way to get 24

This time take 8 from 9, that’s 1

Now add that 1 to 7 to make 8

Multiply that 8 times 3 to get 24

As an equation, 3 x (7 + (9 – 8)) = 24

Try it again

This one has several solutions

Add 6 plus 9 to produce 15

Add that 15 to 10 to get 25

Subtract 1 from 25 to make 24

As an equation, 9 + 6 + 10 – 1 = 24

Here’s another

Multiply 3 times 9 to get 27

Subtract 5 from 8, that’s 3

Subtract that 3 from 27 to get 24

As an equation, (3 x 9) – (8 – 5) = 24

Last one

Divide 9 by 9, that’s 1

Add that 1 to 2, that’s 3

Multiply that 3 times 8 to produce 24.

As an equation, 8 x (2 + (9 / 9) = 24

After several rounds

Take that shower or go for a walk or visit an art museum or just go back to work

After several rounds

By playing 24 to prevent Conceptus Interruptus

Your sub-conscious can do its thing

So when the right side of your brain gets back to work

It can come up with better creative

By preventing Conceptus Interruptus

There’s an app for that

But all you need is a deck of cards…

And your head

Thank you

Robert Moss LinkedIn

If you liked this presentation, check out

That's Some Fucked Up Data Did Marchex measure cursing or something else? .

Photos courtesy of:

Jean-Pierre Dalbéra Khajuraho

Sembazuru Moleskine book

Mary Margret Brain Illustration

Gabe Austin Pointing finger

B. Furnari Mudra

Nathanael Boehm Stop button

Lawrence Feeding butterfly

Kanaka Menehune Dictionary

SurfGuard Tooth brush

John Liu Eyes

George Hatcher Math equation

Youssef Abdelaal Calculator

Steve Big blue head

Waferboard Coffee

Mary Crandal Bubble bath

Eric Snopel Walk way

Jeffrey Art museum

This presentation is based on a blog I wrote in December 2010

If you’re not familiar with using your subconscious using to come up with ideas, get a copy of “A Technique for Producing Ideas” by James Webb Young

Thank you