A realistic first idea might not be as creative as an abstract second one, new research shows.

“Evaluating creativity is difficult,” says Justin M. Berg, an assistant professor at Stanford University Graduate School of Business. “A lot of research suggests that people are not very good at it, that a number of biases and challenges get in the way.”

In the new paper, Berg investigates a relatively understudied part of the creative process: the very early stage, when we first generate rough ideas. This, he notes, is when people are brainstorming in their own heads or sketching in secret; many of these ideas are never shared. But if you work in a job that involves creativity, these earliest choices about which initial idea you ought to pursue can greatly affect your creativity. Investing your time in the right idea can lead to a breakthrough.

So how good are people at knowing if an initial idea is worthy of time and energy? Not very good, it turns out, but also not terrible, which opens a path to improvement.

Keep reading this article at: https://www.nextgov.com/ideas/2019/12/how-you-can-get-better-picking-creative-ideas/161893/