(I Can't Get No) Creativity

In a recent interview with Terry Gross, Keith Richards described how he composed the riff to “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”.

It was May 7, 1965 and the Stones were on their third U.S. tour. Awakening in the middle of the night in a motel room in Clearwater, Florida, a fuzzy-headed Keith Richards grabbed his tape recorder and guitar (which he always slept with) and recorded the opening hook to “Satisfaction”. The next morning when he replayed the tape and he heard a drowsy 30-second rendition of “Satisfaction”…followed by a ‘CLANG’…and 45 minutes of snoring. Three days later, the Stones took the song to the legendary Chess studios in Chicago and recorded the first version of their iconic song. Issued in the U.S. in June of 1965, “Satisfaction” stayed at the top of the charts for 4 weeks, and established the Rolling Stones as a worldwide premier act. Rolling Stone (the magazine) has selected “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” as the #2 greatest rock-and-roll song of all time.

In a way, this story is the more modern-day version of the Mozart Myth. The Mozart Myth goes something like this. Some people are born with creativity and talent so prodigious that it spills from their minds, as if by magic. Mozart is reputed to have composed his symphonies in one sitting, without revision, through a single burst of inspiration.

In a contra-example to the Mozart Myth, Beethoven exhibited a creative process that required extraordinary amounts of preparation and persistence. He would fill notebook-after-notebook with scribbling, musical dead-ends, and futile variations. For Beethoven, his stumbling trial-and-error method was his creative genius.

In the end, was his process any less creative than Mozart’s?

Either way, there is growing evidence in this country that our creativity as a nation is declining. Newsweek documented this in an article in their July 10, 2010 issue, “The Creativity Crisis.”

Corroborating this disturbing trend is Kyung Hee Kim, a professor of educational psychology at the College of William & Mary. Over the past number of years, she has tested 300,000 adults and children with the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking, one of the better creativity tests. Since 1990, there has been alarming erosion in a number of creative characteristics, including:

• the ability to produce a number of ideas,
• reflective thinking,
• motivation to be creative,
• intellectual curiosity and open-mindedness.
  

According to Professor Kim, the possible explanations are numerous. One may point a finger at the excessive time our children tend to spend in front of televisions and computers, watching programs, and playing videogames, rather than engaging in creative activities such as playing outside or exploring the outside world. Another ready explanation for decreasing creativity among upper-grade elementary school children is the lack of creativity development and the stifling of children’s creative opportunities in classrooms.

For parents, Professor Kim proposes a number of ideas that, in her view, would boost and preserve creativity, including:

• Focus on ideas,
• Raise non –conformists,
• Be playful,
• Be less protective,
• Foster independence,
• Give time alone,
• Travel.
  

In the words of Albert Einstein, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”

by Chris Holman

"All the News That's Fit to Print"

Our normal publishing schedule is once per week. However, every now and then something comes up that causes us to depart from this schedule.

In today’s New York Times, October 21st, there is a special section on Wealth. For those of you who are financial advisors, and who don’t read the Times on a regular basis…you may want to pick up a copy of today’s paper.

In the Wealth section, there are a number of articles of interest to “affluent” readers. The lead article is especially interesting, “The Post-Crash Sell.” In this piece, the author opines that wealth managers are recasting their services in an effort to confront the wariness that exists amongst circumspect investors these days.

Whether or not you agree with the author’s view, you may want to use this article to connect with your clients about the level and quality of client engagement that you are providing…and that they are expecting. Additionally, there are a number of other articles, “A Philanthropy Coach Talks About Wise Giving,” “The Watchword on Taxes This Year is Flexibility,” and “Treading Carefully in the Currency Bazaar” that might be interesting to clip-and-send to your interested clients.

Just an idea for you…hope this helps.

PS…The Times’ motto “All the news that’s fit to print” has existed since 1896, when it was adopted by then-publisher, Adolph Ochs. Recently, Ochs’ great-grandson, Arthur Sulzberger Jr. announced that, given current newsroom costs, the Times is likely to be forced to stop publishing a printed paper sometime in the next five years or so. Sobering news from the “Grey Lady.”

They’re gonna need a new motto, too!

by Chris Holman

Evaluate Your Life Day

October 19th has special resonance for financial advisors. It was on this day, 23 years ago, that the Dow plummeted 23% in one day. For those of us in the business then, it was a vivid reminder of the vagaries of human rationality and efficient markets. We were all glued to our Quotrons. (That’s an old-timey, flashback word!) There was little else to do.

October 19th is also “Evaluate Your Life Day”…which might be startling news to a number of you. It’s one thing to wake up and discover that the day is “National Cupcake Day” or “Hug Your Cat Day.” These would be relatively easy to deal with… (unless you are a celiac or cat-allergic.)

But “Evaluate Your Life Day?” As the kids say…”Whoa!”

The good news for financial advisors on “Evaluate Your Life Day” is that advisors are in the extraordinary position of being able to help others evaluate their lives…financially-speaking. In the spirit of “Evaluate Your (Financial) Life Day”, advisors might ask their clients and prospective clients the following series of questions:

1. Are you happy with your financial status?
2. What are your lifetime goals?
3. Are you on a path to achieve these goals?
4. What might you change in order to allow you to achieve these lifetime goals?
   

For financial advisors, asking the right questions is critical to helping others achieve personal happiness and success. Many of us get so caught up in the day-to-day clamor and hubbub that we rarely take the time to examine whether we are on the right path to reaching our potential… financially and otherwise. Financial advisors are in the unique and enviable position of guiding their clients to initiate positive change that will better the lives of their immediate family, as well as future generations.

Speaking of evaluating your life, there is a NY Times #1 bestselling book entitled, “Well-Being: The Five Essential Elements” that might be just the tonic for what ails you. Authors Tom Rath and Jim Harter were moved by the abundance of research by the Gallup organization to create an assessment called the Well-Being Finder. They postulate that there are universal elements of well-being…5 interconnected elements that differentiate a thriving life, from one of toil and suffering:

• Career Well-Being: People who are happy to go to work each day, appreciated and respected by their peers and associates, able to speak with pride about their company to others.
• Social Well-Being: Those with several strong relationships, and able to activate a support system when encountering problems. They feel loved.
• Financial Well-Being: People who manage their finances prudently, are aware of costs and are in control of expenditures. They are frugal but not cheap.
• Physical Well-Being: Those who get sufficient rest, as well as rigorous regular exercise, have plenty of energy in reserve, and eat sensibly.
• Community Well-Being: People who are actively and productively engaged in the neighborhood and in the community, as well as in various groups within the area, such as a church, P.T.A., Crime Watch, Meals on Wheels, homeowners' association, etc.
  

Interestingly, of the thousands of individuals surveyed for their well-being in each of these categories, just 7% were thriving in all five…66% were doing well in only one of the five areas. How do you compare? What about your clients?

That’s enough well-being for now. Hope you are well and that you enjoyed it. Now back to work for you.

by Chris Holman

Stuck on the Tracks?

“Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there”…Will Rogers

Procrastination is not a new problem. Writing in 800 B.C., the Greek poet Hesiod declared that “a man who puts off work is always at handgrips with ruin.” In the mid-1800’s, French author Victor Hugo (Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame) would tell his valet to hide his clothes so that he’d be unable to go outside when he should stay inside to continue his writing.

However, it appears that procrastination is on the rise. According to Piers Steel, a business professor at the University of Calgary who has made a career out of the study of procrastination, the percentage of people who admit to difficulties with procrastination has quadrupled over the past 20 years. Research by Harvard behavioral economist David Laibson, revealed that American workers have foregone huge amounts of free money in matching 401(k) contributions…simply because they never got around to signing up! (Are your clients maxing out on theirs?)

Many of these insights, and much more, are contained in a very entertaining essay entitled “Later” by James Surowiecki in the 10/11/2010 issue of The New Yorker. In his essay, Mr. Surowiecki reviews recent procrastination research and explores what procrastination tells us about ourselves.

Speaking of procrastination research, one of the most prolific academics in the subject of procrastination is the previously mentioned Piers Steel. Dr. Steel also states, rather dogmatically, that… “People who procrastinate tend to under-perform in almost every other area of their life.” In fact, for those of you who want to get your own procrastination assessment, Dr. Steel invites you to participate on his website, Procrastination Central.

So…after all of this talk about procrastination…what does one actually do about it? According to Timothy Pychyl, professor of psychology at the University of Ottawa (Why are all the experts on procrastination from Canada?), there are a number of deliberate strategies that one can undertake to stay one step ahead of procrastination:

1. Time Travel. Procrastinators discount future rewards as less important than the task at hand…especially if the current reward or activity is a more pleasant one. With “time travel” we use concrete mental images of the future…to represent the future as if it were happening right now. For example, for a person who is procrastinating on saving for retirement, it might help if they imagine, as vividly as possible, living on his/her potential retirement savings now. In other words, think about the task in the real context of the day, and think carefully about how these tasks would make you feel. Hopefully, the realization that the future image is not as rosy as one had imagined, would help a person to change his or her actions toward that activity or task today.
2. Don’t give in to feeling good. Learn to recognize that we can have negative emotions without acting upon them. Stay put for a minute…don’t walk away. Don’t give in to “I’ll feel more like it tomorrow.” Begin a task today; even if it’s not completed…at least it’s a start.
3. Reduce Uncertainty and Distractions. For important tasks, reduce all uncertainty about how to proceed. Shut off your email, close the blinds, wear ear-plugs…isolate yourself and make sure that the environment around you is strengthening your willpower to succeed.
4. The Willpower Muscle. Research indicates that willpower is like a muscle, i.e. you can exhaust your willpower, and when you do, you lose your ability to regulate your behavior. One immediate method to strengthen your resolve is to remind yourself of your values; thereby fortifying your willpower.
   

Many of the solutions to procrastination amount to the re-framing of the task in front of you. In some ways, procrastination is influenced by the gap between effort (what is required now) and reward (what you harvest in the future, if ever). Narrowing this gap, by whatever means necessary, is the key to limiting procrastination. This is why it helps to focus on short-term projects with definite sections and deadlines, as opposed to open-ended tasks with distant time limits.

By the streets of “by and by” one arrives at the house of “Never.”…Cervantes

by Chris Holman

Your Brain Doesn't Care How Old You Are!

The July issue of Consumer Reports On Health contains a very interesting article about the brain as it ages. Recent studies show that the choices people make throughout their lifetime have a significant impact on their ability to remain sharp in old age.

“Your brain doesn’t know how old you are…and doesn’t care,” says Paul D. Nussbaum, Ph.D., an adjunct professor of neurological surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. “It just wants to be in a stimulating environment, and that’s something you can do at any age.”

There are several things you can do to keep your brain stimulated as you age:

• Build a mental reserve—research has shown that the more participants engaged in mentally stimulating activities like reading, writing, crossword puzzles, playing board or card games, playing music, participating in group discussions, the longer they delayed rapid memory decline. Not surprisingly, passive activities, such as watching television, don’t count as “mentally stimulating”.
• Keep working—putting off retirement and continuing to work can also help. However, don’t put in such long hours that you are neglecting your rest. A 2009 British survey found that people who worked more than 55 hours weekly scored similarly on vocabulary and reasoning tests as those who worked more reasonable hours.
• Stay healthy—exercise and diet are extremely influential in helping to keep your brain energized. Countless studies show that people who exercise a few times per week and maintain a healthy diet have stronger hearts and overall better health than people who don’t exercise or eat well. When you consider that “with every beat of your heart, 25% of the blood flow goes right to your brain,” according to Nussbaum, it’s easy to see why taking care of your heart has a direct impact on your brain function.
• Sleep on it—getting enough sleep is also critical. If you reduce an average night’s sleep of 7-8 hours by 1-2 hours, your response time will be slower, you will have more difficulty with complex tasks, and you will have more trouble remembering information. Just like your body, your brain also needs a rest. Sleeping gives your brain time to make connections to new information and shuttle it to long term memory.
• Stay connected—studies have shown that the more frequently people interacted with others, the higher their scores on simple tests of cognitive functions, so stay connected with colleagues, family and friends on a regular basis.
  

Keeping your brain energized is a no-brainer. If you’d like to take a little break from your daily grind right now and try a little mental exercise to help boost your brain power, check out these optical illusions.

On this day, October 7th, Dr. Harvey Cushing passed away in 1939. Dr. Cushing was a pioneer of brain surgery, and is often called "the father of neurosurgery." Almost singlehandedly, he perfected the techniques of brain and nerve operations. Pre-Cushing, mortality rates for neurosurgery were very high...50-60%. Over the course of his career, Dr. Cushing experienced mortality rates of 10%.

by Theresa Ficazzola