I’ve felt a little like a hamster on a wheel the past couple of weeks. My email, in particular, has been out of control. And because of the overflow of writing writing talking talking writing, I haven’t had the longevity of thought to give this blog some love.

But, here are a few questions, yanked from my sketchbook, that have been on my mind lately:

• Does social media make us less social?
• How can we - businesses, designers, marketers, new media kids - be better story-tellers (1, 2, 3)?
• The best new creative goes beyond making a point, it draws creativity out of people. It causes them to wake up, to create, to explore. Who’s doing this well now? How can we (designers, etc.) get better at this?
• As Jake McKee brought up in a recent SMC meeting, unscheduled play time is critical to healthy child development. Is it just as important for ongoing development in crotchety grown ups? (I submit: yes.)
• How can we pop holes in echo chambers (for example: the slice of the blogosphere and twittosphere whose favorite things to talk about are blogging and tweeting) and make room for inspiration and new perspectives?
• And, just to be a hypocrite - On blog comments: Is Twitter a conversation-stealer?

Some do it for business, some for therapy, some for relationships, some for clout…

Why do you blog?

1. Tried to do the worm and nearly carpet-burned my chin.
2. Missed my mouth when drinking coffee and poured it straight onto my belly.
3. Told someone with a baby girl that “he is completely adorable” (not the first time this has happened).

What about you?

In a recent study on creative improvisation, scientists backed by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) found that:

…when jazz musicians are engaged in the highly creative and spontaneous activity known as improvisation, a large region of the brain involved in monitoring one’s performance is shut down, while a small region involved in organizing self-initiated thoughts and behaviors is highly activated.

The researchers propose that this and several related patterns are likely to be key indicators of a brain that is engaged in highly creative thought. (scientificblogging.com)

The article goes on to draw some interesting implications from this study on creativity in general (emphasis added):

Interestingly, the large portion responsible for monitoring one’s performance (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) shuts down completely during improvisation, while the much smaller, centrally located region at the foremost part of the brain (medial prefrontal cortex) increases in activity. The medial prefrontal cortex is involved in self-initiated thoughts and behaviors, and is very active when a person describes an event that has happened to him or makes up a story. The researchers explain that, just as over-thinking a jump shot can cause a basketball player to fall out of the zone and perform poorly, the suppression of inhibitory, self-monitoring brain mechanisms helps to promote the free flow of novel ideas and impulses. While this brain pattern is unusual, it resembles the pattern seen in people when they are dreaming.

When you are deeply focused in creativity, you are actually using a different part of your brain from when the focus is production and achievement - medical evidence that the best cure for the creative-destruction of overthink and self-editing is wreckless and uninhibited creative outpour.

The premise of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience,” (a fantastic study of happiness) is: In order to reach a deep level of joy and satisfaction, you must fall into the “flow.” He describes “flow” as:

being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you’re using your skills to the utmost.

I can’t help feeling that in today’s fragmented and over-stimulated society, instances of “flow” and non-performance-driven creativity are harder to come by. Inspiration, creativity, and, ultimately, happiness are something that have to be pursued and worked for.

How can I set aside a performance mindset and replace it with “being completely involved in an activity for its own sake?” How can creative shops enable employees to be truly and satisfyingly creative?

How do you break out of the noise and make time for “flow?”

(Related: “Some thoughts on creativity“)

Last night’s was arguably one of the best Super Bowls in a long time. To quote my highly-caffeinated friend Chase Jones, who’s a better sports commentator than I’ll ever be:

UNDOUBTEDLY THE MOST ASTONISHING UPSET VICTORY IN THE WORLDS GREATEST GAME ON THE WORLDS GREATEST STAGE IN HISTORYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!

That said, the crop of ads this year was completely disappointing (except for CareerBuilder’s, which always grabbed the room). If you missed them - or just want to relive the dumb - they’re all online, organized by quarter, on the Super Bowl Ads MySpace Page.

It seems that lately, not just with the Super Bowl but across the board, media has overtaken creative as the cool kid on the advertising block. If so, that’s a problem.

Was this year’s sad lot reflective of changes in the ad industry, or was this just a bad year?

In a 2007 session at ad:tech NY, Coca-Cola’s Director of Global Interactive Marketing John Stichweh said any company not devoting 10% of its marketing budget to experimentation will fall behind.There was an SNL skit where Will Ferrell, as Harry Caray, interviewed Jeff Goldbloom, who was playing an astrophysicist. There was a snippet of dialogue that went something like this:

Harry Caray: Hey! What about this?! If you had a choice between being the top scientist in your field or getting Mad Cow Disease, what would it be?

Jeff Goldbloom, Astrophysicist: Well of course I would choose to be the top scientist in my field.

Harry Caray: Oh good! I was worried you’d choose Mad Cow!

Anybody presented the choice between “being innovative” and “being stagnant” would choose innovative. Right? I hope?

So how does your business manage experimentation? Do you?

Do any of you have a formalized chunk of your budget allotted for it? Do you play it by ear, perhaps experimenting if a new idea falls under your radar? Do you limit your resources to the “Old Faithfuls” – traditional tactics you know have worked historically, and do not give your board heartburn?

This week, Trabian client The Filene Research Institute is hosting a colloquium on credit union collaboration. Have a discussion point? Click the link and leave a comment in their blog post with your topic. They’re recording and publishing the discussions from the event later this year (or in early 08), for your consumption and pleasure.