The CreativeMindset

The CreativeMindset

By Hattie Stringer MB

Start

Before we start

When I saw this class on my schedule I was intrigued, its not what I expected from a business school but I knew a creativity class made sense. I most obviously wanted an A, but as I learned more about the class this goal changed. My new goal was to become more confident in my creativity. To trust my gut and ideas more. Sometimes I have an idea but due to fear of rejection or seeming stupid, decide not to speak up. I often avoid creativity out of fear of risk, but I know I miss out on success this way.

I've always had to use creativity in my daily life. Coming from NYC I have experienced a lot of independence and struggles that others might not have at this age. Starting at home, with a one bedroom apartment, we had to renovate to create a second one for myself with little space. I've had to find creative ways to save time when the trains are delayed, or when I had to figure out how to take 3 different trains to get to a friends birthday party in the Bronx(and at the same time it's 101 degrees.)

I’ve always been a person of routine. Personality and leadership tests, as well as personal relationships have described me this way Evidence(click)

Use this side of the card to provide more information about a topic. Focus on one concept. Make learning and communication more efficient.

Use this side of the card to provide more information about a topic. Focus on one concept. Make learning and communication more efficient.

Use this side of the card to provide more information about a topic. Focus on one concept. Make learning and communication more efficient.

Where I'm coming from

Why I am starting here

What I wanted to achieve through this class

Title

Title

Title

Write a brief description here

Write a brief description here

Before coming to Miami this is how I felt about creativity

Write a brief description here

What led me to approach creativity the way I previously did

Next

The Importance of Creativity

As I enter this new phase of my life, with a greater focus on personal development and career preparation, I recognise the need for creativity. In today's world responsibility and care will not get you far. With constant developments in technology, and an array of social issues, the most successful people are the ones who can adapt to this changing environment and come out with ideas and solutions. My lack of confidence limits me from making decisive choices, and in turn hurts both myself and my teammates. I want to stretch my creative limits, and genuinely work towards a more confident mindset. I've been able to begin this process during these assignments, but for true change I need to continue working on this for the future.

Next

To help you understand what I worked on this semester, you will have to tour my new house(mindset)

My creative journey felt a lot like building a house from the ground up. In the beginning my creativity was lacking, there was no room for frilly decorations let alone basic furniture. Now I feel like my house is in a renovation stage with new additions and room to grow. Also, each project contributed to my growth, much like how each room contributes to the home as a whole.

+ Info

Once you are done exploring all the rooms CLICK HERE

THE BATHROOM

Mini Project #3 - Getting out of your comfort zone, stretching, building confidence

Necessary, mirrors and sometimes disorganised

This was the first time we used Goosechase, and it was pretty difficult for me. Not only was I recovering from Covid related vertigo(crazy experience by the way do not recommend) but this was exactly what scared me about this class. Being asked to leave my comfort zone, do things that feel embarrassing, or that require confidence. I procrastinated certain challenges due to the mental preparation it took to attempt them. Other challenges I took the easy way out, using people in my hall to complete challenges with. Even though these people were strangers who I had never spoken to, the fact that we lived in the same building helped give me the confidence to ask them crazy things. This assignment -much like a bathroom- was incredibly necessary for me to take the leap and finally get on board with the attitude needed to be productive in this class. Being faced with the reality that I had little creative confidence was the turning point. I realised what I needed to change in my life not just so I could pass the class, but so that I can do silly things without panicking about how I look to others. Even though I was totally stressed the whole time I was completing challenges, it ended up helping me talk to and create friendships with other people(specifically in my hall).

THE BEDROOM

Mid Week McGraw chapters and note taking

A place of comfort, secruity, and relaxation

This is where the chapters fell into. I enjoy reading, and I feel comfortable with independent work. As a result these are probably not the best representations of my creativity. I realised that when faced with a simple assignment I tend to stay with what I know. As the semester went on I started to find better questions to ask AI instead of allowing it to shape what we spoke about. Some examples were "How can I connect these two ideas better?" or "Which next step is better for my project after hearing about both?". I also found it helpful to speak to the AI more like a friend or professor, and less like a machine. Some ways I did this was by ignoring the multitude of questions it would ask me and instead focusing on one and having a more back and forth conversation. I was able to get more out of conversations like these because it was more like I was speaking out loud with something to confirm, elaborate, or challenge what I was saying. This makes sense because I study best when I explain concepts to others. I want to keep using AI as a resource when learning new concepts or studying to act as a study buddy. Overall this wasn't too challenging for me to adapt to, and it didn't feel like a 'scary' task.

THE DINING ROOM

Mini Project #1 - Creativity - Mentor Interview & Pitch Video

A place of thoughtful discussion, and the digestation of information

First real assignment! An interview and pitch video! I've done plenty of interviews before, and like the others, this one was both helpful and enjoyable. I chose to interview a woman who used to be friends with my dad because I knew she would have unique perspectives to share. I think my interview stood out because I didn't choose someone convenient- in fact she lives in Australia, which meant we had to work around the 16 hour time difference. Despite that challenge, I still wanted to speak to her because I was genuinely curious. I really enjoyed getting to talk to her and I find that I learn a lot from listening. It reminded me of the meaninful talks I grew up having around the dinner table. Then I got to the tricky part: the pitch. I have never really had to do one before, and with vague assignment details, I felt lost on how to start. Should I make a tiktok, a presentation, or a series of post its? My mind went blank. In the end, I created a slide deck and recorded presenting it. The slides looked nice and were informative, but it lacked a "wow" factor. My reluctance to try something new, partly out of fear that I would end up submitting something bad(if I attempted a different format), held me back. Another curveball is something I haven't admitted until now... I misunderstood the prompt. I thought the pitch was supposed to be about how to be more creative, not why creativity is important. This forced me to last minute have to rework my whole presentation, testing my fast thinking, problem solving, and the ability to connect ideas. In the end, my presentation was good, but not great. At this point I felt disappointed in how I executed the assignment but proud of the results from my interview. To me, this showed my ability to be creative in a simple way, even if it didn't fully capture the audience's attention. This became a pattern of mine: having creative ideas but not knowing how to pitch them

THE LIVING ROOM

The movie of my life

None of the projects correlated to a living room so I thought I would use this space for you to get to know me better. I was born in Brooklyn, New York to my two parents and my older sister. I lived in the same townhouse for the first 16 years of my life with my parents, sister, and grandparents. My mom is a child life specialist working in what was the US's first public hospital. She is the most funny, and caring person I know. My dad is a graphic designer who has famously designed the logos for Starbucks, Delta, and Petco. We've always bonded over our love for interior design and archtecture. My older sister is the opposite of me, she is confident, with tattoos and piercings and dyed hair. She moved to Australia for college and never came back, her bravery is what I think about whenever I'm homesick. My grandparents were always there growing up, my grandma ready with afternoon tea and my grandpa to watch football games with(Aussie of course, go magpies!). They also left to go back to Australia when I was 16. Lastly, I can't forget about my dog Rascal who I got when I was in Pre-K, I probably miss him the most out of everyone while I'm at college. I went to school in the Lower East Side on the edge of Chinatown and my friends varied living in Manhatten, the Bronx, Queens, etc. I think my backstory is important because my creative confidence, my growth during this semester, my intital instincts, and curiousity all stem from my upbringing.

THE ATTIC

Mini Project #2 - Curiosity - Genus Hour

Creativity in a dark room alone

This week was kind of interesting because I was severely sick with covid. It forced me to take a step back and think about what creativity means to me. Instead of doing crazy challenges or being super collaborative, I had to find a way to be creative in my lonely dorm room. I decided to focus on something that actually interests me, well I love interior design and the history behind it. Since I was wasn't feeling well enough to stare at a screen, I looked for a podcast on the topic. Thats when I found one about the origins of the IKEA kitchen. I'm a big fan of ikea(I even had my 16th birthday party there haha), so I listened while jotting down notes. Surprisingly, I became completely absorbed in it. I would never have done this on my own time, yet I was glued to the voice of the podcast. I ended up learning a lot and even went on to research more about the designer and the ideas discussed. For me, creativity means finding things you are curious about and using that to reach new areas. In that moment, I felt like a kid again, lost in an arts and craft project, and the rest of the world fades away. I loved this project so much that I decided to focus on architecture in the 10 days of creativity challenge. Once again, though, my 'pitch' was not as engaging as I would have liked. Part of that was due to being sick, but honestly I'm not sure it would have turned out much differently if I'd been healthy. Through this and other projects, I came to some realisations about myself, and the lessons I got from this one, in particular, shaped how I approached my later work.

THE KITCHEN

Mini Project #4 - Failure, Feedback, Iteration: Rube Goldberg Video Fest

Time of collaboration and sustenance

The Rube Goldberg challenge brought its own set of challenges and rewards. Firstly, it became a real bonding experience for me and two of my group mates. To come together and have to hear each others ideas and brainstorm forced us to get to know each other and our personal strengths. This project was meant to teach us about failure and how to use that to develop a solution. It did exactly that. We came up with so many different ideas just to start off with. Then once we had a general idea of the materials and order we played around trying to find the magical solution. I want to say we tried over 50 different versions(though some variations were very minor) just to get a 30 second 'winning' result. One of the biggest lessons I learned was the value of having others to bounce ideas off of. Sometimes I would suggest something that didn't work, but it would lead to a group member thinking up a new idea that did work. Then when we started to get frustrated we could rely on each other to stay motivated. It was really interesting to see how every group approached this project differently and how different each video ended up being. Personally, I am aware of my fear of failing or specifically letting other people down. This project helped me see that it's okay to fail, and that my groupmates weren't going to be mad at me for trying something that didn't succeed. I'm beginning to understand that as long as I put in genuine effort, people will recognize and appreciate that.

THE LAUNDRY ROOM

10 Days of Creativity

Patience, attention to detail, overwhelming

For the ten days of creativity, I really wanted to push myself to get something meaningful out of the project. I knew a lot of people who were planning to practise piano or drawing, but that felt too simple, and it didn't excite me. I tried to think about something I have always wanted to try but had put off out of fear of failure. For me, that was architecture. I know I've mentioned my love for architecture and interior design, but really this idea came from Tiktok. During the school year, I always see sleep deprived architecture students building their models, and I've always been curious about what that process is really like. I knew I was not going to be perfect, and that my model would likely look bad after just ten days- but I didn't let that stop me. The first day was overwhelming. I spent hours building something that couldn't even be called a model. I felt my old habits creeping in, telling me to quit, pick something easier, or try something different. But I ignored those thoughts. One of the biggest lessons I've learned from this class is that staying in your comfort zone severely limits what you can achieve. Each day I didn't know what I was going to have to do, and I was constantly nervous I wouldn't have enough time to complete the challenge. There were moments of stress and frustration, but also small wins that kept me going(like buying an exacto knife). I learned to embrace the imperfections, improvise, and reenvision what the final product could look like. By the end, yes my model may seem lack luster in the eyes of others(specifically my roomates who watched me spend hours just to have a cardboard house), but I am so proud of it. It now sits on my dorm shelf as a reminder that trying something new, pushing through frustration, and learning from the process are all parts of creativity. More than the model itself, the real win for me was understanding that I am capable of pushing past frustration phases that might have stopped me in the past.

THE BALCONIES

Week 8: Storytelling and Mindset Portfolio/ Project

Open-ended, free-flowing

The mindset portfolio left a lot for me to decide. Much like a balcony the assignment was open ended and only required a sense of flow. I played with the design quite a bit, trying to find the perfect way to capture the story of my 10 days. I struggled at first with the flow of the presentation, which is why I decided to use a road element to guide the audience through the journey I went on. This helped me organise the design as well as for creating a road map for me to follow when presenting. I could simply look at the poster and follow the road, moving naturally across each point I wanted to make. Creating the portfolio helped me consolidate my thoughts and lessons from all the challenges I faced throughout the project. In the end, the poster became a natural storytelling piece that allowed me to focus less on the format of the presentation and more on how the design connected to the content I already had.

Where I saw success

CHALLENGES

What I felt good about, new improvements, things to continue

What was preventing me from succeeding at times

View

View

Next

Thank you very muchfor taking the time to learn about the progress I've made this semester and what I've learned

Back to home

Being creative refers to the process. Brainstorming, innovating, and using your imagination.

Creativity

Being unique refers to the outcome. How different is your final product or idea, does it stand apart?

Uniqueness

For a long time my projects have been unique, but I haven't always fully used my creativity to make them that way. Understanding this distinction helps me focus on how I can use creativity to get to truly unique solutions.

VS

You'll be in charge of clicking on each room to discover a new part of my journey. At any point you can click on the three lines at the top to return to this page and click a new room

• Continously getting sick
• Being in a new environment
• Stressful workload
• Not wanting to get a bad grade
• Not wanting to let others down

• Trying new things
• Meeting new people
• Finding myself curious about more things
• Instinctually coming up with more ideas
• Allowing myself to fail
• Speaking up more about my ideas in my group

The Gallup Clifton Strengths Test