The document discusses some of the costs involved in paying attention, which is necessary for creativity and problem solving. It notes that paying attention requires discretionary time taken away from other activities. It also requires making choices and being willing to consider new ideas even if it means letting go of existing ideas. Paying attention can also challenge our egos if it reveals inaccuracies in our understanding of ourselves. However, the document argues that paying attention is an investment that allows for full engagement in creative work and bringing our authentic selves to the process.

1. A Crash Course on Creativity II
Professor Tina Seelig, Stanford University
Stanford University
Esfandiar Khaleghi
Research – Design Engineer
www.esfandiar.co
Assignment 2.
Observation Lab

2. Have you ever thought about the phrase “pay attention”?
Doesn’t that seem like a strange combination of words? Why not “give attention”?
When we “pay” there is cost involved. It is a due, not a right.
To maintain a sense of focus in our creating costs us something. If we want to
understand what we’re trying to do and what is really going on, we have to “pay”
attention to what is happening around us.

3. What are some of the costs
involved?
 Discretionary time
When we are disciplined about
paying attention to what’s going on
around us, we will need to build time
into our lives to think and make
patterns. This means less gaming, TV
and hanging with friends. (The time
has to come from somewhere.)

4.  Opportunity.
We are only able to focus on one thing
at a time.
Sometimes the thing that keeps us from
focusing on one idea or point of
interest is the potential loss of another
idea or point of interest. We need to
make choices and be willing to cut
potentially good ideas in order to get
to the best ones.
 Ego.
We want to be right, and when we
have an idea we tend to latch onto it
and make it right. We will even
backward-justify our decisions in order
to prove ourselves right. This kind of
rigid attachment to one idea or
execution keeps us from noticing new
ideas in our environment. We are
closing ourselves off from new
possibilities in order to preserve our
ego.

5.  Self Understanding.
When we pay attention we learn things
about ourselves. Some of these things
will contradict understandings we have
about ourselves. It’s easier to ignore
these contradictions and continue to
live with our false understanding of
who we are. If we are honest and
want to bring ourselves fully to our
creating, we need to receive truth
however it comes to us and never be
afraid to apply it to our lives.
>>>
These are just a few ways in which
“paying attention” will “cost” us
something. But it’s not really a sunk
cost, it’s an investment. Any movement
toward integrity is a movement toward
full-engagement, which is what we’re
looking for in our creating. We want to
be able to bring ourselves – who we
really are – fully to our creating and not
self-censor because we’re
“protecting” something.

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