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An interview with Andy Aylesworth, Electives instructor and Bentley University professor
According to Andy Aylesworth, Electives instructor and Bentley University professor, having fun is the secret to success… or at least the secret to being more creative. In fact, when people ask Andy how they can be more creative, he specifically encourages them to find the fun.
Andy has been teaching marketing at Bentley University since the 1990s. Sometime in the early 2000s, just for fun, Andy decided to take improv comedy classes. And, without really meaning to, he started using improv workshop lessons and skills in his marketing classes, including the concepts of “yes, and…” and warming up.
As he brought comedy into his classes, Andy realized he was having more fun, his students were having more fun and his students were being more creative. Andy did a touch of research and realized there is a positive correlation between having fun and being creative.
After significantly more research on creativity training, Andy created a semester-long graduate class on creativity. The class went well, so Andy iterated on that class and now regularly teaches creativity at Bentley University — and around the world.
Nowadays, the more Andy teaches about creativity, the happier he is. He even says he’d teach it for free… if he didn’t enjoy getting paid so much!
Here are 6 more things we learned when we recently interviewed Andy:
1. To be creative, you need to have more fun.
When people ask Andy for advice on how to unlock their creativity, Andy encourages them to just have fun.
“For starters, having fun is fun,” commented Andy. “But also, the more fun you’re having, the more creative you will be.”
Andy also reminds people that creativity is a muscle that needs to be warmed up and regularly used. The more it’s “exercised,” the stronger it will be.
2. Everyone is creative.
Every now and then, Andy comes across someone who claims to not be creative, but Andy pushes back on that sentiment. “Everyone has the creative muscle,” said Andy. “But you have to work at it. If the creative muscle hasn’t been used for a while, it will atrophy.”
According to Andy, regular “exercise” is important to maintain a creative mindset.
3. Creativity improves outside the comfort zone.
Within his creativity classes, Andy takes people outside of their comfort zones, taking them past what they’re afraid to do.
In one of his classes, Andy asks everyone to act like a farm animal. They all do it at once, and it’s funny. As everyone laughs together, the person not doing the exercise feels sillier than all the people doing it.
“When everyone is in it together,” explained Andy, “people do things they wouldn’t normally be comfortable doing.”
4. Art and creativity are not synonyms.
“Art is not the same thing as creativity, because you can be creative in a lot of areas,” stated Andy, “but of course art can certainly ‘exercise the muscle.’”
That’s why STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, math) is taking the place of STEM in many schools. Art class typically focuses on creativity, and that creativity benefits STEM.
5. Creativity happens individually and collectively.
There are differing rules of thought with regard to whether we’re more creative alone or among others, but Andy says he has more fun as part of a group. (And more fun means more creativity.)
“Different people bring different dots to every situation,” explained Andy. “It takes creativity to connect those dots. When I’m seeing people and bouncing ideas off people, I’m being creative.”
6. The remote world requires intentional connections.
“Working remotely is very convenient,” Andy admitted, “but it can hamper creativity.” When working on virtual platforms, Andy encourages people to leverage every tool that can enhance connections — including whiteboards and chat on Zoom.
Andy’s advice for advancing creativity.
Andy encourages regular exercise — of the mind. “The more often you give yourself permission to be creative,” Andy stated, “the more creative you will become.”
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