Creative vs. Account Exec: The Left vs. Right Brain Test

Above is an optical illusion where the ballerina spins clockwise if you are more left brained and counter-clockwise if you lean on the right side.

However, if you keep staring at the picture you will eventually be able to flip the rotation. Take some time and you can train your brain to switch from left to right. It’s a great mental exercise.

Think of the brain as a thinking muscle. If you get lazy, fall into habits, and stop challenging your brain, it gets set in its ways. One-track thinking is the death of creativity and innovation, so challenge yourself by exploring new ideas, new opinions, and new people.

I’ll leave you with this anecdote pulled from a FastCompany article on learning title “Seeing is Believing”:

“Each time Mal “Skip” Bowen sat on his favorite beach, he noticed people diving for abalone a short distance offshore. When he set out to find one himself he bought gear, headed back to the beach, and went into the water. No abalone. Not a single one. He wondered if the tide had changed while he was gone or if someone else caught them all.
Just then a diver strolled by with a large catch. Skip tried again, returning empty handed. He wondered if he needed to wait until seagulls circled or waves reached a certain height when a diver who looked 100 years old, who was perhaps 42, walked by with even more abalone. Skip asked what he might be doing wrong.
The leathery-looking diver spit out a piece of kelp. “There’s something you should know about abalone.” He paused, nodding back toward the ocean. “Until you see your first abalone, you can’t see them at all. Once you see your first one, they’re everywhere.”
Skip grabbed his mask and fins, and headed toward the water. About an hour later, he saw his first abalone. He’s been seeing them everywhere since. “

The article continues to explore how we all need to get out of our own ways. Great read, check it out.